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.
Crazy question, but I wonder if this could be made without the chicken?
Yes, though you could just add cream cheese and the Italian dressing to the hot pasta.
Substituting Cauliflower or broccoli and maybe even some spinach would be delicious!
This is an insult to pasta. The dressing completely overpowers the entire dish. If you subtracted the cream cheese and added tomatoes and cucumber it would be a great pasta salad.
Each to their own
I cannot cook to save my life. this was sooo easy & so good!! my picky niece & nephew even loved it!
This was a huge hit! SOOO good-super easy to make! The perfect comfort meal. I followed the recipe exactly, but used regular spaghetti noodles instead of the penne.
Thanks for sharing!
Just not good. The flavor is really strong, the chicken just turned to mush, and the lack of vegetables just makes it all seem really unhealthy. Just has a processed food flavor to it.
Thanks for the review. I’m going to try to make this tomorrow but will now cut back th dressing and add some greenslike broccoli
This recipe is stupid easy and so good! I make this all the time. I always make sure I have the Olive Garden Italian dressing on hand. I also prefer 2 large chicken breasts and penne pasta. Thank you for this weekly go to.
I tried this recipe today and it was absolutely horrible. I don’t ever recall having anything remotely like this at Olive Garden. I followed the recipe….
This is not an olive garden recipe. It’s made with olive garden dressing, this is not an alfredo recipe.
Would this recipe be good made the day before then reheated the next day?
I’ve done it that way without any problems.
Is there a way to make this on the stove? We love this crockpot meal but with my new work schedule I can’t do crockpot meals because I’m not home at the right time to start it.
You could easily with a rotisserie chicken. Otherwise I’d dice the raw chicken and brown it, then add the other ingredients.
If your crockpot has a digital display it will switch to keep warm once the set time is up so then you can start it before you leave and it’ll be ready for you when you get home!
Will this still work in. 4.5 Qt slow cooker with all the same ingredients? And how long do I cook for
It will probably be too full for that size of slow cooker.