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Fall in love with this marry me chicken pasta recipe! It pairs the convenience of rotisserie chicken with an amazingly flavorful garlic tomato cream sauce, and it’s ready fast.
You may also enjoy my Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta or The Best Penne alla Vodka Recipe.
Why you’ll love it
If you haven’t heard of Marry Me Chicken, it’s time you open your heart to it. Readers adore it, so naturally I had to adapt the skillet version into an irresistible pasta! This dish has a similar simple creamy garlic, parmesan, tomato sauce with a perfect union of herbs.
Using rotisserie or leftover chicken is one of my favorite shortcuts, and it works great in this marry me pasta. The marriage of flavors in the creamy sauce will supposedly snag you a spouse. It’ll be love at first bite with this 30-minute pasta that’s super easy to make.
What you’ll need
- Pasta – use any shape! I like a sturdy pasta that holds sauce well like rigatoni or farfalle.
- Butter and flour – to make a quick roux to thicken it up
- Garlic – for savory goodness
- Tomato paste and sun-dried tomatoes – plenty of concentrated tomato flavor
- Wine – use a dry white wine like sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio, or use chicken broth
- Heavy cream – using real cream makes sauces as silky as satin
- Oregano and fresh basil – this duo gives a herby burst of flavor
- Red pepper flakes – they give a gentle warmth/depth of flavor and don’t make it spicy. I wouldn’t skip them! They really enhance the taste.
- Chicken – I use rotisserie for ease
- Parmesan – freshly grated tastes and melts into the sauce better
Pro tip
To make this recipe really pop, choose a white wine you actually enjoy drinking. I don’t ever recommend cooking wine. It’s lower quality than the kind you drink and can be extremely salty, therefore not suitable for being consumed on its own, so I don’t like to cook with it either.
How to make marry me chicken pasta
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Boil the pasta. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Stir in the flour until combined, cooking for about a minute. Add the garlic, tomato paste, and white wine. Let it bubble. Add the cream, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, crushed red pepper, and chicken.
Stir the sauce, and cook until it’s reduced somewhat. Add in the parmesan and basil, and remove from the stove. Generously season with salt & pepper to bring out the flavors. Toss with the drained pasta, and enjoy.
Substitutions and variations
- You could try adding in some spinach towards the end of cooking time to add some greens!
- I don’t recommend subbing the cream for something lower fat because there’s a good chance the sauce will curdle due to the acidity from the tomatoes, and the sauce won’t thicken as well.
- You can leave out the chicken if you want it to be a meatless meal, or use shrimp instead of chicken for a twist.
- Try my Marry Me Shrimp Pasta for a seafood twist.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Here’s the Le Creuset cast iron skillet pictured, but this budget-friendly Lodge skillet is great too.
- Mince garlic with a squeeze of a garlic press. No peeling needed!
- A Microplane grater is the best way to get a nice dusting of parmesan.
What to serve with marry me chicken pasta
- My 10-Minute Caesar Dressing is one I make at least weekly, and it goes well with this elegant chicken pasta! Try it with my Easy Homemade Garlic Parmesan Croutons too. For a change, make my Creamy Pesto Dressing with spring mix.
- Garlic knots or my Extra Cheesy Garlic Bread round out the meal.
Leftovers and storage
- Store leftover pasta for 3-4 days fridge in a covered container.
- Reheat slowly over a low heat. You might need to add another splash of cream to revitalize the sauce. As always, I recommend boiling up fresh pasta if you know you’ll have a lot of leftovers.
- I don’t recommend freezing this due to the dairy.
More easy chicken recipes
If you made this easy marry me chicken pasta, please leave a star rating and review below! I love when readers engage with my recipes. Tag me on Instagram as well!
Marry Me Chicken Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 tablespoon flour
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/3 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy/whipping cream
- 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 cups cooked/rotisserie chicken shredded
- 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese + more for serving
- 1 small handful fresh basil torn/chopped
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil a salted pot of water for the pasta and cook it al dente according to package directions.
- When the pasta is about 10 minutes away from being done, add the butter to a skillet over medium heat. Once it melts, sprinkle the flour in and cook for about a minute, stirring often.
- Add in the garlic, tomato paste, and wine. Give it a good stir and let it bubble for about one minute.
- Whisk in the cream, then stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, red pepper flakes, and chicken, and cook it for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened to your liking.
- Stir in the parmesan and basil and take the skillet off the heat. Season generously with salt & pepper.
- Prior to draining the pasta, reserve some of the hot pasta water. Add the drained pasta to the skillet and toss until coated. If needed, pour in a splash of the hot pasta water to the sauce to thin it out a bit. Serve immediately with more parmesan if desired.
Notes
- I don’t recommend subbing the heavy cream for anything with a lower fat content (e.g. half-and-half or milk) because the tomato in the sauce is likely to curdle it, and you’ll have to add more flour to thicken the sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Me, my husband, and 5 year old son loved this recipe! It was delicious. My husband and I aren’t really tomato people so I used half the amount of the tomato paste and 1/3 cup of drained Italian style petite diced tomatoes to try and tame the tomato flavors to our tastes. I also didn’t have fresh basil on hand so I used around 2 tsp or so of dried basil.
It didn’t really thicken for me. so I just put a little splash of cornstarch and water mixture.
Definitely will be adding this to the dinner rotation. Thank you!
I’m so glad you guys liked it! Thanks, Courtney! 😀
so… your Marry Me Chicken Pasta is incredible! I made a few tweaks: swapped cream for half-and-half, added a tablespoon of Boursin to the roux, used tomato basil marinara instead of paste, upgraded to garlic parmesan basil compound butter, and used TJ’s Aglio e Olio seasoning instead of crushed red pepper.
lol i’m calling it “Engaged Pasta”. thank you for the recipe, its a new fave &&& can’t wait to put it in weekly rotation.
Thanks, Jasmine!
A new family favorite dinner! Thank you so much!
You’re very welcome, Laura!
SO GOOD!
Thanks!
Thisnwas my first time ever making of having Marry Me chicken. It was so good and now I love sun dried tomatoes! Definitely a go to meal for my house! I asked my husband for the cookbook as an xmas gift this year.
Aww I love that!! Hope you love the book, Vanessa!
Omg so easy! And so delicious! I added spinach as some of the comments suggested and it was yum yum!
Thank you, Michelle!
Wow… this is probably one of the best pastas I’ve made! A few changes, threw the garlic in with the butter and added a bit more flour until it felt thick enough. And I eyed extra tomato paste instead of sun dried tomatoes! 10/10!!
Thank you, Emma! 😀 Glad you liked it!
This recipe is amazingly simple, but the outcome is so delicious. My whole family loves it, including my teen picky eater. I noticed that the garlic is not sautéed, and I believe the flavor would improve with sautéing the garlic with the butter. I’ll try that next time.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Can this be made without tomato..I have a friend who is highly allergic to tomato.
Hi! You could try, but it may taste like it’s missing something. Be sure to salt the sauce pretty well and maybe add a little lemon if needed for acidity.
I made it without the tomato paste and it was delicious, although I did add the sun-dried tomatoes. I think it would be fine without those as well. The big flavor comes from the butter, garlic, cream, and parmesan.
Love anything with pasta! Your recipes are always delicious!
Aww thanks so much, Denise!! 😀