Marry Me Chicken Soup (Creamy, One Pot, 40 Minutes)

Marry me chicken soup is the comfort food recipe I have made more than any other this fall — everything people love about the viral creamy sun-dried tomato chicken, loosened into a brothy, parmesan-rich soup you eat with a spoon and a heel of bread.

It is one pot, forty minutes start to finish, and the kind of dinner that makes the kitchen smell like a restaurant while you are still in your work clothes.

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This creamy chicken soup basically makes itself.

• One pot, forty minutes, no shortcuts that taste like shortcuts. The chicken poaches right in the broth and gets shredded back in, so there is no separate pan and no dry chicken. Same easy logic as my crockpot chicken gnocchi soup, just faster.
• Sun-dried tomatoes do all the heavy lifting. They bring sweetness, acid and a deep tomato backbone that a can of plain tomatoes never manages. It is exactly what makes the original marry me chicken worth the hype.
• 34 grams of protein per bowl. Between the chicken, the cream and a real handful of parmesan, this lands as a full dinner rather than a starter. See where that fits your day on the protein calculator, or pair it with my white chicken chili in the weekly soup rotation.

Here's what you'll need.

Chicken breasts, an onion, garlic, a jar of sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, tomato paste, flour, chicken broth, heavy cream, parmesan, small pasta shells and a bag of baby spinach. Nothing unusual, and most of it is already in the pantry.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — SEAR THE CHICKEN

Season the chicken breasts generously with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high and sear the chicken 3 minutes per side, just until golden — it does not need to cook through. Lift it out onto a plate.

STEP 2 — SOFTEN THE AROMATICS

Drop the heat to medium and add the diced onion to the same pot with a pinch of salt. Cook 4 minutes until soft, then stir in the garlic and the chopped sun-dried tomatoes for another minute until the whole pot smells like the inside of a good Italian deli.

STEP 3 — BUILD THE BASE

Stir in the tomato paste and the flour and cook them for a full 90 seconds, scraping the bottom. The paste should darken to a deep brick red — that is where the soup gets its body and its savory depth, so do not rush it.

STEP 4 — POUR IN THE BROTH

Add the chicken broth a splash at a time at first, whisking so the flour loosens without lumps, then pour in the rest. Return the seared chicken and any juices to the pot and bring it up to a gentle simmer.

STEP 5 — SIMMER, THEN ADD THE PASTA

Simmer covered for 12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through at 165°F. Lift the chicken out to shred, and while you do, stir the small pasta shells into the simmering broth and cook them 8 minutes to just under al dente.

STEP 6 — CREAM AND PARMESAN

Turn the heat to low. Stir the shredded chicken back in along with the heavy cream and the grated parmesan, a handful at a time so it melts smoothly. The broth will turn a pale blush orange and thicken just enough to coat the spoon.

STEP 7 — WILT THE SPINACH AND SERVE

Fold in the baby spinach and let it wilt for a minute off the heat. Taste for salt, add red pepper flakes if you like a little heat, and ladle it out with extra parmesan and torn basil on top.

If slow, cozy, Mediterranean-leaning dinners are your thing, you will get a lot out of the Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Cook the tomato paste properly. Ninety seconds in the dry pot is the single biggest flavor decision in this recipe. Stirred in at the end it tastes raw and tinny; cooked down it tastes like it simmered all afternoon.
• Use the oil from the sun-dried tomato jar. Swap a tablespoon of it in for some of the olive oil. It is already infused with garlic and herbs and it costs you nothing.
• Cook the pasta a minute short. It keeps softening in the hot broth, and it will keep swelling in the fridge. Undercooked by a minute today is perfectly cooked at the table.
• Grate your own parmesan and add it off the boil. Pre-grated cheese is coated in anti-caking starch and will go grainy. Real parmesan stirred into a low simmer melts into silk.

Why this one earns a place in the weeknight rotation.

• It is a genuine one-pot dinner. Protein, vegetables, starch and a creamy broth all happen in the same pot, which means one thing to wash and no side dish to plan if you do not want one.
• Make-ahead friendly with one small change. Cook the soup through the cream step and leave the pasta out; refrigerate up to 4 days, then boil the shells fresh when you reheat. The base is actually better on day two.
• It scales and it freezes. Double it in a big dutch oven for a crowd, or freeze the pasta-free base in flat bags for three months — a full comfort food dinner waiting in the freezer.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Baked feta pasta — when you want two creamy tomato things on the table and no apologies.
• Mediterranean chickpea salad — cold, sharp and crunchy — the perfect foil for a rich, creamy soup.
• Roasted cauliflower — it roasts while the soup simmers and needs zero attention.
• Air fryer brussels sprouts — crispy, salty, and done in the time it takes to shred the chicken.
• Apple crisp — the fall dessert that belongs after a bowl of this.

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The pasta will drink up broth as it sits, so add a splash of stock when you reheat. For freezing, make the soup without the pasta and freeze up to 3 months — cream-based soups separate a little on thawing but come back together with a good whisk over low heat.

Reheating: Reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low, stirring, with a splash of broth or water to loosen it. Avoid a hard boil: the cream and parmesan can split. In the microwave, use 60-second bursts and stir between each one.

More easy comfort food recipes...

Lasagna soup Homemade chicken and dumplings Crockpot chicken gnocchi soup Marry me chicken

In the mood for something sweet afterwards? Today's other new recipe is my pumpkin cheesecake bars — the easy fall dessert, no water bath required.

Cozy, slow-simmered dinners without the weeknight scramble.

The Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is full of exactly this kind of cooking — tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and good broth doing the work while you do something else.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

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