Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta
1,841 CommentsUpdated Jan 18, 2026
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Use Olive Garden Italian Dressing to make this Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta! It’s a creamy pasta dish that has so much flavor.
We love easy pasta dishes for the crockpot! Try my Baked Spaghetti, Feta and Tomato Pasta, or Beef Stroganoff recipes too!
I found this recipe in my Facebook group and had to try it out! You can make this Olive Garden Chicken with or without the pasta! Serve over rice or just with green steamed vegetables.
How to make Olive Garden Chicken Pasta in the Crockpot:
- Add chicken breasts to the slow cooker.
- Pour over one 16-ounce jar of Olive Garden Italian Dressing (or any Italian dressing you have on hand.
- Shake over grated parmesan cheese and ground pepper. Add one block of cream cheese.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or low for 5-6.
- Shred the chicken with two forks right in the slow cooker.
- Cook 16 ounces of pasta according to the package directions on the stove-top. I am using penne pasta for this recipe.
- Add the drained pasta to the slow cooker along with the sauce and shredded chicken, stir.
- Sprinkle over more parmesan cheese if desired. I also garnished with a touch of oregano and black pepper.
Can I serve this chicken with something other than pasta?
- Serve over rice.
- Or with steamed vegetables.
Must I use cream cheese?
You can leave it out or add a cup of heavy cream at the end of cooking time is desired. Though the sauce will be thinner.
Does this taste like chicken alfredo?
This Olive Garden Chicken Pasta is thick and creamy like alfredo but has a zesty Italian dressing flavor
What should I serve with olive garden chicken pasta?
Chose one or more of these great dishes to go along with this dish:
- Olive Garden Salad – Recipe by The Cookie Rookie
- Olive Garden Bread Sticks – Recipe by Lil Luna (or buy them premade, I get mine at Safeway)
- Slow Cooker Copycat Gnocchi Soup
- Slow Cooker Copycat Zuppa Toscana
- Slow Cooker Copycat Minestrone – Recipe by Tammilee Tips
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Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta
How to Video
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast, (1.5-2 pounds works fine)
- 16 oz. Olive Garden Italian dressing, (or any Italian dressing you like) Note- olive garden dressing is high in sodium and can be salty. Choose a lower sodium dressing if desired.
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 8 oz. cream cheese
Add these items after cooking time is up:
- 16 oz. penne pasta, cooked according to package directions and drain well
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Add the chicken breasts to the slow cooker.
- Pour over the Olive Garden Italian dressing and sprinkle over the parmesan cheese and pepper.
- Place the cream cheese on top.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 5-6 hours.
- When the cooking time is almost done, start cooking the pasta on the stove top as directed on the package.
- Shred the chicken with 2 forks. Drain the pasta and add to the chicken and sauce. Stir. Sprinkle over the remaining parmesan cheese.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
After reading through the comments I added an extra chicken breast, used just a 1/2 bottle of the Olive Garden dressing, two cans of cream of chicken soup, 1 soup can filled with milk, and kept the cream cheese and Parm cheese the same. The dressing taste and smell was very overpowering but after shredding the chicken it toned the tangy taste down and was quite good 🙂
My family loved it, did anyone find it too salty, or was it just me?
Yes very salt
I used 3/4 of the dressing and it was perfect.
I think the cheese is what made it too
salty.
Can you use frozen chicken?
I used Tyson frozen fully cooked diced chicken breast. Worked great!! I also added a bag of frozen chopped spinach!! After reading comments, I added extra 4oz of cream cheese. It came out fantastic!!!
I just made this yesterday using frozen chicken breasts due to forgetting to thaw them overnight. I cooked on high about an hour longer than the time called for. I checked it by trying to shred with fork, and they fell apart. Turned out great and my whole family raved about it (and some of them are pretty picky even if they say they aren’t).
I forgot to add that I added an extra 4 oz of cream cheese in my recipe as well.
I wonder how it would turn out using provolone or motz cheese? I’m not a big fan of parm cheese so I wonder if it would give it a different flavor.
I do not like shake parm. If you haven’t, get a fresh pack of it and shred it yourself. Never thought I would like it since I do not like the shake.
I would hold off on parmesan cheese till done. Use sparingly for it will make it very salty when cooked.Beware same for mozzarella it will burn to the sides of the cooker. Tried again holding off on the parmesan cheese much better. Also, skimmed oil from surface. The cream cheese melted in perfect.. added note you can add fresh garlic + granulated or Lemon to change up the taste.
I did this on stove top its great,!
Ok read reviews and decided to tweak it a bit. Used 4 extra ounces of cream cheese. Did 1/2 olive garden dressing and 1/2 creamy caesar. Added 1/2 cup half and half about an hour b4 done. Then added double the parmesan cheeseat the end. Of and garlicof course. And did it over brown rice.end result…..omg…delicious!
Can the italian dressing be replaced by another kind? Such as ranch for example? I can’t find any creamy italian in my area.
I have not tried with Ranch, I apologize.
We are using the Aldi Tuscan Italian, which we find identical to OG except not as salty/vinegar!
I wish I read the reviews before buying all the ingredients because nowhere does it say “creamy dressing”. It simply says Olive Garden Italian Dressing -or- ANY Italian Dressing. It seems like those who liked it used the creamy. Those who did not like it used the regular**as it is stated in the recipe!!**. The bad news is I apparently bought the wrong kind (and don’t have the extra ingredients to doctor it up). The good news is I’m saving myself from a bad meal. Please specify any and all details when posting a recipe. Thank you.
Olive Garden doesn’t have a creamy dressing except for their regular dressing. So I am sure you used the correct one. The cream cheese is what adds the cream. The Olive Garden dressing is for the flavor.
Ahh! Got it! Thanks Gary. Sorry if I sounded harsh Sarah. It wasn’t the actual recipe that was frustrating. Just the negative comments. I’ll give it a shot. 🙂
Olive garden has a parmesan ranch that is very tasty. But i don’t think it would go well with this recipe
This is my second time making this. I liked it and so did my 20 month old grandson. We ate it for lunch a couple of days in a row. I little tangy but you don’t want it bland. Hope it is just as good the second time around.
A lot of spoiled turds in these comments. I thought it was good. Not great but good. Use a little less of the dressing. That’s all.
Clean up your language Bill Jefferson.
What did Bill Jefferson say that was bad language?
lol what, Carol?