Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains

Marry Me chicken

Name: Marry Me chicken
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 breasts chicken breast; 3/4 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 1 tbsp olive oil; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped; 1 cup chicken broth; 3/4 cup heavy cream; 1/2 cup grated parmesan; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp dried basil; 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes; 2 handfuls baby spinach

Seared chicken in a sun-dried-tomato parmesan cream sauce — one of the most-cooked dinners on the internet for three years running. Chicken breast carries the satiety; the sauce is measured, not banned, so the plate stays honest about where its calories live.

Time: 35 min (10 prep + 25 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 492 kcal
Protein: 47 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

4 breasts chicken breast700 g
3/4 tsp salt4 g
1/2 tsp black pepper1 g
1 tbsp olive oil14 g

Sauce

4 cloves garlic, minced12 g
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped60 g
1 cup chicken broth240 g
3/4 cup heavy cream180 g
1/2 cup grated parmesan40 g
1 tsp dried oregano2 g
1 tsp dried basil2 g
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes1 g
2 handfuls baby spinach60 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. If the breasts are thick, halve them horizontally so they cook evenly.
Sear in the olive oil over medium-high heat, 4–5 minutes per side, until golden and just cooked through. Move to a plate.
In the same pan, cook the garlic 30 seconds, then add the sun-dried tomatoes, broth, cream, parmesan, oregano, basil, and pepper flakes. Simmer 3–4 minutes until it thickens slightly.
Stir in the spinach until it wilts, return the chicken and its juices to the pan, and spoon the sauce over. Simmer 2 minutes and serve.

Where do the calories live here?

Mostly in the cream and parmesan — about a third of the total from ¾ cup + ½ cup. The score panel shows exactly what they cost; halving the cream is the single biggest lever if you want it lighter.

Why this score

solidly filling

No single route carries this one — a moderate amount of protein, volume and fiber.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

38% of kcal

66% water

5 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

Nothing here converges the way engineered food does — no sugar, no savoury and no alcohol penalty.

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1968 kcal goes into the pot, 1316 g of ingredients comes out as ~1080 g of food → 182 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 182
Protein: (38%); 17 g
Fat: (51%); 10 g
Carbohydrates: (11%); 5 g
of which sugar: 3 g
Fiber: 1 g
Sodium: 343 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More meals

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.