Marry Me Chicken Pasta

This Marry Me Chicken Pasta is a riff on the ever popular Marry Me Chicken. Is it so good they’ll pop the question? Well, we will leave that up to you and yours to decide. But if they do, I’d love to hear your story in the comments below ❤️.

Why You Will Love Marry Me Pasta

This pasta dish is creamy and packed with Tuscan flavours the whole family will love (or your family to-be). I bet most of the ingredients you will already have in your pantry and fridge so this is a meal you can whip up almost any time.

I like to cut the chicken breast along the mid-plane (cutting parallel to the cutting board) to make the breasts thinner so there is a higher ratio of seasoning to chicken. You could also pound the chicken breasts to make them thinner if you are more comfortable with that.

Equipment Needed

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• Large Frypan
• Chef’s Knife
• Cutting Board
• Tongs
• Large Saucepan

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts make a great protein, but you could also sub with chicken thighs which are even juicier
• Seasonings: garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper
• Olive oil for searing the chicken
• Pasta – Your favourite kind, but penne, rigatoni, and ziti are great options for trapping this yummy sauce
• Butter – fat used to make the roux (base of the sauce)
• Flour – thickening agent for the roux
• Chicken stock – flavouring and liquid to make up the sauce
• Half and half cream – provides much of the creaminess to the sauce, can be substituted with heavy cream if you want to make it super creamy.
• Onion – aromatics
• Garlic – aromatics
• Parmesan – makes the sauce cheesy and provides saltiness
• Sun dried tomatoes – gives the sauce that tomatoey punch
• Baby spinach – a little greenery
• Parmesan for garnish
• Cracked black pepper for garnish
• Fresh basil for garnish

How to Make Marry Me Chicken Pasta

Cooking the Chicken

1. If your chicken breasts are thick, slice them through the middle plane to make two thinner breast halves.
2. Combine spices in a bowl and then sprinkle evenly over the chicken, mix until all the chicken is evenly covered. Use about ¾ of the spice mix.
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add the chicken breasts and sear each side for about 5 minutes until fully cooked (temperature reaches 165F). Remove from skillet and set aside.
4. Once cooled cut into bite sized pieces.

Boil the Pasta

1. Boil the pasta according to package directions. Cook until al dente. Drain and set aside. You want the pasta to be ready about the same time as the sauce so that the pasta isn’t sitting around drying out for a long time.

Making the Sauce

Add the butter to the skillet and the sliced onions, sauté until they become translucent, about 2 minutes. You can use the spatula to scrape up any of the brown bits left behind from the chicken searing (flavour flavour flavour). Add the garlic and continue to sauté until they become fragrant, about one minute.

Add the flour and continue cooking with stirring for about 1 minute.

Slowly add the chicken stock while stirring with the spatula to prevent any lumping. If you get some lumps you can switch to a whisk for a minute and give it a good whisking to remove those lumps.

Stir in the heavy cream.

Bring to a simmer and add in the cooked chopped chicken, and chopped sundried tomatoes. If the sauce is too thick add in a little more chicken stock to thin it down.

Stir in the grated parmesan cheese.

Taste and add in more of the leftover seasoning mix from the chicken and or salt and pepper.

Add the spinach and cooked pasta.

Heat through to wilt the spinach and warm the pasta.

Garnish with fresh basil, grated parmesan, chili pepper flakes, and cracked black pepper if you like.

Ready to serve – Enjoy – I do!

Notes

• I prefer to make this marry me pasta with chicken breasts, but you could easily substitute chicken thighs if you like.
• It’s important to cook the flour for at least a minute so that the sauce doesn’t have a raw flour flavor to it.
• Any sort of pasta can be used in this dish, but the best shapes are ones with grooves and crannies that can trap this delicious sauce such as penne, rigatoni, and ziti.

FAQs

• What should I serve alongside Marry Me Chicken Pasta? This pasta would go great with a side salad, and garlic bread wouldn’t go amiss.
• Do I have to add spinach? No, you don’t need to add spinach if you don’t like it (you could also add more if you want). You could just completely omit it, or you could add other veggies you have on hand. If you add other veggies you will need them to cook longer and should add them once the chicken stock and cream have been added.
• How should I store leftovers? This marry me pasta is best eaten the day of, but you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. You can reheat in the microwave for a minute or two (just keep checking on it after a minute so you don’t end up with pasta on the roof of your microwave). You can also freeze leftovers for up to three months in your freezer. Just thaw in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave. You may need to add a little liquid like water, cream, chicken stock etc if the sauce is too thick. Just add a little at a time until you get the right thickness.