Slow Cooker Olive Garden Chicken Pasta
1,849 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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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.
This has become a new favorite! I have even brought it into work and everyone that tried it loved it! Thank you!
My family is obsessed with it. They beg me to make it all time now.
I love this recipe. Though I am counting calories how much is a serving. 1 cup ??
This recipe is not good. Do not make it.
If I use frozen boneless skinless chicken breast, should I alter to amount of time to cook?
The whole bottle of dressing is too much. It was bitter. It had a strong unpleasant vinegar flavor. I may not ever make it again. If I do, it will be with several tweaks.
This is one of my favorites, always leave the tables stuffed and wishing I had room for more. My kids even love the leftovers.
I add more chicken than the recipe calls for.
I really like this recipe because it’s super easy, but I have made some tweaks to it because it is pretty salty and heavy like other comments mentioned. I ended up adding a lot of basil at the end of the cook to brighten it up a bit.
Also, I ended up trying an instant pot pressure cook version of the dish and while it’s good, it does need a few tweaks because the oil will separate in the dish. I ended up adding flour at the end to thicken it up and fix the oil separation and it worked pretty well. I still do recommend the slow cook version, but if you’re in a pinch the pressure cook works great.
The dressing is overpowering, so overly salty and sour and just weird. The whole thing had to go down the food disposal. Dont make this.
Use half the bottle of dressing, a 15 ounce of chicken broth and extra parm. It’s fabulous with these modificactions.
Agreed! Except I used 1/2 bag Chicken stuffing & 1/2 bag Cornbread Stuffing instead of extra Parmesan. Added this in the last 25min. of cook time
I’m glad I’m not the only one that thought this. The sourness was so weird! Idk how everyone loves this…
I just could not get behind this one….it was so tangy. I added sauteed peppers and a good amount of garlic powder to balance it out.
I also topped it with swiss cheese shreds.
The texture of the chicken was all wrong. It had a “tunafish in mayo” texture. It was edible with the midifications but definitely not as the original recipe. This one is a no.