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.
We love all sorts of pasta dishes and will try anything new. I had my doubts as soon as I noted it called for a bottle of salad dressing. We still plugged on though. As I suspected, it was too sour, salty and just gross. Tossed it and decided to trust my instincts.
I used a homemade Italian dressing because I didn’t have Olive Garden’s dressing and only cooked the chicken for 2.5 hours because my slow cooker tends to cook quickly. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written. I was very surprised at how delicious this dish was! It would be just as good with Olive Garden’s Italian dressing which I also like, but didn’t have on hand. The whole family enjoyed it which is rare. My daughters asked me to add the recipe to their personal recipe books (with credit due, of course). Thank you for a very simple and tasty recipe!
This recipe is amazing! It smelled great while it was cooking and I couldn’t wait to try it once it was done. It was even better than I thought! One thing I started doing was adding an 8oz. package of sliced mushrooms. For the extra ingredient that would be absorbed by the liquid, I instead used a 24oz. bottle of Olive Garden dressing to compensate. I also tried it with the Olive Garden lite dressing and it still turned out just fine. It’s SOOOOO good and I make it all the time!
I was a little skeptical making this based off the negative reviews, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. My daughter is actually requesting that I make this dish today! I say that’s a win! Thank you for sharing this delicious and no hassle recipe!
One star because it was easy but tasted disgusting.
I love this recipe however my crackpot broke so I am now trying to figure out how to do this in a instant pot. How long do I cook it compared to the crackpot.
Hi! You will cook as long as you would any chicken recipe, then stir in the pasta at the end.
This was DELICIOUS!! I only used 8 oz of the dressing and left off the Parmesan until the end and left everyone put it on their own individual servings. Will definitely be making this again!
Hi Sara. I didn’t start cooking until about 10 years ago. I am now 85 and have fallen in love with your recipes. This is one of my favorite. Every Wed. we have our son and family over for dinner. I cook every other week [ thanks to my wife} so I have tried a number of your recipes and all have been great. Thanks again Sara for introducing me to the slow cooker.
Great to hear David! So nice your family can get together.
I have thin sliced chicken breasts, do I need to reduce the cooking time?
I would do 3.5 on high or 5 on low.
I made this for the first time tonight and it was delish!!!