Chicken in Cherry Tomato Sauce
This chicken in cherry tomato sauce is a satisfying and fresh recipe where chicken cooks in a cherry tomato and garlic sauce. It is made with simple ingredients and tastes great on top of veggies, rice or pasta.
This cherry tomato and chicken recipe is an old favorite of ours. It is light yet flavorful. It is high protein and savory. It is one of those sauces that you can just slather on top of so many things.
You only need a handful of real food ingredients to make it and it just smells great! If you love cherry tomato recipes, try our Cherry Tomato Sauce with Garlic, Baked Tomato Salmon, or our Zucchini and Kale Quiche recipes.
What makes this recipe great
- It is simple yet full of flavor. You only need 10 ingredients.
- It is naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, Paleo and Whole30 compliant.
- It is high protein. Each serving has 51 grams of protein.
- This sauce is versatile. You can put it on top of veggies, rice or pasta.
Recipe ingredients
- chicken– chicken breast or tenders work best in this recipe.
- cherry tomatoes– these are the key to the sauce’s flavor. Use ripe cherry tomatoes here.
- red onion and garlic– these are also key ingredients to the flavor of this recipe.
- olive oil– a good quality olive oil always is best for Italian dishes.
- salt and pepper– you can use these to taste.
- dried basil and dried oregano– these add a boost of Italian flavor to the tomato sauce.
- red pepper flakes– this is great to add heat to the sauce.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Step by step instructions
Step 1: sauté the garlic and onions until they are fragrant and have softened.
Step 2: Add the chicken to the pan along with the salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes until they chicken is seared.
Step 3: Put the cherry tomatoes into a food processor until they are crushed. Then add the cherry tomatoes to the pan, along with basil and oregano and let everything simmer for 30 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
Do you have to use cherry tomatoes in this recipe?Yes! This is the key ingredient to the cherry tomato marinara here. The flavor of cherry tomatoes is different than regular tomatoes and it’s important to use them here.
Do you have to use red onion or will a white onion work?Again, yes you have to use red onion! This makes a really big difference in the flavor here.
Note: we've tried using regular tomatoes and white onion in this recipe and it just doesn’t taste as great. You’ll know what we mean about the cherry tomatoes and red onion when you taste this sauce.
Yes! Feel free to use fresh basil and oregano here instead of dried. We would use 2 Tbs of fresh chopped basil and 1 Tbs of fresh oregano.
Prep 15 minutesCook 45 minutesTotal 1 hourMakes 4
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup diced red onion, about ½ red onion
- 1 Tablespoon diced garlic, 3-4 cloves
- 2 lbs chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- a dash of crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 lbs cherry tomatoes, (about 3.5 cups)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Method
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and then add the garlic and onion. Cook for 4 -5 minutes, mixing every so often, until fragrant and the onions have softened.
- Add the bite sized chicken to the pan, along with the salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes. Cook for 7-8 minutes until seared/browned. Take the pan off of heat and set it aside.
- Put the cherry tomatoes into a food processor and chop until crushed. There should be about 5 cups or crushed cherry tomatoes at this point. Put the cherry tomatoes into the pan with the chicken and mix everything together.
- Add the basil and oregano.
- Put the pan over medium-high heat until the mixture is boiling and then let reduce heat to low-medium and let everything simmer for 30 minutes. Add more salt and pepper to taste if you desire it.
