Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta
1,838 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.
Way too strong in flavor to eat. I love the Olive Garden dressing but I couldn’t even bare to eat this. My husband didn’t like it either. I might try again another time and use less of the dressing. Disappointed overall.
Can you add broccoli to it?
Has anyone used canned chicken with this receipe? And if so what would the cooking time and temp be for it
Would this be a good recipe to make ahead and freeze? I’ve made it fresh a few times and love it but don’t know how well it would freeze.
I have not tried yet, sorry!
I would suggest using freezer bags with a serving size each, and press the air out- I haven’t frozen this recipe but I’ve frozen chicken & pasta together and they get freezer burn if they’re just in a container. Hope that helps!
I followed the recipe except used linguine because I didn’t have penne. Mine looked curdled when finished. Did anyone else have this problem?
Just make sure you stir it up real good before adding pasta
Yes this didn’t turn out the same for me either!!
Used 2.5 lbs of chicken breasts and only 12 ounces of the salad dressing because I saw in some comments the flavor of the dressing was too strong. Came home after it had been cooking 4 hours and the aroma was overwhelming – pungent and sour and so I decided to not add the second 1/4 cup,of Parmesan. When it was done, it was still overpowering – both the dressing and Parmesan. So I put it in the fridge overnight to consider how to make it edible. The next day, I added a bunch of Italian shredded cheese (five cheese mix) and that cut the intensity and made it edible. I won’t be making it again but may try something similar with a subtle dressing and cheese.
Can I use 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts in this recipe? Also, before placing my thighs in crockpot, could I place them on a hot skillet and get a good sear on them just enough to get a crispy golden brown to them before going in the crockpot? Just wanting to try something new with this recipe, which we LOVE. So if not, no biggie was just worried with the boneless skinless chicken thighs, being smaller than the breasts, searing them, and not knowing if dark & white meat have different cooking times… if I cooked on low in crockpkt was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions on cooking time. Thank you
You can interchange thighs for breasts in any recipe. The slow cooker cooks everything until it shreds. It will be great.
Used whole bottle of Italian dressing first go round, and it was a little too much. Halved the dressing upped the cream cheese and Parmesan cheese and added in some gruyere cheese – awesome! Just add a little heavy cream at end as suggested in other comments I all the cheese makes it too thick.
I’ve made this numerous times. I’ve also tweaked it a few times. I use about 2-2.5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast; a large, 24-oz. bottle of the OG dressing; two 8-oz. bricks of cream cheese; and a diced large sweet onion. It comes out very creamy. The extra cream cheese also cuts some of the tang from the dressing, too.
This recipe is in my rotation. My family loves it!
We love it.