Low Carb Marry Me Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

The story behind marry me chicken is that the dish is so delish that you’ll make it for someone and they’ll want you to marry them. In my life, what actually happened was my husband making pasta puttanesca for me on our first date. That was more than 35 years ago. Anyway, this is a low-carb version of the popular dish Marry Me Chicken, made with sun-dried tomatoes.

Low Carb Marry Me Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I realize that every recipe you’ve ever seen for Marry Me Chicken includes sundried tomatoes. However, if you’ve never made this dish before and are inspired to make it, you probably didn’t know about the sun dried tomatoes. That’s why I put them in the title of this article. To be honest, until I tried it, I didn’t realize it was a critical ingredient. Truthfully, I don’t love sundried tomatoes but I wanted to be true to this recipe’s origins.

On its face, Marry Me Chicken is a pretty basic chicken dish. You’ve got boneless, skinless chicken breasts and lots of seasonings. Plus, there is chicken broth and heavy cream for knock-your-socks-off sauce.

This recipe comes together in about 30 minutes. Prep takes 10 minutes; the dish cooks in 20 minutes. So it’s not a huge time commitment and you end up with a restaurant-quality meal. For those following a low-carb diet, it’s a dream come true. Each serving has 9 net carbs. So eat up.

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon basil dried
• 1 teaspoon oregano dried
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme dried
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• parsley garnish

Step-by-Step Instructions

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper on both sides. In a large non-stick or cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook until they are golden brown on both sides, approximately 10 minutes per side. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.

In the same skillet, add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and minced garlic, cooking for about 2 minutes until they become fragrant. Next, stir in the dried basil, oregano, and thyme, cooking for an additional few seconds.

Pour in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow it to cook for 5 minutes, letting it reduce slightly. Then, lower the heat and add the heavy cream, stirring in the grated Parmesan cheese until it melts and is well incorporated.

Return the chicken breasts to the skillet, nestling them into the sauce. Cover and let it simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce has thickened. Before serving, garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Notes

If you’re not a big fan of sun-dried tomatoes, you can substitute other ingredients. For instance, you can use fresh, grape tomatoes that you’ve halved. Just sautee them in the pan with the garlic in the same step as you would the sun dried tomatoes.

Don’t have fresh grape tomatoes? You can use a can of diced tomatoes. Just be sure to drain them before adding them to the pan — again in the same recipe step with the garlic as you would have with the sun dried tomatoes.

Here’s another reason to consider making this dish using fresh tomatoes: you’ll save yourself some carbs. A half cup of sundried tomatoes has about 31 total carbs. A half cup of fresh or diced tomatoes has about 4 carbs. So you’ll truly make this a low(er) carb version of Marry Me Chicken with that substitution.