Y’all know I love one pot pasta meals, and I know a lot of you do too. They’re quick, easy, and pack a lot of flavor into only one little dish that needs to be cleaned at the end. Creamy one pot pastas, in particular, have become my go-to comfort food. This time I paired the tangy flavor of sun dried tomatoes with garlic and Parmesan for a simple but indulgent One Pot Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta.
Changes to the Original Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe:
Many readers were having trouble with the original recipe, so I reformulated it a bit based on my experience creating one pot pastas since this recipe was originally posted (it’s now based on my One Pot Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta). In particular, many people were having trouble with their milk curdling or the sauce not coming out smooth. Here is what I changed to create better and more consistent results:
- The milk is now added after the pasta simmers so the high heat and acidity from the tomatoes will not cause curdling.
- A small amount of cream cheese is added to the sauce to help stabilize and emulsify the Parmesan into the sauce.
- I also added a healthy dose of dried basil for a little more flavor!
Can I Substitute the Cream Cheese?
Cream cheese is great and keeping milk based sauces smooth and to help cheese melt smoothly without clumpig. If you just can’t stand cream cheese, you can replace half of the milk with heavy cream. This reduces the water content in the sauce, which will help the Parmesan emulsify properly.
Can I Add Meat?
Yes, this recipe is extremely flexible and can be made with or without meat. If you’d like to add chicken, you can dice up the chicken and sauté it in the skillet with the garlic in the beginning, or simply add sliced grilled chicken to the finished pasta. Italian sausage might also be great with this sun dried tomato pasta. Simply brown it in the skillet in the beginning with the garlic. Bacon would also be quite tasty. Brown the bacon in the skillet before the garlic, and drain off the excess fat before continuing with the recipe.
Tips for Cooking One Pot Pastas:
Getting one pot pastas just right can take some practice, so if you find you’re having trouble, here are a few tips:
- Stir every few minutes to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot, or to itself.
- After the pot has been brought to a boil, turn the heat down to low, or just above low, so the liquid is still simmering. If the liquid is not simmering, the pasta will not cook. The temperature setting can vary depending on your stove top and cookware.
- Use heavy cookware. Skillets and pots that are thin on the bottom don’t heat evenly and do not yield good results with the one pot cooking method because some areas of the pot will be simmering, while other areas are not.
- Keep the lid in place at all times when not stirring. This holds in the steam and helps the pasta cook more evenly.
- Watch the pasta. One pot pastas are a little like riding a bike. You have to observe and adjust as you go. If the liquid is almost all absorbed before the pasta is tender, add a little more water. If the pasta is almost tender, but there is still a lot of liquid, allow it to simmer without a lid for the last couple of minutes.
One Pot Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes ($1.66)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.26)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 8 oz. fettuccine ($0.67)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 2 cups chicken broth* ($0.26)
- 2 oz. cream cheese ($0.30)
- 1 cups whole milk ($0.37)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.44)
Instructions
- Chop the sun dried tomatoes into small bite-sized pieces.
- Add the butter and garlic to a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for about one minute, or until it is very fragrant.
- Add the fettuccine, sun dried tomatoes, dried basil, some freshly cracked pepper, and the chicken broth to the skillet. If needed, break the fettuccine in half to make sure it lays flat in the skillet and is submerged in broth.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and bring the broth to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, give the pasta a good stir, replace the lid, and turn the heat down to low or the lowest setting that maintains a simmer.
- Let the pasta simmer in the broth for 7-10 minutes, or until most of the broth is absorbed and the pasta is tender, stirring every couple of minutes and always replacing the lid.
- Keeping the heat on low, cut the cream cheese into chunks and stir it into the pasta. Once the cream cheese has melted, add the milk and stir until a smooth sauce forms. Finally, add the grated Parmesan over top and stir until it has melted into the sauce. Serve with extra freshly cracked pepper, if desired.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Scroll down for the step by step Photos!
Try These Other Creamy One Pot Pasta Recipes:
- One Pot Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
- One Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac and Cheese
- One Pot Veggie Pasta
- One Pot Creamy Mushroom Pasta
How to Make Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Pasta – Step by Step Photos
Chop about ½ cup sun dried tomatoes into small bite-sized pieces. You want a little bit in every bite, instead of a few larger pieces throughout. I used dried, non-oil packed sun dried tomatoes for this recipe because I find them easier to work with and the leftovers easier to store (no refrigeration needed).
Add 2 Tbsp butter and two minced cloves of garlic to a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute, or just until the garlic is a little softened and becomes really fragrant.
Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes, ½ tsp dried basil, some freshly cracked pepper, 8oz. fettuccine, and 2 cups chicken broth to the skillet. If your skillet or Dutch oven is not wide enough for the pasta to lay flat and submerged in the broth, you’ll want to break the pasta in half so it fits (I ended up breaking mine in half just after this photo).
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to high, and bring the broth up to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, give the pasta a good stir, replace the lid, and turn the heat down to low, or the lowest temperature that maintains a simmer. Continue to simmer the pasta for 7-10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes (always replacing the lid), or until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. If the pasta dries out while it cooks, add a little more water. There should be a little bit of thick saucy liquid left in the skillet once the pasta is cooked.
Cut 2 oz. cream cheese into chunks, then stir it into the pasta until it has melted (still over low heat). Adding the cream cheese before the milk helps stabilize the sauce and prevent curdling.
Once the cream cheese has melted into the pasta, add 1 cup milk and stir to combine.
Finally, sprinkle ¼ cup grated Parmesan over the pasta, and stir until it has melted into the sauce (the pasta is still over low heat).
And now you have a deliciously creamy and slightly tangy sun dried tomato pasta in cream sauce!
Season the pasta with more freshly cracked pepper, if desired, and serve!
Super quick and tasty! Our pot didn’t have a lid so the sauce was a bit thicker than it looks on the pictures but it still turned out great!
Just made this as my first one pot pasta ever and it turned out delicious. I added some spinach leaves right at the end, just before the parmesan.
Would probably be awesome with arugula leaves added too. It grows locally here so sometimes we get big bags for little money, and as a single household it can be a challenge to use it all.
Thanks for your recipes. Everything I’ve tried so far has been wonderful!
I make this recipe all the time and I love it! I would like to try it with wheat pasta. Do you think it would work or would I need to add more liquid?
We haven’t made it with whole wheat pasta yet, but a previous reader noted: I tried this tonight with whole wheat rotini, and it worked great. I didn’t make any modifications to the amount of liquid.
This is the best pasta dish I’ve ever made. Thank you so much. I’ve signed up for your newsletter and plan on purchasing your meal plans. Again thank you!
Thank you all around Kristine! We’re happy you’re here!
Can I still eat it if the sauce curdled?
Yes, curdled doesn’t necessarily mean it has gone bad. Curdling is the result of protein molecules coming into contact with too much heat and/or acid. The reason milk products also curdle when they spoil is because bacteria are producing acid. In this case, the acid is not coming from bacteria, but from the tomatoes. The acid and heat combination cause the protein molecules to clump up, but they’re still safe to eat. The same process is used to make cheese.
Excellent
Just added some roasted Italian long hot peppers and capers for extra flavor
Delicious additions!
My boyfriend and I love this recipe, we’ve made it quite a few times already. I like to add spinach and white or yellow onions to it but it’s great without them too!
I made this for a group of 30. Everyone loved it!!! I added roasted red pepper to the recipe as well.
The hubby loved – we had this for dinner tonight. Very fast and easy to make and filled us up. Thank you for sharing this!
Happy to hear it Alexia!
If I wanted to add some italian sausage at what stage would I add it to the pot?
I would brown it in the skillet just after the garlic and before adding the rest of the ingredients.
This came out amazing. I was able to add spinach and some Italian sausage to spice it up but the base recipe is great on its own.
Same, the milk just curdled and I have no idea why it happened. I thought I did everything right. Should I have bought that bouillon she was talking about?
If youre putting cold milk into warm broth it may curdle try adding a little warm broth into your milk before adding it to the pan or leaving it out a but to warm it up before cooking amd it should help thw curdeling
Mine still came out clumpy. Don’t know why.
I made this once a while ago with vegetable broth since I’m a vegetarian and I am pretty sure it worked flawlessly but now every time I try and make it the milk just curdles and it does not smooth out ): no idea what I’m doing to it. It was brilliant the one time I got it to work though
This sounds amazing and you have such great reviews! I cannot wait to try it, thank you! But can I use sun dried tomatoes in the bag, I see comments of people using sun dried tomatoes in oil??
Mine were the dry type in the bag (scroll down to the step by step photos to see which kind I used). :)