Marry Me Chicken

Creamy Marry Me Chicken is a crowd-pleasing quick and easy recipe – chicken thighs in a creamy sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and bacon! Even better is cooks up in one pot for easy cleanup and for busy weeknights.

Suitable for Gluten Free, Low Carb, and Keto diets. Weight Watchers points included.

We all love a quick and easy meal that tastes like a million dollars! And this creamy Marry Me Chicken certainly delivers, being an easy few ingredient dinner, with minimal prep and a whole load of plate licking flavor.

Marriage proposal here you come…..

Easy Chicken Dinner

It is a great weeknight dinner solution on those hectic days. Marry Me Chicken is delicious, the whole family will love it and it cooks it in a single pot in about 30 minutes! I mean, what’s not to love?!?!

Just as delicious and easy as this fragrant Cinnamon Chicken, Creamy Chicken Florentine and family approved Honey Garlic Chicken Tenders.

Rumor has it that serving this Sicilian Chicken dish will certainly result in a **marriage** proposal. Please do let me know if you try it and get results (LOL).

What Is Marry Me Chicken?

Is the most absolutely delicious combo of chicken thighs or chicken breast skillet-fried and then baked to perfection in a sun-dried tomato cream sauce with Parmesan cheese.

Seasonings like Italian Seasoning, thyme and red pepper flakes and fresh basil complete this delectable dish.

Why Make This Recipe

• Flavorful – The tomato cream sauce is surprisingly easy and delicious. Tomatoes and parmesan work so well together.
• Versatile – The easy chicken casserole pairs well with many different sides, so you can make use of what you have on hand. 
• Quick-Cooking – With a short cook time, get this comfort food meal on the table in under an hour.
• Make ahead – great to make ahead, meal planning and to feed a crowd.
• Budget-Friendly – Chicken thighs are an excellent choice for a budget friendly meal plan.

Tools Needed

• A handy skillet.
• Mixing bowls.
• Measuring cups and spoons.
• An instant read thermometer.

Ingredient Notes

You only need a few ingredients to make this delicious recipe.

• Chicken thighs – I used skin-on bone-in thighs, but feel free to use skinless ones.
• Seasoning – a combination of salt and pepper, garlic, Italian Seasoning, thyme, and red pepper flakes combine to make this fragrant and delicious. If you don’t like heat start with about 1/8th teaspoon red pepper flakes. You can swap in oregano for the Italian seasoning and skip the red pepper flakes.
• Sun dried tomatoes – Tangy, flavourful and also sweet, use store-bought sun-dried tomatoes chopped into small pieces. Keep an eye on the amount of salt you add in if your sundried tomatoes are super salty. In a pinch I have use pureed sundried tomato paste or fresh tomatoes (fresh will have a bit less flavor)
• Liquids  – This is simmered in chicken broth and heavy cream. You may want to use a reduced-sodium chicken broth since you are adding a few **salty* ingredients. You can use chicken stock or vegetable broth instead.
• Cheese – freshly grated Parmesan cheese adds the most wonderful flavor to this dish. Freshly grated Parmesan also dissolved better into the cheesy sauce.
• The secret ingredient – smoky bacon bits really elevate the flavor of this dish.
• Olive oil – Use a good quality olive oil for frying.
• Optional garnish – you can use herbs fresh basil or parsley for garnish.

How To Make Marry Me Chicken

Quick, easy to make chicken dinner you can cook up at any time, no matter what the occasion, so gather your ingredients and let’s make Marry Me Chicken.

Get full ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.

1. Preheat oven to 375 F / 190C / gas 5.
2. Add chicken to a plate or bowl and season with salt and pepper.
3. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add chicken to skillet and brown chicken thighs for 3-4 minutes per side. Then remove chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
4. Remove excess fat from the skillet and add in the garlic and cook until fragrant for 30 seconds till fragrant and add in the Italian seasoning, thyme, red peppers flakes, sun-dried tomatoes, and bacon.
5. Mix in the broth, the half cup heavy cream, and grated Parmesan cheese and simmer for 5 minutes for the flavors to develop and the cream thickens.
6. Add in the chicken skin-side up and transfer the oven safe skillet into the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes until the chicken cooks through (juices run clear).

Tips For Success and Variations

• Brown the chicken – While you can skip this step, browning the chicken adds a ton of extra flavor.
• Add in wine – A little splash of white wine adds a ton of flavor to this Sicilian Chicken.
• Lighten up – You can use half and half in place of the heavy cream to lighten the recipe a bit. But the tomato sauce will not be as thick and as creamy.
• Use a large oven safe skillet, so you can fit in more chicken thigh in one go.
• Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Chicken is cooked when the internal temperature reaches at least 165F / 74C.

Budget Friendly Notes

• Use chicken you have – If you already have chicken breasts use these instead although it is best if you cut them into chicken cutlets. The chicken breasts cutlets may need to cook for a little less time. Use skinless chicken breasts if you want to cut the calories.
• Add in veggies – You could substitute some of the chicken with mushrooms (or just add extra mushrooms). You will need to add a little more liquid if you decide to include extra veggies.

Plus…..

• Make it TWO meals –  Make a bit of extra sauce and serve the cream sauce over some pasta or rice.
• Save the bones – Toss the bones in an airtight bag in the freezer. When you have a bag full, toss them in a pot with water and some veggie scraps (leftover raw onion, carrots, or celery) and make a flavorful chicken broth to use in soup or other recipes.

Make Ahead and Storage

This Chicken Thigh recipe is perfect for prepping ahead.

• Prep Ahead – The chicken thighs can be seasoned (or can be browned and cooled) and then refrigerated for a couple of days.
• Store – Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
• Reheat – Slowly warm in a microwave or stovetop, but you will need to add in a little bit of chicken broth or water to thin it out

Meal Prep With Leftovers

This is a great recipe for meal prep. Cook once and eat for days.

• This recipe stores for 3 days so you can eat it on the day you cook it plus for more days.
• Separate leftover chicken into up to 3 portions in airtight meal prep containers (microwave safe) and let cool completely with the lids off.
• When cool, close them and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
• Reheat in the microwave for a couple of minutes, flipping the chicken half way through till warmed through.
• To vary it up through the week feel free to add in other leftovers like cooked veggies, angel hair pasta and Cilantro Lime Rice.

Cooking Chicken Safely

It is important to make sure that chicken is always cooked completely.

The most accurate way to check for doneness is to use a digital thermometer and insert it into the meatiest part of the chicken thigh to check the internal temperature.

Guidelines state that chicken is done and considered safe to eat once the internal temperature reaches at least 165F / 74C.

If the meat has not reached the appropriate temperature, cook for a few more minutes then check the temperature again. 

Alternatively, chicken is cooked if when you cut in with a knife, the juices run clear.

More Easy Chicken Recipes

• Oven Baked Chicken Tenders.
• Baked Ranch Chicken.
• Dump and Start Instant Pot Chicken Spaghetti.

Serving Suggestions

An easy and great serving suggestion is dump and start Instant Pot Red Potatoes, or this delicious Garlic Butter Pasta or creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes loved by the whole family. Other serving suggestions include.

If you want to keep it low carb then some Smothered Green Beans. or Smothered Cabbage or cauliflower rice is the way to go.

Weight Watchers Points

• There are 15 Blue Plan SmartPoints in one serving of this.
• If you use boneless skinless chicken breast, one serving will contain 6 Blue Plan SmartPoints.

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Did you make this recipe? Then I would love to hear how it turned out. Please leave a comment and star rating below. And I really appreciate you sharing this recipe with your family and friends. Enjoy every mouthful 😊🍲 – Bintu

Recipe adapted from Delish.com

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