Marry Me Chicken in a Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce: Step-by-Step Instructions

Instructions

1. Slice each chicken breast in half horizontally if it is thicker than about 2 cm, or flatten it under a sheet of baking paper with a rolling pin. Even thickness is what stops the thin end going dry while the thick end is still raw, and it cuts the pan time roughly in half.
2. Pat the chicken completely dry with kitchen paper, then season both sides with the salt and pepper and dust lightly with the flour. The flour does two jobs: it helps the surface colour faster, and what falls off into the pan thickens the sauce later so you never need cornflour.
3. Heat the tomato oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until the butter stops foaming. Butter alone would burn at this temperature; the oil raises the point at which it does.
4. Lay the chicken in the pan without crowding it and leave it alone for 4 to 5 minutes. Moving it early tears the crust before it has set. Turn once, give it 3 to 4 minutes on the second side, and lift it onto a plate. It does not need to be cooked through yet.
5. Lower the heat to medium, add the garlic, oregano and chilli flakes, and stir for 30 seconds only. Garlic in a hot buttery pan turns bitter in about a minute, so this step is short on purpose.
6. Pour in the chicken stock and scrape the base of the pan hard with a wooden spoon. Every brown speck stuck to the metal is concentrated chicken flavour, and the stock is there to dissolve it. Let it bubble until reduced by about half.
7. Stir in the cream, the Dijon mustard and the sliced sun-dried tomatoes. Simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes. The mustard is not there to taste of mustard; it emulsifies the sauce so the cream and the fat stay bound together.
8. Take the pan off the direct heat for a moment and whisk in the Parmesan a handful at a time. Added all at once over high heat it clumps and turns grainy; added slowly off the boil it melts into a smooth, glossy sauce.
9. Return the chicken and any juices from the plate to the pan, spoon the sauce over each piece, and simmer on low for 5 minutes, until the thickest part reads 74 °C (165 °F). The residual cooking happens here, in liquid, which is why the meat stays juicy.
10. Scatter the torn basil over the top and let the pan stand off the heat for 3 minutes before serving. The sauce tightens noticeably as it cools, so if it looks slightly loose at this point it is right.

Recipe Variations

With spinach. Stir two large handfuls of young spinach into the sauce just before the chicken goes back in. It wilts in under a minute and adds colour without watering the sauce down.

With mushrooms. Brown 200 g of sliced chestnut mushrooms in the empty pan after the chicken, before the garlic. Let them release and reabsorb their liquid so they do not thin the cream.

Dairy-free. Full-fat coconut milk in place of the cream, and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast in place of the Parmesan. The result tastes different but holds together properly.

Oven finish. Brown the chicken in an ovenproof pan, build the sauce, return the chicken and slide the whole thing into a 190 °C (375 °F) oven for 12 minutes. Useful if you are cooking something else on the hob.

With white wine. Replace half the stock with dry white wine and let it reduce almost to nothing before the rest of the liquid goes in.

Serving Ideas

The sauce is the reason to make this, so serve something that will hold it. Mashed potato, polenta or plain long-grain rice all work. So does a thick slice of sourdough, toasted and rubbed with a cut garlic clove, laid under the chicken to soak from below.

On the green side, keep it simple and slightly bitter: tenderstem broccoli with lemon, blanched green beans, or a rocket salad dressed with nothing but olive oil and vinegar. A sweet or creamy side alongside a creamy main makes the whole plate feel one-note.

If you are serving this to guests, slice the breasts on the diagonal before plating and fan them over the sauce rather than sitting them on top. It takes ten seconds and makes four pieces of chicken look like a dish someone planned.

Keeping It Fresh

Cooled quickly and kept in an airtight container, the chicken and sauce last three days in the fridge. The sauce will set almost solid when cold; that is the cream and the cheese behaving normally, and it loosens again with heat.

Reheat in a pan over low heat with a splash of stock or milk, turning the chicken every minute or so. The microwave works but tends to overcook the edges of the meat before the centre is warm, and it can make the sauce separate.

Freezing is not ideal here. Cream-based sauces tend to split on thawing, and chicken breast loses texture. If you must, freeze the sauce on its own for up to two months and cook fresh chicken to go with it; whisk the thawed sauce hard as it reheats to bring it back together.

Reader Questions Answered

Can I use chicken thighs instead?

Yes, and many people prefer them. Boneless skinless thighs need about 6 minutes a side to brown and roughly 8 minutes in the sauce. They are more forgiving if you lose track of the time.

What can replace the double cream?

Full-fat evaporated milk or crème fraîche both work and hold together well. Single cream and milk will split or stay thin; if that is all you have, whisk a teaspoon of cornflour into it before it goes in the pan.

My sauce went grainy. What happened?

The Parmesan was added while the sauce was boiling. Cheese proteins seize above a simmer. Drop the heat, add the cheese in small handfuls, and whisk between each one.

Do I need sun-dried tomatoes in oil?

The ones packed in oil are softer and bring their own seasoned oil for the browning step. Dry-packed tomatoes work if you soak them in hot water for 10 minutes first, otherwise they stay leathery.

Is it very spicy?

No. Half a teaspoon of chilli flakes across four servings gives a faint warmth behind the cream rather than heat. Leave it out for children, or double it if you want the sauce to bite back.

Wrapping Up

One pan, fifteen ingredients and most of them already in the cupboard. The only two moments that need attention are the browning, which wants patience, and the cheese, which wants a cooler pan. Get those right and the rest of the recipe more or less cooks itself.

It is a weeknight dish that does not look like one, which is probably the real reason it keeps turning up on dinner tables. Make it once and you will not need the recipe again.

Related recipes: Creamy Orange Gelatin Squares You Can Eat With Your Hands, Dubai Chocolate Bars with Pistachio Filling, Baked Oats with Banana and Blueberries, Cheeseburger Casserole with Pickles and Cheddar, Marry Me Chicken Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes.

Learn more: Chicken on Wikipedia · food storage & safety (FoodSafety.gov).