Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Crisp-tender chicken in the most amazing cream sauce ever. It’s so good, you’ll want to guzzle down the sauce!
I know Thanksgiving is in a few days but I just needed a break from all the turkey-stuffing-sweet potato-brussels sprouts taste testing and try something fun with something completely unrelated to Thanksgiving. Like chicken.
But this is definitely not your ordinary chicken dish. It’s better. Way better. After all, how can you go wrong with a sun dried tomato cream sauce with the most crisp chicken thighs?
The cream sauce is just so good, you’ll actually want to just skip the chicken and eat the sauce with a spoon instead!
Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Crisp-tender chicken in the most amazing cream sauce ever. It's so good, you'll want to guzzle down the sauce!
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup julienned sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ cup basil leaves, chiffonade
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large oven-proof skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; set aside.
- Melt remaining tablespoon butter in the skillet. Add garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chicken broth, heavy cream, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan, thyme, oregano and basil.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.
- Place into oven and roast until completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 175 degrees F, about 25-30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with basil, if desired.
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I’ve made this recipe quite a few times now and there are a few suggested edits I would make. The flavors are lovely, but a few minor tweaks to the steps would make this outstanding!
– The amount of butter called for far exceeds what is necessary. Reducing this may cut down on the separation a number of readers are experiencing. Also, to this end, typically after browning thighs, a significant amount of fat runs off this cut. I would suggest adding a step to pour this excess off prior to adding butter to the pan to cook the garlic etc.
– Also, 2-3 minutes a side is an underestimate of the time needed to develop color on the thighs or a fond in the pan. I’d suggest 5 minutes a side at a minimum.
– Speaking of fond, the way this is worded, it doesn’t seem there is an effort made to deglaze the pan with the broth prior to adding the remaining ingredients. A seasoned cook would know to do so prior to adding the cream or other ingredients. But if added all at once, this could again contribute to the separation effect and may confuse the less experienced.
-For my own personal tastes, I’ve subbed in a 1/4c of dry white wine for 1/4c of the chicken broth. This adds a nice tangy undertone which highlights the sundried tomatoes. But that’s just my preference! (If you do this, make sure the wine has cooked off before adding the cream, or it will curdle!)
-Do not bring the sauce to a boil after the cream has been added. This will also contribute to separation. Boiling cream = breaking. The sauce should instead be brought to a simmer before being placed in the oven.
-I’d also suggest cooking with a lid on for all but the last 10 minutes in the oven. Without the lid, the sauce evaporates almost entirely. With it on the entire time, the sauce doesn’t thicken.
Get rid of the heavy cream and use fat free half and half. This will still give you that thick creamy sauce without that fat. If you are scared it won’t be thick (it will) whisk a little bit of flour or corn starch into the half and half before you add to the pan.
Had this tonight. Fantastic! Used skinless, boneless thighs. Super easy and quick!
I found your site a couple weeks ago. Have already sampled several recipes. What I’ve tried has been great. Keep up the great work. So glad I found your site.
Hi wanting to know if u can use chicken stock instead of the chicken broth trying to find chicken broth in a can and can not seem to locate any.
Yes!
This chicken is SO GOOD! I’m coming back here to your recipe to make it for the second time. It’s a wonderful low carb meal that doesn’t leave us feeling like we’re missing out on carbs. My kids and husband love it too. I added steamed broccoli florets and cooked them with the whole dish. Thank you for this great recipe! I agree that a small portion goes a long way.
My family loved this, were mostly a beef family, but this was just scrumptious. My husband was licking the pan after it was finished, the sauce is amazing!
The first time I made this recipe the sauce separated….but was still yummy! So this time I browned the thighs and put them in a baking dish to finish in the oven. I made the sauce in the browning pan and when the thighs were almost completely done I put them in the hot sauce and finished them in the oven. No separation and they were awesome!
do we out the sauce into the oven as well or just the chicken?
Both the chicken and the sauce should be placed in the oven.
This was AMAZING!! I also doubled the sauce. I used boneless skinless tenderloins, added portabella mushrooms and added garlic knots. I got 2 marriage proposals at work (fake of course) because of this reciept!!!
Just wondering where the yellow / golden color of the sauce comes from? Is there a certain ingredient that achieves this?
Louis, the yellow/golden color comes from the oil of the sun-dried tomatoes.
How? When the recipe calls for the oil to be drained. I too did not end up with a very yellow/golden sauce.
The tomatoes still have some excess oil even after it is drained.
This recipe is amazing, everyone in my family loves it! The only thing I did different was double the sauce portion of the recipe and served it over angel hair pasta, because the sauce is AMAZING!
This is a yummy recipe. I make a side of pasta and put the extra sauce on top. I always modify recipes but this one didn’t need it. Was delicious. Great to impress company!!
Hi. this recipe looks delcious. What I am wondering about, I have a bunch of sun dried tomtaotes that are dried not packed in oil. Can I use them for your recipe? Do I need to rehydrate & oil them ? Thanks!
It is best to use sun dried tomatoes that are packed in oil – this becomes a key ingredient for the cream sauce.
hi! i just wanted to know what you usually serve this with? I was thinking pasta maybe? any suggestions?
Kayla, here is a list of all my side dishes – the slow cooker garlic parmesan potatoes are a favorite of mine! 🙂
this looks it would be delish over schnitzel w egg noodles!!! making tomorrow!
I need advice. My sauce actually wasn’t that good. It wasn’t very rich, as I expected, and most of the flavor I got out of it seemed to be from the red pepper flakes.
Here’s what I did, please tell me what I did wrong:
After searing the chicken, I put another tablespoon of butter, red pepper flakes, and the garlic in the pan as directed (on medium-high heat), and within seconds everything was burned so I threw it out and started the sauce in a new pan. Was I wrong in doing that? Is the garlic supposed to be toasted? Instead of cooking the sauce and the chicken in an oven-safe skillet, I cooked the sauce in a regular skillet then for the oven I put the sauce into a corningware dish and then put the chicken in….is there something different with cooking in an oven safe skillet that would lead to a change in flavor? My sauce never really seemed to thicken, either. I used heavy whipping cream instead of heavy cream because that was what my grocery store had. I used reduced sodium broth, but not unsalted butter. The recipe sounded so good and I was so disappointed in my result! Help!
Yes, the chicken juices with the butter, red pepper flakes and garlic bring in a ton of flavor. If it burned within seconds, then your heat source may have been set too high. I also recommend using an oven-safe skillet so that none of the flavors/juices are lost during the transfer.
I LOVE ALL OF YOUR RECIPES, YOU ARE GOOD! THANK YOU, AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
Thanks for sharing the recipes. Just made for tonight dinner the sauce truly amazing!!!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! I paired it with roasted asparagus, French bread, and a sangria wine. I also added fettucini as a filler to put the extra sauce over.
I wish I could post a picture, it looked gorgeous<3
Can you use chicken breast instead of thighs?
Yes, absolutely, although cooking time may need to be adjusted.