Marry Me Chicken
Famous skillet chicken in a sundried tomato parmesan cream sauce with fresh basil. It will definitely inspire marriage proposals!
This is some famous chicken. I found this Marry Me Chicken recipe and the photos of it had me falling fast. I can definitely see why this is called “Marry Me Chicken”…it may have the power to elicit a marriage proposal.
After I watched “The Bachelor” last night and saw him meet the parents and talk a lot about proposals, it only seems fitting that I share this “Marry Me Chicken” recipe. This chicken recipe may just be the lucky charm!
What is Marry Me Chicken?
It is chicken breasts sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. A sundried tomato cream sauce is made with fresh garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, heavy cream, parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes, and fresh basil. It is an easy, crowd-pleasing, popular 30-minute dinner.
I love to use a cast iron skillet since I can take it from the stovetop to the oven with ease. You can find one for here for less than 15 bucks.
Almost five years before I started Modern Honey, I entered and participated in recipe contests all over the country. One of my most memorable ones had to be Cooking Channel’s Perfect 3 Contest to find the most perfect cookie recipe. The grand prize winner would be flown to New York City to film a segment for a show in the Food Network Studios.
I wanted to win this contest so badly so I got busy right away in the kitchen concocting a brand new cookie recipe in an attempt to woo the judges. I came up with a saucepan browned butter cookie with toffee notes and both white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I named them, “I WANT TO MARRY YOU COOKIES” and shared my own little love story.
The judges whittled it down to the top 3 and that’s where we had to make our own cooking video showing how to make the cookies. The results came in and I actually won the grand prize! It was an incredible once-in-a-lifetime experience and you can read all about it here. But these little “I Want to Marry You Cookies” ended up being the most popular recipe on Cooking Channel in 2012. Now that’s crazy!
So you can serve this Marry Me Chicken and I Want to Marry You Cookies and you should have the perfect meal!
How to make the best Sundried Tomato Cream Marry Me Chicken:
- Start by heating olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the chicken breasts for about 4-5 minutes per side. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and add finely diced garlic. Cook for only 1 minute since garlic can easily burn. Add thyme, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, and cream to skillet. Cook until cream sauce begins to thicken — about 5 minutes. Stir in sundried tomatoes.
- Remove from heat and add chicken to the skillet. Spoon sauce all over the chicken. Place in an oven set at 375 degrees and cook for 15-18 minutes to until chicken is cooked through. If using thinly sliced chicken breasts, reduce baking time.
- Top with fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan cheese, if so desired.
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Marry Me Chicken. Famous skillet chicken in a sundried tomato parmesan cream sauce with fresh basil. It will definitely inspire marriage proposals!
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 3-4 Large Chicken Breasts
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 cloves Garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon Thyme
- 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (may add only 1/2 teaspoon for less spice)
- 3/4 cup Chicken Broth
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 1/2 cup Sundried Tomatoes (chopped)
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
- Fresh Basil
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large oven-safe skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken generously with salt and pepper and sear until golden, about 4-5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate.
Return skillet to medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Stir in thyme, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, and heavy cream. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in sundried tomatoes and parmesan cheese.
Return chicken to skillet and spoon sauce all over the chicken breasts. Bake until chicken is cooked through -- about 15-18 minutes. Garnish with basil and grated parmesan cheese, if so desired.
- Recipe adapted from Delish.com
Find my “I Want to Marry You Cookies” Recipe by clicking HERE.
I used boneless chicken breasts for this recipe & used everything but fresh basil (i had basil in the tomatoes) and fresh thyme i had that on hand.. it was absolutely delicious!
I made butter noddles (penne pasta) with mine as a side , and I will post a picture on my food Instagram ( makeityan ) since I can’t here but I will put a link or tag u if I can , I love to try recipes I come across on Pinterest
Hi Yani! That sounds amazing! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and share how you made it. I appreciate you trying out my recipe!
Do I need to cover the chicken with a lid once it’s in the oven? I’m excited to make this!!
We loved the recipe – even my kids who roll their eyes when I say I’m making chicken. They wanted seconds and thirds!! Will definitely make again!!
Excellent recipe!! So delicious and beautiful!
Holy cow, This recipe was amazing!
I didn’t have the heavy cream and chicken broth. However, I knew I wanted to make it into a pasta so I added in a jar of Alfredo sauce in its place. I baked as directed and served over noodles! My husband and I have been together eight years, we love to cook and try new recipes. He said this is the best chicken we’ve ever made! I call that a win. Thanks so much for sharing
Great recipe! I added shiitake mushrooms and chopped artichokes. Covered the pan when in the oven and the chicken was moist .
Could this be done in a crock pot?
Quick and easy and so much flavor!!! A+
Tried this today and i couldn’t wait to write that ny dish tasted and looked amazing. Everyone was impressed even i was. Would definitely be cooking it again!
This was so yummy!loved it!
I don’t love chicken normally, but I decided to try this and OH MY GOODNESS. This recipe is so easy and so delicious! It is even good the next day as leftovers! Thank you!
This is a keeper. I felt like it was something I would order in a restaurant. The husband and teen boys enjoyed it, they distrust new recipes and are very picky. They liked the level of spice. Thank you for a great recipe.
Tried this recipe a while ago, and it was delish! My o only addition was to double the sauce as my husband loved it. Also, I used the same sauce recipe for cod. It was excellent! Thank you for such great recipes!
This is SO good! I would double the sauce.
Hi Melissa,
Here doing my part staying at home. I really want to make this recipe but only have bone-in chicken thighs in the house. Any idea of approximate cooking times searing and in oven if I sub thighs? Thanks! By the way, just found your site and am very excited to try other recipes, including the bake goodies!! Thank you for your generosity in sharing.
Has anyone tried converting this to a slow cooker recipe after searing the chicken?
I was wondering the same.
Did you try it in slow cooker?
Looks awesome. I’m still a novice cook and am considering making this for 10 people. Can you assist with how I can correctly double or triple the recipe please?
My husband, bless his heart, would probably divorce me if I made this for him again. But he doesn’t know what’s good…won’t eat much of anything with sun-dried tomatoes. So I made him a similar dish without the spice and tomato and made a small skillet of the tomato/garlic/crushed red/garlic sauce and just put some of his chicken into my sauce. He has no idea what he’s missing. I serve mine over rice and use a LOT of spinach. Thanks for a great jumping off point in your recipe!
I realize my message above includes spinach, which is not in the recipe, but I just stir fresh baby spinach in at the end of cooking time and it’s ready to eat by the time we are plating. Makes it one pan and much easier than sautéing spinach for a side.
For the 1 teaspoon Thyme, is this measurement for fresh thyme, dried thyme leaves, or ground thyme?
Kathleen, I typically don’t answer for other people but you may be waiting on a reply and it looks like the replies are a tad bit behind (so I hope she doesn’t mind). I would say since it’s only a teaspoon she’s calling for for ground thyme or dried thyme leaves. Dried herbs are so much stronger in flavor than fresh thyme. I will use dried thyme leaves since that is what I have, and I’m making it tonight!
Thank you Heather for replying and helping me out! I get dozens of comments per day so within a week, I have hundreds of comments to respond to and I get behind. 🙂 You are absolutely right. Great question, Kathleen!
Hey!!
Thank you for the great recipe! I made this in a total of one hour from package to plate.
I followed your recipe to a t with the exception of adding black olives.
Tip: it is so much easier with a large cast iron that you can do everything in.
Thank you for the fabulous dinner date with my wife!
I Just made that recipe for dinner.. It.. Was.. AMAZING!! I didn’t found any Sundried tomatoes at the store so i used sundried tomatoes pesto and it turned out so great!! One of my favorite dish ive made so far!
This recipe is delicious!!! After just a few bites, my husband said, ‘Make sure you save that recipe!!” This will be a new regular for us. It was great night-of, but it also reheats really well as leftovers. I didn’t have any fresh basil, so I used dried instead (which was still good). But I think with fresh basil (which the recipe calls for) it would probably be even better, so I’m looking forward to doing that next time!! Thank you for this recipe and your many others! We love this site.
This looks AMAZING! Does the red pepper flakes make it spicy? My kids do not like anything spicy.
Hi Lindsey,
My family does not like spicy food either so I cut the amount of red pepper flakes in half and everyone loved it. This is a great recipe that I have passed on to family and friends and everyone has had great success with it.
My entire family loved this dish! Outstanding and foolproof recipe.
This was AMAZING!!! My whole family loved it! We ate it over pasta and their one request was that they had more sauce for their pasta. Could I double the pasta in the skillet for more of a pasta sauce? Thank you!
Well I made this for my husband and he said he would ask me to marry him all over again!! I made this with roasted baby Yukon potatoes, olive oil and s\p. Thank you for a winner!!
This is a fairly easy recipe for such a robust flavor profile. My whole family loved it! To make it a little easier to serve, (my kids won’t eat a whole chicken breast on their own) I used chicken tenderloins instead. Once cooked, I put the chicken in a casserole dish atop a bed of fresh spinach. Pour the sauce over the chicken and spinach, add the cheese, and bake just until the spinach wilts and the cheese melts. It turned out delicious! Served with oven roasted potatoes and baked tomato slices. Delish! Definitely a keeper!
Do you know the nutritional information on the Marry me chicken recipe? Thank you.
This looks so good! It seems like it would be on pork too!
Thanks for sharing! How far ahead of time can we make it?
This is a fan favorite for my boyfriend! I was always afraid to try cooking until I started dating him since he has a mom that is an incredible cook. I can’t remember how I served this the first time I made it but the second time I made it I served it over pasta and had to make some extra sauce. I am now making it again for the third time! I have never used a cast iron skillet when cooking the dish but might try it this time around.
We love this version! It works well with haddock (the fish cooks very fast, and be sure to add a little lemon on top of the fish in the end). Pork tenderloin medallions were pretty tasty as well. We also love using fresh sweet cherry tomatoes but the sun dried toms give it a different dimension. This is an all round favorite!
Thank you!!
This really was yummy! We did a few things differently however… We made the sauce on the oven and grilled the chicken on the grill – added it in for a ten-minute simmer at the end. Only suggestion I would offer is that we LOVE sauces and this recipe didn’t make enough sauce so I would 1.5 or double the sauce. Otherwise – DELISH!
I made this last night. We liked it! I added some Fresh Spinach Leaves and used diced Tomatoes instead of sundried. Served with Rice Pilaf. The only thing I will do next time is thicken the sauce.
Do you have to use heavy cream, or is there a substitute that can be used?
I made this for dinner tonight and it was amazing. I forgot the Parmesan cheese but it didn’t even need it. So tasty!!
Do you use dried tomatoes or in olive oil? Trying your recipe tonight.
Vicki, I add California Sundried Tomatoes packed in herbed Olive oil. The flavor is amazing!
Absolute winner in my family too! I was worried about the sauce being thick enough so sprinkled some plain flour on the chicken. Kids gave it 10 out of 10 and said was restaurant quality! Thank you!
OH EM Geeeeee… This recipe is amazingly delicious!! The only change I made was the addition of baby artichokes and fresh baby spinach leaves. I double the sauce, and serve it over angel hair pasta. Pair it with a crusty parmesan garlic bread, and you have the perfect meal! Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Not sure what happened but my chicken was overcooked and the sauce extremely runny. Great flavors though but the chicken was dry. I’m going to cook the sauce tomorrow and thicken it with a slurry and make a soup out of it.
Delicious! We will make more sauce next time. Enjoyed every morsel!
I have tried many recipes and this is hands down the best one I’ve ever tried. Went exactly by the recipe but just doubled the sauce. I asked my family is this a keeper and all said yes!
I could make this every night and my family wouldn’t complain!! It goes great with your bread. Thank You for sharing it with us😊
My husband had a fit over this (in a good way). Marry Me Chicken is going on the permanent rotation. It’s not complex, but feels special and decadent- I’ll make it for guests, definitely.
I also added a little Marsala wine to this and it was amazing.
Thanks for the recipe!
Chicken is super expensive for us right now (COVID), would you get similar results with chicken thighs? Thanks!
Very delicious