Who has heard of “marry me” chicken?
Apparently so delicious it inspires marriage proposals?! Well, with all of that heavy cream in the original recipe, I can assure you I wouldn’t feel very amorous much less up to marriage after (and neither would my boyfriend who has a dairy allergy.) So I reconfigured the recipe a bit, and created a low (or no) dairy option to give you the flavor without the heaviness. Plus asparagus! (And it elicited an enthusiastic “if you made this for me every night, you’re on for marriage” from the significant other 😜). Seriously it is bomb. I would make this for company-if that were allowed right now. Here’s how to make it:
First, prepare the asparagus and put it on a sheet pan lined with parchment. (Rinse, dry, trim the ends, toss in olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Optional sprinkle of parm at the end, which I highly encourage!) Preheat your oven to 425.
In a cast iron skillet or dutch oven, heat a good splash of olive oil over medium high heat.
Pat 2 large chicken breasts dry and season them with salt and pepper. Sear them for about 4 mins per side until golden (don’t worry about cooking them through just yet; you just want the sides browned up nicely). Take the chicken out and set it aside.
Add 4 cloves of smashed garlic, 1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of chicken stock to the skillet. Stir continuously on high while cooking for about 10 minutes until the sauce reduces a little. Add in 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, (optional 1/4 to 1/2 cup parmesan-just do it), and the chicken back to the skillet. Be sure to coat the chicken in the sauce well!
Next, move the skillet to the preheated oven along with the asparagus and bake until the chicken is cooked through and asparagus is just tender-15ish minutes. Chicken should reach an internal temp of 165 degrees.
Remove everything from the oven. Spoon the sauce back over the chicken. Garnish it with chopped fresh basil and more parmesan if you’d like. Serve the asparagus and chicken together immediately and ENJOY! —