One Pot Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Total Time
35 mins
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Rating
4.9 out of 5 stars
(10)
Ingredients
3 to 4 servings
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, thinly sliced into bite-sized pieces
- Fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- 1 (8-ounce) jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped (save the oil!)
- 1 small white onion, diced
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups vegetable broth*
- 8 ounces small pasta shape (such as gnocchetti sardi or orzo)
- 5 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Freshly-grated Parmesan
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Preparation
Step 1
Cook the chicken: Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until evenly cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate and set aside.
Step 2
Sauté the veggies: Add 1 more tablespoon of the sun-dried tomato oil to the sauté pan. Add the onion and mushrooms and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are browned. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and sauté for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 3
Simmer: Add 3 ½ cups of the vegetable broth, pasta, sun-dried tomatoes and stir to combine. Continue cooking, stirring more frequently as the pasta continues to cook and soak up the broth, until the pasta is 1 minute shy of al dente. If the pasta seems to need more broth to finish cooking, you’re welcome to add a ½ cup extra (or more) as needed.
Step 4
Finish: Stir in the spinach, basil, heavy cream and cooked chicken until the spinach is wilted and the pasta is al dente.
Step 5
Serve: Serve immediately, garnished with lots of fresh Parmesan, and enjoy!
Step 6
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Chef's notes
The pasta shape you choose makes a difference. One pot pasta recipes can be tricky when it comes to pasta-to-liquid ratios. If you are using a pasta shape that cooks more quickly than what the recipe calls for, for example, it can leave behind excess cooking liquid in the pot, resulting in a soupier sauce. If you are using a pasta shape that takes more time to cook, it can require more cooking liquid in order to fully reach al dente. I wrote this recipe using gnocchetti sardi, which has an 10 to 11-minute cooking time. If the pasta shape that you have on hand requires more or less cooking time, no worries, just increase or decrease the amount of broth used to cook the pasta as needed.
Stir more frequently as the pasta continues to cook. I generally give the pasta a stir every few minutes as it starts cooking. Then once it begins to soak up the broth, it’s essential to stir it more often so that it cooks evenly.
Add heat to taste. You’re welcome to double the amount of crushed red pepper flakes if you prefer a spicier pasta, but 1/2 teaspoon is a great amount to give this dish a subtle hint of heat.
