Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken with Parmesan
Seared chicken breasts finished in a garlicky sun-dried tomato cream sauce, reduced with parmesan until it coats a spoon.
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Written
Method
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Pat the chicken dry and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. If the breasts are noticeably thicker on one end, pound them to an even ¾ inch.
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Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high until it shimmers. Sear the chicken undisturbed until deeply golden, 5 to 6 minutes per side, until the thickest part reads 165°F. Move to a plate.
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Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes to the same skillet. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
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Pour in the broth, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and simmer for 2 minutes.
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Stir in the cream, parmesan, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes.
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Stir in the spinach and cook just until wilted, about 1 minute.
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Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet, spoon the sauce over the top, and simmer until the chicken is heated through and the sauce clings, 2 to 3 minutes.
-
Scatter with basil and serve straight from the skillet.
Notes
The oil clinging to the sun-dried tomatoes is doing real work here — don’t shake it all off before slicing, it carries into the sauce and saves you a step. Watch the chicken more than the clock: pull it the moment it hits 165°F, because it finishes cooking again at the end in the sauce and dry breast meat is the one thing this dish can’t recover from.
Swap in boneless chicken thighs if you want more margin for error, or kale for the spinach if that’s what’s in the fridge — it just needs an extra minute to wilt. Ladle any extra sauce over egg noodles or mashed potatoes; there’s always extra sauce.