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.
YUMMY I just added extra shredded parmesan and a little milk and sun dried tomatoes!!!
Smelled delicious cooking, but that was the only good thing about this recipe. Way too salty, not creamy at all. I added spinach and cherry tomatoes, which helped a tad, but it’s still going into the garbage.
Way too salty – i wish i had read the reviews before I made it.
Can I give it 0 stars? Sounded so good! Horrendous recipe. Way too salty and too much cream cheese. We threw it away. Sorry for the waste of food and money.
I found this recipe while searching for one that used ingredients I had on hand. For some sad reason I had a bottle of Olive Garden Italian dressing. I should have thrown it out. The dish was way too salty. The dressing overpowered everything. I tried the posted recommendations to make it less salty. It helped slightly but didn’t make it taste better. We tried to eat it but couldn’t. Don’t bother with this one!
This was an easy and fabulous dinner! Lite dressing, low fat cream cheese and chickpea pasta! My fam loved it! ❤️
I’m doing this exact combination today!! Looking forward to tasting!
I decided before I read all of the comments to make this recipe. As I was preparing to start making it, THEN I read the comments. It looked so good, I was determined to make it anyway. Since so many people said that one bottle of dressing was too much, I decided to use about half of the bottle. For the other half, I added heavy whipping cream, and I have to say that this turned out FABULOUS!! Was a giant hit in my house!! I did add extra cheese, and next time I think I will add mushrooms and spinach! DELICIOUS and easy!!
When would you add the mushrooms and spinach? Thanks!
How much and when did you add the heavy whipping cream? Thank you
I would do the end. Only because once in a great while it can curdle.
I thought the exact same thing about the Italian dressing.. it was a little much so next time I am going to try the heavy whipping cream as well.
Not something I would make again.
Gross. Will not make again
I was excited to try this since I’ve made the crack chicken many times before. This was disappointing. It was edible but didn’t have the nice creamy texture or flavor I thought it would. I did use the light dressing and low fat cream cheese but don’t think that would make that much of a difference. I won’t be making it again 🙁
Did you put the whipping cream in with everything or at the end?
Was awesome! Whole family loved it! Added California sundried tomatoes bruschetta, frozen peas and bacon bits.
When did you put in the tomatoes and bruschetta?