The Blues confirmed shortly before kick-off that top scorer Didier Drogba had undergone surgery to correct his troublesome knee and Shevchenko was the beneficiary.
The unsettled Ukraine striker was handed only his fifth league start of the season but did his chances of securing an extended run in the side no harm.
Strongly linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in January, the unsettled Shevchenko could yet have a crucial role to play for Chelsea over the hectic Christmas and New Year schedule.
• Grant hints at Cup disappointment for Drogba
His second Premiership goal of the season may only have been a routine finish of Salomon Kalou's 23rd minute cross, but it capped a lively display.
He will have met few more accommodating defences than Sunderland's, but Chelsea manager Avram Grant will have drawn satisfaction from his display as he prepares for Drogba's absence.
Aside from flashes of brilliance from Kalou, though, there was little else to cheer the Israeli as he watched his side toil to dispatch limited opposition.
It took Frank Lampard's conversion of a soft 79th minute penalty - given for Danny Higginbotham's weak pull on Alex - to kill off the match when Chelsea should have been out of sight sooner.
England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips endured an abysmal afternoon and failed to make any impact down the right as Sunderland clung on throughout.
Roy Keane's side scarcely mounted a meaningful attack all match and their limitations contributed to a lifeless clash that ended with Liam Miller's dismissal for pushing Claudio Pizarro in the face
Chelsea lacked inspiration other than Shevchenko, but the win keeps up the pressure on Arsenal and Manchester United at the top of Premier League.
From the whistle Shevchenko looked sharp, showing composure with his first touch to release Ashley Cole in the opening minute.
Sunderland keeper Darren Ward punched clear Cole's cross as far as Wright-Phillips, but the England winger's disappointing effort flew wide.
Kalou, who had escaped the attention of Danny Higginbotham, headed a Joe Cole corner at the crossbar as Chelsea persevered with their early assault
Wright-Phillips saw a penalty shout turned down by referee Peter Walton, who was unmoved by his 11th-minute tangle with Dean Whitehead.
Sunderland were struggling to escape their own half and when they did manage to break free, they ran down blind alleys before being relieved of the ball.
The Blues continued to probe away, despite being hampered by Wright-Phillips' woeful distribution, with Kalou a constant menace.
It was therefore fitting that Kalou was the provider as Chelsea eased ahead in the 23rd minute.
Juliano Belletti picked out Kalou from long range and the Ivorian sent a rapid cross to the far post, where an unmarked Shevchenko was free to nod home.
The goal took some of the urgency out of Chelsea's game, but with Sunderland unable to keep hold of the ball and proving toothless in attack, they were never under serious threat
Kenwyne Jones produced their first shot in the 34th minute, but keeper Carlo Cudicini made light work of a tame effort.
Sunderland finally began to string some passes together shortly after, but the move ended with a free-kick that Ross Wallace smashed into the stands.
The Kalou-Shevchenko axis nearly produced a second, but the Ukraine marksman was off target this time.
The second half was greeted with constant rain as Chelsea emerged from the interval with greater urgency.
A slick manoeuvre by Shevchenko saw the ball dart across goal, but no one was there to capitalise and then the Ukrainian himself over-ran a Joe Cole pass with the net beckoning.
He continued to make mincemeat of Sunderland's feeble defending, ghosting around Paul McShane and attempting to tee-up Kalou.
For all their possession and territory Chelsea were making heavy weather of finishing Sunderland off.
Mirroring the first half, the Black Cats appeared to have weathered the initial storm, but with little to offer in attack themselves, the game once again resulted in dull stalemate.
Chelsea needed the help of Walton to secure the cushion their dominance deserved, with the official harshly awarding a penalty against Higginbotham whose tug on Alex was minimal.
Lampard converted from the spot and Sunderland were dealt another blow with three minutes to go.
Claudio Pizarro appeared to aim a stamp towards Miller's foot and the Black Cats midfielder reacted by shoving the Chelsea substitute in the face.
Walton reached for the red card for an incident that is sure to incur the wrath of manager Roy Keane.
• Grant hints at Cup disappointment for Drogba
Grant hints at Cup disappointment for Drogba
Chelsea will discover the length of Didier Drogba's absence early next week but boss Avram Grant hinted he could miss the African Nations Cup.
Ivory Coast striker Drogba went under the knife on Saturday to correct an ongoing
knee injury with the club claiming the operation went without mishap.
Grant, speaking after Saturday afternoon's 2-0 victory over Sunderland, refused to
give a date for his comeback but suggested he may be on club duty in January - and not at the African Nations Cup.
He said: 'The future is not easy without Drogba but I didn't come to this
club for an easy life. We didn't want him to be injured.
'The operation looks like it went well. Drogba is in good shape and we want
to keep him like that.
'He had a problem with his knee, we waited a few days and then he knocked it
again last night.
'He needed the operation and there was nothing we could do about it.
'We need to wait and see how long he'll be out for. We'll know exactly over
the next two or three days.'
When asked about Drogba's impending call-up by the Ivory Coast in January,
Grant replied: 'Are we losing him to the African Nations Cup? We want him to be
well.
'If his knee is OK and he plays in the competition then good, but if he can
also play for Chelsea then that is also good.
'What's important now is that he feels good.'
Andriy Shevchenko was given Drogba's place in the starting line-up and he
responded by opening the scoring with an expert finish of Salomon Kalou's
cross.
The goal topped an impressive display from the heavily-maligned Ukraine
striker and Grant was delighted to see him firing on all cylinders.
He said: 'It was very important for Shevchenko to score. I'm happy he scored.
He played well today, which is good for us.
'Shevchenko is a great striker, he knows how to score goals and is
intelligent.
'He has now scored four goals this season. Last season he scored 16, yet
everyone is disappointed.
'He's been scoring since he was a little child and he did it for us today.'
Chelsea bossed the match from start to finish with Sunderland's goal coming
under siege for long spells.
But it took Frank Lampard's conversion of a soft 79th-minute penalty - given
for Danny Higginbotham's weak pull on Alex - to kill off the Black Cats.
Grant said: 'We played very good football today. We moved the ball very
well.
'It was patient play from us because it was not easy to play against
Sunderland. They defended with a lot of players.
'Our possession in the last two games has been more than 70% which is almost
a record.
'We deserved to be 3-0 ahead at half-time because we dominated the match.'
Sunderland boss Roy Keane admitted the penalty extinguished his side's slim
hopes of snatching a point.
And Keane was also disappointed with the dismissal of Liam Miller, who was
shown a straight red card for shoving Claudio Pizarro in the face.
He said: 'The penalty killed the game for us.
'We were having a decent spell and when you're 1-0 down you always have a
chance, especially given how many late goals we've scored this season.
'I didn't see the penalty properly but when you come to a place like Chelsea
there's every chance the referee is going to lean towards the home side.
'For the red card, there's no doubt that when you raise your hands you don't
give the referee any choice.
'But it could have been avoided. There was a big issue made out of Liam's
tackle on John Terry.
'John and Claudio Pizarro had a go at Liam. Obviously it was a foul but that
was it, there was no nastiness to it.
'Now he'll miss the next three games. Maybe the referee could have stepped in
five second earlier.
'But John and Pizarro's reaction disappointed me.'
Chelsea 2 - 0 Sunderland
