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This sun dried tomato cream sauce is rich and creamy! It’s a tasty sauce for serving with pasta, chicken, and more.
Looking for a sauce that makes anything taste irresistible? Try this sun dried tomato cream sauce! It’s bursting with rich, creamy flavor with garlic, spinach, and earthy, bright bursts from tomatoes. Try it with pasta as a killer sauce, but it’s also great with chicken, salmon or other fish. Here’s how to make this simple sauce recipe!
Ingredients in sun dried tomato cream sauce
This sun dried tomato cream sauce is simple and flavorful: the type of essential recipe you can whip out to impress guests or to make a splash on a weeknight. There’s a relatively short ingredient list, and you can leave out the spinach if you like! The most important ingredient is the cream: all you need is ¼ cup to add richness and body. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Salted butter
- Garlic
- Fresh or dried thyme
- Milk
- Heavy cream
- Parmesan cheese
- Sun dried tomatoes, packed in oil
- Spinach
- All-purpose flour
- Salt and pepper
Tips for making sun dried tomato sauce
This sauce is quick and simple to whip up. The main thing to note for serving is that you’ll cook the pasta, chicken or fish separately, then make the sauce, then add them back to the sauce.
- Use julienne cut tomatoes, or thinly slice them. We like using oil packed sun dried tomatoes because they’re plump and moist. If you get the jar that’s already sliced, it simplifies the sauce!
- You’ll add flour as a thickener after simmering the sauce. A standard cheese or cream sauce starts with a roux, a mixture of flour and butter that thickens cheese sauces. This sauce is a little different. While it does contain flour as a thickener, you’ll add it at the end of simmering.
- For a gluten-free version, use cornstarch or gluten-free 1 for 1 flour. This helps to thicken and add body to the sauce.
Ways to serve this sauce
Sun dried tomato cream sauce makes an excellent meal when paired with pasta, chicken, fish, or other seafood! Here are a few pointers for how to pair the sauce with each protein:
- Pair with 8 ounces pasta. You can use short cut noodles like penne or rigatoni (as we did here), or long noodles like spaghetti or linguine.
- Add chicken. Make this sauce with chicken for a stunning 1-pan meal. Use Step 1 and 2 from this Garlic Chicken recipe to cook the chicken, set it aside, then make the sauce and add the chicken back to the pan!
- Add salmon. Same idea as above! Make this Pan Seared Salmon recipe, set aside, then make the sauce and add back the salmon.
- Serve with scallops. Scallops are great with this sauce! Make these Pan Seared Scallops, set aside, then add back to the sauce and warm before serving.
More sauce recipes
Want more tasty sauces? Here are a few more easy sauce recipes to try:
- Go creamy with Tzatziki Sauce, Buffalo Ranch, or Garlic Aioli
- Try zingy Lemon Pepper Sauce, Lemon Butter Sauce or Lemon Caper Sauce
- Go for Garlic Butter Sauce or Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce
- Make bright green Chimichurri Sauce or creamy red Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Make Peanut Sauce or Ponzu Sauce
This sun dried tomato cream sauce is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: About 1 ½ cups; enough for 8 ounces pasta 1x
Description
This sun dried tomato cream sauce is rich and creamy! It’s a tasty sauce for serving with pasta, chicken and more.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup milk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup sun dried tomatoes packed in oil (julienne-cut), drained
- 3 to 5 cups (3 to 5 ounces) baby spinach or roughly chopped fresh spinach
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (or cornstarch)
- For serving: 8 ounces pasta of any type
Instructions
- If serving with pasta, start a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and boil until al dente (check a few minutes before the package instructions indicate). When cooked, drain the pasta. If it finishes before the sauce, toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking. If serving with chicken, cook the chicken following Step 1 and 2 of this Garlic Chicken recipe.
- Meanwhile, heat a large sauté pan or saucepan over medium low heat. Melt the butter, then add the garlic and thyme and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the garlic is lightly browned and fragrant. Add the milk, heavy cream and Parmesan cheese and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until the cheese has melted and it thickens slightly. Add the sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and salt and cook 2 to 3 minutes more, until the spinach is wilted.
- In a small bowl, mix the flour with 2 tablespoons water. Pour it into the pan with the sauce, then stir until it thickens. Cook 2 minutes more.
- Add the drained pasta and stir to combine (or, add the cooked chicken back to the pan and warm each side for 1 minute). Stir in a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper if desired. Serve immediately. Leftovers last refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Vegetarian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Could you add capers to the sauce? Going to make it with fish.
Yes! 2 tablespoons would be great.
Hello,
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe but, I really don’t like Parmesan cheese..
Can you suggest an alternative please.
Thanks, Trish
The Parmesan is an integral element to this sauce. But Pecorino Romano would be a good substitute if you like it!
Can this sauce be made ahead of time? If so, how long before and should it be reheated? I’m using it as a sauce to pour over grilled salmon. I have guests coming and would prefer to have the sauce already prepared so I am free to talk to them.
That should be fine! You might need a splash of milk when you rewarm it up.
Let us know if you have any questions!