This slow cooker 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. Best of all it takes just 10 minutes to prep, then your crockpot will basically take care of the rest from there.
Table of Contents
Ingredients You'll Need
One of my favorite things about this copycat Olive Garden chicken pasta recipe is that it requires just a few simple ingredients. Honestly, there's a good chance that you have most - if not all - of these at home already.
Anyway, here's what you'll need:
For the chicken you'll need:
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
To make the Olive Garden Italian dressing from scratch:
- 1 tablespoon Italian dressing mix packet
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 ½ tablespoon mayonnaise
*Alternatively, you can use ½ a cup of store-bought Olive Garden Italian dressing if you can find it.
And for the pasta and 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 stuff, right?!
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!
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.
As far as the heavy cream goes you can substitute it out with half and half or whole milk and the sauce will turn out just fine. So, if you don't have any heavy cream on hand, don't worry.
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.
How To Make Olive Garden's Chicken Pasta In The Slow Cooker
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. That means you don't need to be experienced in the kitchen to have this recipe turn out perfect.
Just plan on needing about 10 minutes to prep everything to get it started. Then, after that, the slow cooker can do its thing for the next 4 or 6 hours.
Step 1: Make The Olive Garden Dressing
First, we're going to start by making the copycat 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 3-4 hours. It really just depends on when you want dinner to be ready!
Anyway, once the chicken breasts are done cooking, you can shred them with two forks and let 'em 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, once it's cooked, you can 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, you can serve it with some fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese on top.
Enjoy!
How To Store The Chicken Pasta
If there's one thing I know about this Olive Garden chicken pasta recipe, it's that it tastes even better the following day/s as leftovers. And since this recipe makes 4 huge servings, you might be lucky enough to have some leftovers.
Anyway, to store your leftovers just put 'em in an airtight container - or resealable bag - and they'll stay good for 2-3 days in the fridge.
Alternatively, to store your leftovers even longer you can freeze 'em. Again, just add them into an airtight container or bag and they'll stay good in your freezer for up to 3 months.
How To Reheat The Pasta
The quickest way to reheat this chicken pasta recipe 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 in a pan set over medium heat. This will give the pasta a slightly crisp texture that is so good, similar to this fried spaghetti recipe.
By the way, I highly recommend adding 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.
My Final Thoughts
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. As far as easy slow cooker recipes go this has to be one of the easiest to make.
Anyway, if you give this pasta recipe a try, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought.
Oh, 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 copycat Olive Garden recipe we have a ton of other ones on the blog for you to try next!
Here are some of my favorites:
- Olive Garden chicken marsala
- Olive Garden giant cheese stuffed shells
- Olive Garden asiago tortelloni
- Olive Garden chicken parmigiana
- Olive Garden shrimp scampi
Yield: 4 servings
Olive Garden Chicken Pasta Prepped In 10 Minutes
This slow cooker 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. Best of all it takes just 10 minutes to prep, then your crockpot will basically take care of the rest from there.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon Italian dressing mix packet
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 ½ tablespoon mayonnaise
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 8 oz. cooked penne pasta, or desired type of pasta
Instructions
- Make the dressing: add the Italian dressing mix, Italian herbs, extra-virgin olive oil, vinegar, water, and mayonnaise to a bowl. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the chicken to the slow cooker.
- Pour the dressing over the chicken. Top with heavy cream, cream cheese, and parmesan.
- Cover with the lid and cook on low setting for 6 hours or high setting for 4 hours.
- Shred the chicken using two forks, but do not shred the chicken finely. You want to taste the pieces of the chicken.
- Add the penne pasta and stir to combine with the chicken and cooking sauce.
- Serve the chicken pasta, garnished with some basil and additional parmesan on top.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1 serving
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 422Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 0mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 38g
