Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Linguine

Name: Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Linguine
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 teaspoon smoked paprika; ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon black pepper; 12 ounces linguine; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 small onion (finely diced); 3 cloves garlic (minced); ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes; ½ cup sun dried tomatoes (finely diced); ⅓ cup dry white wine; 3 tablespoons tomato paste; ⅔ cup chicken broth (low sodium); 1¼ cups heavy cream; 3 cups fresh spinach; ½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated ); 1 teaspoon lemon zest; 2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)

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This Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Linguine is creamy, bold, and on the table in 40 minutes. Smoky paprika chicken, sweet sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and a Parmesan cream sauce with a real kick. The secret is frying the tomato paste until it goes deep and dark, and it’s the reason this sauce tastes like it simmered all afternoon!

Table of Contents

Close view of browned chicken slices on creamy sun-dried tomato linguine, with a fork tucked into the bowl.

A Cream Sauce With Some Personality

This is the pasta for when you want something rich and cozy, with a little more going on than cream and cheese.

The chicken gets rubbed with smoked paprika and cayenne, then seared until the edges char. The sauce brings sweet, chewy sun dried tomatoes, plenty of garlic, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Then heavy cream, Parmesan, and a little lemon zest pull it all together.

It’s the kind of dinner we all want once the evenings get cooler. A big pan on the stove, garlic and paprika filling the kitchen, and everybody wandering in to ask when it’s ready.

And it’s still a weeknight dinner. It takes 40 minutes, start to finish. The chicken sears while the water comes to a boil, and the sauce gets built right in the chicken pan. So all those browned bits end up in the sauce instead of in your sink.

Every forkful gets a bit of everything: smoky chicken, a tangy pop of tomato, and a sauce that clings to every strand of linguine.

Creamy sun-dried tomato chicken linguine served in a white skillet, topped with sliced chicken and parsley.

The 2 Steps You Can’t Rush

Everything else in this recipe is forgiving. These 2 are not.

Cook the wine all the way down. When the wine hits the pan, it’s going to smell sharp and boozy. Let it bubble until it’s almost completely gone, about 3 to 4 minutes. What’s left behind is all flavor and none of the bite. Pour the broth in too early and your sauce tastes like it has a secret drinking problem.

Fry the tomato paste. Most recipes stir tomato paste straight into the liquid and call it a day. We give it 2 full minutes in the hot pan first. It goes from bright red to a deep brick color, and that raw, tinny edge cooks off. What you’re left with is sweet, rich, and savory.

That’s where the depth in this sauce comes from. Not from simmering for an hour. From 2 minutes of patience and a wooden spoon.

How Spicy Is It?

Spicy enough that you’ll notice. Not so spicy you’ll be reaching for milk.

The heat comes in 2 layers. Cayenne on the chicken gives each bite a little punch, and red pepper flakes in the sauce give a slow warmth that builds. The heavy cream and Parmesan round off the sharp edges, so it ends up warm and cozy rather than fiery.

Cooking for spice shy eaters? Halve the red pepper flakes or leave them out entirely, and drop the cayenne to ¼ teaspoon. The smoked paprika isn’t hot at all, so the chicken still has plenty of flavor.

Want more? Pass extra red pepper flakes at the table so everybody can make their own choices.

Ingredients in Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Linguine

Overhead view of chicken, linguine, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, cream, Parmesan, and other ingredients arranged for spicy chicken linguine.

Chicken breasts (2 boneless skinless): Lean, tender, and quick to cook. If yours are on the thick side, slice them through the middle so they cook evenly.
Olive oil (1 tablespoon): This carries the spices and helps them cling to the chicken.
Smoked paprika (1 teaspoon): It’s where the smoky, grilled flavor comes from. Regular paprika works in a pinch, but you’ll lose the smoke, which is kind of the whole point.
Cayenne pepper (½ teaspoon): The first layer of heat.
Salt and black pepper (½ teaspoon each).
Linguine (12 ounces): Its flat shape holds onto a cream sauce better than spaghetti does. Fettuccine is a great stand in.
Butter (2 tablespoons): Melted right into the chicken pan so it picks up every browned bit.
Onion (1 small, finely diced): Diced small so it melts into the sauce. Give it time to soften and turn lightly golden.
Garlic (3 cloves, minced): Just 1 minute in the pan, because burnt garlic turns bitter fast.
Red pepper flakes (½ teaspoon): The second layer of heat, this time in the sauce.
Sun dried tomatoes (½ cup, finely diced): The star of the show. They’re sweet and tangy with a chewy bite, and dicing them fine spreads that flavor through every strand.
Dry white wine (⅓ cup): A Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. Use something you’d happily drink, since the flavor stays even after the alcohol cooks off.
Tomato paste (3 tablespoons): Fried for 2 minutes. You already know how I feel about this.
Chicken broth (⅔ cup, low sodium): Low sodium keeps the salt in your hands, and the Parmesan is bringing plenty of its own.
Heavy cream (1¼ cups): This is what makes the sauce rich. Lighter creams and milk are more likely to split at a simmer, so this isn’t the place to cut corners.
Fresh spinach (3 cups): It looks like a mountain and wilts down to almost nothing in a minute.
Parmesan cheese (½ cup, grated): Grate it from a block. The pregrated stuff has coatings that stop it from melting smoothly.
Lemon zest (1 teaspoon): This brightens up all that cream. Zest only, no juice.
Fresh parsley (2 tablespoons, chopped).

How to Make Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Linguine

Spiced oil and paprika mixture beside chicken breasts being brushed with marinade before cooking spicy sun-dried tomato chicken linguine.

Season the chicken: Stir the olive oil, smoked paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. It’ll look like a thick red paste. Slice each chicken breast through the middle so you end up with even pieces, then rub the spice mixture all over them.

Seasoned chicken breasts searing in a skillet, with browned crust forming on both sides before they are sliced.

Sear the chicken: Heat a large pan over medium high heat and cook the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until it’s lightly charred and cooked through. Move it to a cutting board to rest. Don’t wash that pan. All the good stuff is stuck to the bottom.

Dry linguine going into boiling water, followed by cooked pasta being lifted from the pot with a fork.

Cook the linguine: Bring a big pot of well salted water to a boil and cook the linguine until al dente. It’ll keep cooking in the sauce, so you want a little bite left. Scoop out a cup of pasta water before you drain it.

Butter and minced garlic melting in the skillet, followed by chopped sun-dried tomatoes cooking in the pan.

Soften the onion: Turn the heat to medium and melt the butter in the chicken pan, scraping up the browned bits as it melts. Add the onion and let it cook until soft and lightly golden. Then stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, and sun dried tomatoes for 1 minute, just until your kitchen smells amazing.

Chopped sun-dried tomatoes and aromatics cooking in the skillet until softened and coated in the pan juices.

Reduce the wine: Pour in the wine and let it bubble away until it’s almost completely gone, about 3 to 4 minutes. Be patient. This is one of the 2 steps.

Tomato paste frying in the skillet before cream and broth are stirred in to make the orange sauce.

Fry the tomato paste: Add the tomato paste and keep it moving for 2 minutes, until it darkens to a deep brick red. This is the other step.

Build the sauce: Pour in the broth and give it a good stir to lift everything off the bottom of the pan. Add the cream, bring it to a gentle simmer, and season with salt and pepper. Gentle is the key word. A hard boil is how cream sauces split.

Fresh spinach wilting into the creamy sun-dried tomato sauce before cooked linguine is tossed through it.

Wilt the spinach: Pile the spinach in and stir until it collapses, about 1 minute.

Parmesan, lemon zest, and sliced chicken added to the linguine before everything is tossed through the creamy sauce.

Toss it all together: Use tongs to move the linguine straight into the pan and toss. Slice the chicken thinly against the grain and add it with any juices from the board. Then add the Parmesan, lemon zest, and parsley.

Loosen and serve: Toss everything, adding a splash of pasta water at a time until the sauce is glossy and coats every strand. Get it to the table while it’s hot.

Overhead view of sliced chicken resting on creamy sun-dried tomato linguine with spinach in a white skillet.

Tips

Salt the pasta water well. It’s your only chance to season the linguine itself.
Use the chicken pan for the sauce. Those browned bits are free flavor.
Slice the chicken against the grain. Look for the lines running through the meat and cut across them. The strips will be noticeably more tender.
Keep the sauce at a gentle simmer once the cream goes in.
Hold back some pasta water until the very end. The sauce thickens as it sits, and a splash brings it right back to life.

Substitutions and Variations

Pasta: Any long pasta works. Fettuccine is my first choice after linguine, and spaghetti is fine too.
Wine: Replace it with the same amount of chicken broth. You’ll lose a little depth, but it’ll still be delicious.
Heat: See the spice section above for dialing it up or down.
I haven’t tested these, so treat them as ideas and not part of the recipe: boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts (cook them to 175°F/79°C), shrimp instead of chicken, or chopped kale in place of the spinach.

Overhead serving of browned chicken slices over creamy linguine and spinach in a wide speckled bowl.

Leftovers and Storage

Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

The sauce firms up a lot once it’s cold. That’s normal. Reheat it gently on the stove or in the microwave with a generous splash of broth or milk, stirring as it warms, until it’s creamy again.

Don’t freeze it. Cream sauces separate when they thaw, and there’s no bringing them back.

What to Serve With It

This pasta is rich, so it loves something green and sharp next to it. An arugula salad with a lemony dressing is my go to.

Garlic bread is never a bad idea when there’s sauce this good at the bottom of the bowl.

For a veggie with a little bite, try roasted broccoli or roasted asparagus.

Metal tongs twirling creamy linguine in a serving bowl topped with sliced browned chicken and fresh herbs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my sauce split?

It boiled too hard after the cream went in, or the Parmesan went in over high heat. Keep it at a gentle simmer and it’ll stay smooth. Pregrated cheese can also make it grainy, so grate from a block.

My sauce is too thin. What do I do?

Let it simmer a couple of minutes longer before the pasta goes in. It’ll also thicken as you toss in the Parmesan and the starchy linguine, so don’t panic too early.

Can I make it ahead?

It’s best fresh, since cream sauces thicken as they sit. If you want a head start, season the chicken earlier in the day and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.