Olive Garden Chicken Pasta Prepped In 10 Minutes

This Olive Garden chicken pasta recipe is the definition of comfort food. It's made with the classic Olive Garden Italian dressing, tender chicken breasts, and al dente cooked pasta, and it's just so, so good. It's the perfect no-mess-no-fuss solution for a weeknight dinner!

The Best Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

When I'm craving chicken and pasta nothing quite satisfies that craving quite like Olive Garden's chicken pasta. There's just something so satisfying about the rich, creamy, cheesy, meaty deliciousness of it. Seriously, I can't get enough.

And, that's exactly why I decided to do my best and make the closest copycat version of it that I could. Well, spoiler alert, this homemade slow cooker Olive Garden chicken pasta recipe is about as close to the real thing as it gets!

Everything you love about the iconic dish is in this recipe. Juicy, tender, meaty chunks of chicken, perfectly al dente pasta, and a tangy, zesty creamy sauce that'll have you licking your plate clean - it's all here.

Best of all though, just 10 minutes of prep is all it takes to get this chicken and pasta started. Then, the slow cooker takes care of the heavy lifting!

That means, you can start cooking it in the morning before work, and by the time you get home, dinner is ready to be served! That's the magic of slow cooker pasta recipes like this one. 

Now, while this chicken and pasta is delicious on its own, it's even more delicious when you serve it next to some sides. To that point, I like serving my slow cooker Olive Garden chicken pasta with this air fryer garlic bread, these honey glazed carrots, or these Red Lobster brussel sprouts.

Ingredients

This copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta requires just a few simple ingredients. And, honestly, there's a good chance that you have most - if not all - of these at home already.

So here are all of the components you'll need for the recipe. 

For the chicken you'll need:

• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

To make the Olive Garden Italian dressing from scratch:

• 1 tbsp Italian dressing mix packet
• ½ tsp Italian seasoning
• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 ½ tbsp mayonnaise

*Alternatively, you can use ½ a cup of store-bought Olive Garden Italian dressing if you can find it.

And for the creamy sauce:

• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 8 oz. cooked penne pasta, or pasta of your choice

Pretty common pasta ingredients, right?!

Ingredient Substitutions and Suggestions

Now, if you happen to find a bottle of Olive Garden salad dressing at the grocery store, then you can use that instead of making your own from scratch. With that said, for whatever reason, I think this homemade Olive Garden dressing tastes closer to the one at the restaurant than the one they sell at the store. I'm not exactly sure why that's the case, but it is.

Also, just so you know, I used penne pasta for this recipe, but you can really use any kind of pasta that you want. The dish will be equally delicious no matter what pasta you choose.

By the way, you can use almost every single one of these ingredients to make this Olive Garden chicken alfredo recipe. It's another copycat recipe that's just as good as the restaurant. So, if you end up with some extra ingredients after making this pasta dish, give that one a try next!

How To Make Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

This easy-to-make slow cooker Olive Garden chicken pasta only requires a few steps. And, again, the slow cooker really does all the heavy lifting. So, you don't need to be experienced in the kitchen to have this turn out perfect.

All that said, just plan on needing about 10 minutes of prep. Then, the slow cooker can do its thing for 4 or 6 hours. 

Step 1: Make The Olive Garden Dressing

First, we're going to start by making the Olive Garden Italian dressing.

To do this, combine the Italian dressing mix, Italian seasoning, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, water, and mayonnaise in a medium-sized bowl. Then, whisk everything together until smooth, and the ingredients are fully combined.

Step 2: Marinade The Chicken breasts

Next, add the skinless chicken breasts to the slow cooker.

Follow that up by pouring the Italian dressing you just prepared over top of the chicken breasts. Then, add in the heavy cream, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese.

Step 3: Cook The Chicken 

Now you can put the lid on the slow cooker and cook the chicken breasts. You can cook the chicken on either the low setting for 6 hours or the high setting for 4 hours. It really just depends on when you want dinner to be ready!

Anyway, once the chicken breasts are done cooking, you can shred the chicken with two forks and let it soak in the slow cooker juices while you prepare the rest of the dish. Also, don't shred the chicken too fine, you want to have nice bite-sized pieces of chicken for this dish.

Step 4: Complete The Dish

If you haven't done so already, you'll want to cook the penne pasta - or pasta - of your choice.

Then, add the cooked pasta to the slow cooker and give it a stir to combine it with the chicken and creamy sauce. Finally, to finish it off, serve this slow cooker Olive Garden chicken pasta with some fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy!

How To Store Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

If there's one thing I know about Olive Garden chicken pasta, it's that it tastes even better the following day as leftovers. And since this recipe makes 4 huge servings, you might be lucky enough to have some left-over.

So, to store your leftover Olive Garden chicken pasta just put it in an airtight container - or resealable bag - and keep it in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. 

Alternatively, you can store leftovers in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How To reheat Olive Garden Chicken Pasta

The quickest way to reheat this slow cooker Olive Garden chicken pasta is to microwave it in 30-second increments - stirring between each one. Then, once it's warmed up to your desired temp you can serve, and enjoy it.

You can also reheat your chicken pasta on the stovetop set to medium heat. This will give the pasta a slightly crisp texture that is so good, similar to this fried spaghetti recipe. Then, just heat your pasta until thoroughly warm.

By the way, add a splash of heavy cream to your leftovers if it seems like the sauce is not quite as smooth as it was on the first day.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make Olive Garden's chicken pasta at home!

Just 10 minutes of prep work is all that's keeping you from this delicious dinner recipe. Slow cooker recipes just don't get much easier than this - and they're easy to begin with.

Anyway, if you give this Olive Garden chicken pasta recipe a try, leave a comment below and let us know how it went.

And, as always, don't forget to check us out on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. We post new recipes on them every single day.

More CopyCat Recipes

If you liked this Olive Garden copycat recipe and want to give some more copycat recipes a try, we have a ton on the blog you have to try next!

Check out all of these recipes:

• Olive Garden chicken marsala
• Olive Garden giant cheese stuffed shells
• Olive Garden asiago tortelloni
• Olive Garden chicken parmigiana
• Olive Garden shrimp scampi

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