Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara is a recipe that features the very familiar flavors of carbonara, but this recipe adds a unique touch of chicken tenders and shrimp for an update on this classic pasta dish.
If you have been to the Olive Garden you may have found this new menu item, the chicken and shrimp carbonara is a new favorite of many people like yourself. Sautéed seasoned chicken, shrimp and bucatini pasta tossed in a creamy carbonara sauce with bacon and roasted red peppers, is a dish you won’t want to miss. If you like Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce, you will enjoy this recipe. I have often made a quick dinner of Alfredo sauce and pasta, but this recipe turns this up just a notch.
The pasta in this recipe is bucatini; bucatini is a hollow spaghetti. If you do not have bucatini available, you can use regular spaghetti. I like to use bucatini when I can it adds a unique texture to the pasta. I have found bucatini at Kroger; it is part of their Private Selections brand. Other ingredients in this recipe are heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, lean bacon, red bell peppers, chicken, and shrimp. The chicken is first breaded and then sauteed in a pan. I lightly cook my shrimp and stir them into the sauce.
The last step is this recipe requires you to place one beaten egg into the cooked pasta and sauce. The residual heat of the pasta will cook the egg. If this makes you concerned, you can buy eggs that are already pasteurized, a brand of these are Safest Choice that is sold in many grocery stores. You will want to stir the egg in quickly as you don’t want the eggs to curdle.
The origin of this dish is originally a simple dish made of pasta, eggs, cheese, bacon or ham, and lots of black pepper. This recipe is slightly different it has a creamy Parmesan sauce. Other ingredients are also added, this has chicken, shrimp, and red peppers. So this dish is more hearty and slightly more updated. I think the additions are good and you will enjoy them in this copycat for the Olive Garden chicken and shrimp carbonara.
Olive Garden Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara
Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara is a dinner everyone will love.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces chicken tenders
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons water
- 6 ounces shrimp
- 12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti pasta
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup bacon
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 1/2 red bell pepper cut into rings
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
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Prepare chicken tenders by combining flour, Panko bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Mix breading until it is well blended. On another bowl combine 1 egg and 2 teaspoons water, stir until well mixed. Dip chicken in dry breading mix, then egg wash, and then back into the breading mix, and allow to dry on a rack. Allow the breaded chicken tenders to rest for about five minutes before cooking. Place 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken fingers and cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until chicken is browned, and cooked through. Set the chicken to the side. Cook shrimp in a small pot in boiling water for about 2 to 3 minutes. Shrimp is done when it becomes pink. Cook pasta according to package directions. Prepare carbonara sauce by placing butter and lean bacon in a skillet. Cook over medium heat when the butter melts, add garlic and red bell pepper. Saute pepper, bacon, until the bacon is cooked through. Add heavy cream to skillet with Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese has been melted. When the cheese has melted add cooked pasta and remove from heat. Stir in 1 beaten egg, and stir quickly. The residual heat of the pasta and sauce will cook the egg. To serve place pasta and sauce on the plate. Add a few pieces of chicken tenders and shrimp to each serving. Garnish with additional cheese and pepper if desired.
I made this last night and it was great!
Great recipe! I doubled most of the ingredients and went heavy on the cream and cheese when I prepared the sauce. Overall, this recipe was a great success. I appreciate your time sharing this recipe!
I love this recipe. Simple and amazing, thanks!
This was delicious and a definite keeper for the future!
I am glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Second time making this . Love it
I made your chicken scampi recipe and i loved it. I am going to make this tonight and add a little bit of chardonnay in the recipe for flavor. Thank u!
Made this tonight. It was wonderful!
This recipe sucks. The order of the way things are cooked is all wrong. Seriously bland too.
I am sorry you felt the recipe was prepared wrong as written, bland, and in general sucked. It doesn’t sound like it is recoverable.
It was very good but yes, need more cream and cheese, kids said it tasted good but like left over Olive Garden I will definitely make again but adding more sauce and cheese thank you for the recipe!
That’s different because I actually think olive gardens taste completely better when it’s left over
It was tasty but will use more cream so when eating left over will not be too dry.
My favorite plate at Olive Garden ,I usually share it with my husband,,I’m gonna make it as soon as I get the ingredients. Thanks for the recipe , will leave a comment after I try it,
Thanks again…
I have seen several of your youtube videos. I think I get more out of seeing it done than reading about it. Could you please do a video for this recipe it was amazing to have it yesterday at Olive Garden and I’m dying to try it at home. My wife had the Lobster Alfredo ravioli and it was just as amazing if not better. I have both of them in my sights and can’t wait to have them at home. Your help is much appreciated.
Made this for dinner tonight, it tasted like something was missing. It was good, but not great. I’ll use roasted peppers and maybe a bit more bacon next time. The tenders I used must have been bigger too, because I felt a couple tbsp of oil wasn’t enough to get the desired color and crispness.
I am sorry to hear you didn’t think this recipe was perfect as written.
I made this recipe a few weeks ago and my husband and two children loved it. I will be making it again tonight with some garlic bread of course. Thanks for such a great recipe;)
I love garlic bread! Have you tried adding a little Parmesan cheese to your garlic bread?
Stephanie, I love all your recipes and thank you for the time and effort to perfect them for your readers. I also thank you for your links to the recipe on your site, for a while there, I would click on the link and it would just take me to your site, not to the recipe, so this is really great.
Thank you for all you do, and keep up the good work.
This recipe is less tasty than the one in Olive Garden. It is still delicious. Next time I will reduce the sauce a little bit before adding the pasta.
Holy moly I have to make this ASAP!! Looks incredible!
This is so good, and now I know how to make it at home!
I could literally inhale this!
I made this recipe last night and I must say that was absolutely wonderful. My husband loved it. It is one of his favorite dishes at Olive Garden. This is a keeper! Thanks!
This dish was sooooooo Good!
I may give this a try, with a little less salt. The one thing I don’t l like about Olive Garden is how salty everything is…not from a health perspective but…just my tastebuds! Mel at mothersheeporganics
That’s one of the best things about cooking at home is being able to rework a recipe for you.
Um hello delicious looking dinner!!
I hope you give this a try.
Stephanie, this looks so delicious – would love a plate set in front of me right now!
Thank you very much
I love shrimp, and surprisingly I’ve never had this from Olive Garden – now I can make if at home!