Frank Lampard coolly slotted home a penalty for the second as the west Londoners remained third in the Premier league.
With top-scorer Didier Drogba sidelined after undergoing a knee operation, Shevchenko was restored to the first-team by manager Avram Grant.
But it was his strike partner Salomon Kalou who had the first chance of the game after six minutes when the Ivory Coast frontman met Lampard's corner and rattled the crossbar with a powerful header from eight yards out.
Chelsea had a good case for a penalty on ten minutes when Dean Whitehead appeared to push Shaun Wright-Phillips inside the Black Cats area, but referee Peter Walton waved away the shouts.
But class is everything and on 23 minutes the Ukraine striker notched up Chelsea's opener.
A long diagonal ball by Lampard to Kalou saw the Ivorian send in a fine left-footed byline cross which Shevchenko met superbly with a diving header past a hapless Darren Ward.
Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones forced Carlo Cudicini into a smart save on 33 minutes with the visitors' first effort of the match.
The second half was a poor affair with neither side able to dominate possession of the ball and not even a flurry of substitutions could lift the stupor.
But on 75 minutes Chelsea was awarded an innocuous looking penalty when Alex fell to the ground in the six-yard box while tracking a Lampard in-swinging free-kick.
The referee adjudged Danny Higginbotham to have pushed the Brazilian centre-back.
Lampard dispatched the gift with consummate ease by tucking the ball into Ward's left-hand side corner of the net.
To add to Sunderland's woes, Liam Miller was given a straight red card three minutes from time for pushing Claudio Pizarro in the face.