This Marry Me Chicken Recipe is The Bees Knees!

Embrace the spirit of the season with a dish so divine, it’s nicknamed “Marry Me Chicken.” If this Marry Me Chicken Recipe is worthy of such a title, it’s undoubtedly fit for a celebration or even a weeknight meal.

How to Make This Marry Me Chicken Recipe

To kick off this delightful recipe, begin by chopping up 1/3 cup of sun-dried tomatoes. Designed to serve four, this dish features boneless, skinless chicken thighs—enough for an intimate holiday gathering. Feel free to adjust the quantities if you’re expecting a larger crowd.

Season your chicken with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, then dredge it in flour, ensuring each piece is fully coated. In a medium or large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and melt 2 tablespoons of butter. If one is missing from your pantry, don’t worry; simply use four tablespoons of the other. Brown the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side until it reaches a golden hue and cooks through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set it aside.

In the same pan, add 2 teaspoons of garlic and sauté for less than a minute. Introduce one cup of chicken stock (or water with chicken bullion) to deglaze the pan, scraping up those flavorful brown bits. Now, enrich the sauce with one cup of heavy cream and a half-cup of Parmesan cheese. Lower the heat to medium-low and let the sauce simmer, infusing it with thyme and oregano for an aromatic touch.

Stir in the sundried tomatoes, adding a burst of color and robust flavor to the sauce. Return the chicken to the pan, letting it simmer for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. As the sauce thickens, it encapsulates the essence of the dish, making it a truly memorable dish. A this point the chicken is ready to serve!

What I love About This Recipe

Sun dried tomatoes and heavy cream create a delightful sauce that is full of flavor. While the cooking time is active, this dish takes only about 30 minutes start to finish. The dish is good enough to Marry someone over and it’s pretty low ingredient and easy to make!

What To Serve With This Marry Me Chicken Recipe

You have many options when it comes to serving this dish. I love to serve this over mashed potatoes. I have a simple recipe here or you can use instant mashed potatoes (which I have totally done!). If potatoes aren’t your thing, pasta is a great choice. Pasta is an especially good option if you’re short on chicken and want to slice up the chicken smaller and mix it into the pasta. This can really stretch the meal for a crowd (see swaps below for more details).

For a vegetable a fresh garden or caesar salad is always delicious. I especially love the idea of all three of these sides as well:

• Roasted Asparagus With Lemon
• Slow Cooker Green Beans and Bacon
• Grandma’s Green Beans

Make it Healthier:

I’m always looking for new ways to add veggies to my dishes. Here are some ideas to add more nutrients to this dish:

• It’s super easy to add spinach to this sauce, add fresh or cooked and drained frozen spinach when you add the chicken back to the pan.
• Serve this dish with cauliflower rice instead of a carbohydrate.
• If you aren’t into cauliflower rice, ancient grains such as quinoa are a good idea too. 

Make it Kid Friendly:

I always recommend you adjust recipes based on what your family likes. If your kids or even other family members are weary of this dish here are some swap recommendations to get them trying new things without serving a completely different dish:

• Leave some of all of the chicken out of the sauce at the end and serve the sauce on the side (if you do this, whisk in a tablespoon of flour to thicken the sauce). This will allow chicken lovers to try the sauce separate. I always ask that my kids try a “no thank you bite” of something they haven’t tried before, even if they don’t indulge in all of it. It gets them to try new things without the pressure of having to eat all of it.

Swap Ideas:

• You can always use butter for oil or oil for butter depending on what you have. The fat is important as an instrument for transferring heat to the chicken but not as important for flavor in this case.
• You can easily swap out chicken thighs for thin sliced chicken breasts or even salmon depending on what you have.
• If you don’t have a lot of chicken, you can always cut the chicken into smaller pieces and add pasta directly to the sauce with a little pasta water making it more of a pasta dish than a chicken dish.
• You can always swap chicken broth for water and chicken bouillon (this is significantly cheaper) or just water and salt, if you’re really in a bind)
• If you don’t have heavy cream half and half or even milk will work but you will want to add a 2 teaspoons of flour to the pan after you remove the chicken. Toast the flour with the grease for about a minute to create a roux, then add the chicken broth. This will help thicken the sauce.

Shopping Tips:

• Stock up on your favorite meats when they go on sale and freeze them.
• If you don’t use sun dried tomatoes often, opt for a smaller package. Sometimes you can find a small sealed bag of them that is more of a single serve than a larger container you may not use in the future.
• Buy multiple boxes of pasta when you can find it for $1 or less. Pasta lasts a long time in your cabinet and is great to have on hand. 
• Block and shredded cheese can be frozen so if you find a good deal on parmesan, stocking up and freezing it might not be a bad idea.
• Always look at unit price for cheese, the blocks are often less expensive per lb than shredded and shredding at home just makes better cheese anyway.

As always, please share your own recommendations on how to make this dish healthier, more kid friendly, swap ideas, and budget shopping tips in the comments!

FOR MORE INEXPENSIVE FAMILY RECIPES CHECK OUT THESE VIDEOS:

• 3 Delicious Pantry Friendly Meals
• 105 Meals for $115 – Feeding My Family For a week
• The Top 10 Secrets to saving big on food!

MORE WEEKNIGHT RECIPES TO TRY:

• Instant Pot Chicken and Potatoes
• Cheesy Tortellini Bake(My Kids LOVE THIS!)
• Rotisserie Chicken Enchiladas! (These are SO EASY!)

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