Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta is the best kind of comfort food! A simple, flavoursome sauce of sun-dried tomatoes, cream, garlic and fresh basil is combined with grilled chicken and al dente pasta. Finished with Parmesan cheese, this dish is ideal for an easy dinner and perfect for entertaining.
½cuppasta water – reserve before draining pasta – you may not need to use any/allSee Note 6
Instructions
For the Pasta:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until just al dente in salted boiling water.Reserve ½ cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.
For the Chicken:
Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally so you have four even cutlets. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Heat the pan to medium-high and add your chicken.Cook for 3 minutes on each side, or until just cooked through. Set aside to rest.
When ready to add to the sauce, slice the chicken on an angle – about 1 cm/0.5 inch pieces. Add any of the resting juices to the sauce.
For the Sauce:
To the same frying pan that you cooked the chicken in, add the extra olive oil and the garlic and spring onion. Cook for 1-2 minutes, being careful to not burn the garlic.
Add the sun-dried tomatoes, cream, dried oregano and red chilli pepper flakes. Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add in the Parmesan cheese, and stir to allow it to melt into the sauce. Return the chicken, any of the chicken resting juices, and pasta to the pan. Add the fresh basil. Mix well, adding in the reserved pasta water if needed.
Check that the seasoning is to your liking. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese and basil to garnish.
Notes
Pasta: use a short pasta of your choice. A tubular pasta, such as rigatoni or penne is also a good choice as the sauce becomes trapped in the tubes.
Tablespoon: we use a standard Australian tablespoon which is 20ml/4 teaspoons.
Thickened cream: also known as heavy cream or whipping cream, it has a minimum milk fat content of 35%.
Parmesan: use good quality, freshly grated Parmesan. I like Grana Padano.
Seasoning: adjust the seasoning to your liking – we recommend using freshly ground black pepper and sea salt flakes for the best flavour.
Pasta water: before draining the pasta, reserve ½ cup of the cooking water in case you need to thin the sauce out.