Name: Marry Me Chicken Pasta
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 ounces pasta (any shape you like); 1 pound chicken breasts (cut into bite-size pieces); Salt and black pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 3 cloves garlic (minced); ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, in oil (chopped); 1 cup chicken broth; 1 cup heavy cream; ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (or Pecorino Romano)

What’s not to love about chicken and pasta coated in a creamy tomato garlic sauce that takes just 30 minutes to make? This marry me chicken pasta earns its namesake and will become a fast favorite.

A skillet filled with creamy penne pasta, chunks of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and garnished with chopped parsley and grated cheese.

When you post recipes online for 14+ years, you see a few trends come and go. There was the stuffing cookies inside of brownies trend (which I’m not gonna lie, grossed me out), the kale-everything one, the Instant Pot craze and using cauliflower to make everything under the sun just to name a few.

I like to pride myself for not falling too heavily down any given one of them, but here I am today sharing a recipe that is definitely trend-adjacent.

Marry me chicken hit hard in the late 2010s and spinoffs started surfacing everywhere. The thing about me is if it blows up on TikTok (an app I don’t have and never will) or goes viral on Pinterest, it actually dissuades me from wanting to try it. So I didn’t, until recently when I sort of accidentally made this for dinner one night.

I was trying to throw together a quicker, easier and more Giada from the late 2000s-esque version of my sun-dried tomato pasta recipe when I ended up with this recipe. It was so good that I made a note with some estimated measurements and a promise to get this up on the blog only to realize weeks later when typing it all up that I made marry me chicken pasta without even knowing it.

I debated not sharing it because it’s not like it’s unique (you’ll find plenty of others out there), but settled on it being too great of a meal not to. Maybe you’re like me and never tried it not wanting to be part of the masses or maybe you want a dinner so good it could potentially inspire a proposal.

Either way, this 30-minute pasta dinner with juicy chicken doused in a creamy garlic sun-dried tomato sauce will quickly turn into a meal you’ll love and make many times.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Overhead view of neatly arranged ingredients: cubed raw chicken, penne pasta, grated cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, cream, broth, oil, salt, and pepper on a white marble surface.

Pasta – Use any pasta shape you like for this meal and substitute gluten-free varieties if desired. Penne, rigatoni and farfalle are all favorites.
Chicken – You can use chicken breasts, boneless chicken thighs for more juicy flavor or leftover rotisserie chicken which makes this dinner even faster.
Garlic – Minced fresh garlic is the main flavor component of the pasta so I always recommend using fresh over jarred.
Sun-dried tomatoes – You’ll want the ones packed in olive oil for this recipe as the oil helps to add more flavor.
Chicken broth – This helps create the sauce and add depth of flavor.
Cream – Heavy cream creates the decadent creamy texture of this dish. You can also use half and half or, swap some (not more than half) of it out with whole milk for a lighter meal.
Parmesan cheese – Freshly grated parmesan is the icing on the cake to finish the pasta off in a rich way. Pecorino Romano is a great substitute as well.
Fresh herbs – Before serving, garnish the pasta with some freshly chopped herbs such as parsley or basil to brighten it up.

How to Make Marry Me Chicken Pasta

A bowl of creamy penne pasta with pieces of chicken, garnished with chopped herbs. A skillet and a small bowl of grated cheese are visible in the background.

Leftover Storage

This isn’t a recipe that usually has any leftovers unless you make it for just yourself – no judging, I have.

Keep leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4-5 days.

Reheating is best done in the microwave with a splash of chicken broth or cream to loosen it up or, on the stove top in a sauce pan over low heat.

A close-up of a wooden spoon lifting creamy penne pasta with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh herbs from a large skillet filled with the same pasta dish.

Whether this meal will snag you a spouse is up for debate, but it will become a tried and true favorite for an easy, comforting meal everyone will love.