Olive Garden Chicken Scampi with Fresh Peppers is a delightful dish served in a savory white wine sauce with breaded chicken. It’s topped with a wonderful variety of fresh peppers and onions. This Chicken Scampi is one of the restaurant’s most requested menu items and now you can make it at home.
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What Is Chicken Scampi?
Sure, you have heard of Shrimp Scampi, but what the heck is Chicken Scampi? Chicken Scampi is a popular American version that uses many of the same flavor components as the original but substitutes kid-friendly and less expensive chicken tenders for the shrimp.
Why this Recipe Works
The Olive Garden has so many wonderful recipes that can be made at home. This Chicken Scampi works because it’s filled with wonderfully fresh ingredients and topped with a creamy white wine sauce. It can be made as a pasta dish or add shrimp instead of chicken.
There are many ways to serve this dish. So many families have fond memories at the Olive Garden restaurant. Making a dish like this helps recreate those favorite memories that you have when you go out to eat.
Chicken Scampi Ingredients
This copycat Olive Garden chicken scampi recipe uses fresh ingredients bringing together the wonderful flavors of peppers and red onions. Here’s what else you will need:
- Chicken Tenders or Chicken Breasts
- All-purpose flour
- Milk
- Salt & Pepper
- Red, Green & Orange Bell Peppers
- Red Onion
- Garlic
- Pasta
- White Wine
- Heavy Cream
- Italian Seasonings
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
- Bread the chicken first. Dredge chicken tenders in flour, milk, and salt & pepper. Let rest while you are preparing the pasta and vegetables.
- Prepare the pasta according to the package instructions.
- While the pasta is boiling, saute the peppers, onions, and garlic in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Remove the veggies from the skillet and add the chicken.
- Cook the chicken until browned on both sides and done. Once the chicken is ready, remove the tenders from the skillet.
- Prepare the wine sauce in the same skillet used for the peppers and chicken.
- Add the pasta and veggies back into the sauce and stir to combine.
- Serve the pasta with chicken tenders on top. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the dish if desired.
Scroll down to the recipe card to see my video on creating this dish!
Recipe Notes
- If you do not drink wine, you may substitute it with low sodium chicken broth.
- When choosing wine for this recipe, I would choose an inexpensive Chardonnay or another dry white wine. Pick something that is drinkable.
- Another substitute idea would be to use dry sherry when a recipe calls for white wine. You don’t have to worry about sherry going bad, in a couple of days. This stays good for a couple of months.
- You can make this a meatless dish by leaving out the chicken and replacing it with some mushrooms instead. Either way, this is going to be delicious.
Perfect Sides for Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
The classic way to serve Chicken Scampi is over pasta. Angel hair pasta or another thin pasta is ideal.
Of course, there is no rule saying that you can’t enjoy this dish on its own. If you are going this route, garlic bread is the perfect way to sop up all that delicious sauce!
No matter how you choose to serve your Chicken Scampi, consider adding Caprese Bruschetta or Marinated Mozzarella Salad as a starter or side.
Storing Chicken Scampi
You can keep the Olive Garden Scampi sauce leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about five days. Reheat gently over low heat. Add a splash of wine or milk if the sauce is too thick.
The cream, lemon juice, and wine in the recipe make it difficult to freeze the Chicken Scampi without losing quality.
Chicken Scampi Olive Garden Recipe FAQS
What Does Scampi-Style Mean?
Scampi style has come to mean any dish that combines butter, garlic, and an acidic ingredient such as wine or citrus juice. You can find a wide range of scampi-style dishes, including shrimp, scallops, squid, beef, and chicken.
What Is Scampi Sauce Made Of?
First, in Italian, scampi is plural for scampo, a type of shellfish commonly called a Dublin Bay Prawn or Norway Lobster in English.
A traditional scampi sauce in Italy is straightforward. It is made by sauteing prawns in a butter and garlic sauce with maybe a squeeze of lemon or a splash of white wine to help balance the richness and provide a bit of brightness. Many cooks add their own twist to scampi recipes such as cream, vegetables, and herbs.
What Kind of Wine Do I Use for Scampi?
You don’t need to spend a fortune on wine to cook scampi, but you should avoid the cheap cooking wines.
Use a dry, crisp white wine such as a Sauvignon Blanc or a Chardonnay. A very dry Riesling or a Pinot Grigio is also an option. A good rule of thumb to help when choosing wines for cooking is to use whichever type you will serve alongside the dish.
How Do You Thicken Scampi Sauce?
Scampi sauce is not supposed to be overly thick, but if you feel yours is on the runny side, you can use a couple of methods to correct the problem.
The best way to thicken the sauce is by turning down the heat and simmering the cream for a few minutes longer before returning the chicken to the pan.
For a faster option, dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch in an equal amount of water to make a slurry. Stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce and simmer until thickened.
How Many Calories Are in Olive Garden’s Chicken Scampi?
According to Olive Garden’s nutritional menu, an order of Chicken Scampi has 1260 calories, with over half coming from fat. The copycat Olive Garden Chicken Scampi recipe contains slightly fewer calories.
Do you like the Olive Garden restaurant? Try these Olive Garden copycat recipes
- Olive Garden Fettuccine Recipe
- Italian Mozzarella Sticks
- Crispy Ravioli
- Oven Baked Pasta Olive Garden
- Olive Garden Dishes
Delicious Italian Recipes for You to Make
- Pizza Hut Pastas – Cavatini
- Make Italian Sausage
- Red Lobster Seafood Pasta
- Risotto Recipe – Instant Pot
- Italian Rice Balls with Meat
- Eggs Pasta
- Chicken Limone
- Carrabba’s Dipping Sauce
Be sure to check out more of my Olive Garden copycat recipes and the best homemade Italian food.
Did you make and love this recipe? Give your review below and make sure you share your creations by tagging me on Instagram!
Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt + extra divided use
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup milk
- 1 pound chicken tenders
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided use
- 1/2 green bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 orange bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 pound pasta prepared according to package directions
Instructions
- Set up a breading station: Place the flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the pepper into a shallow dish and mix well with a fork. Place the milk into another shallow dish. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet.
- Dredge the chicken in the flour, dip it into the milk, and then dredge again in the flour. Place the breaded chicken on the wire rack to rest for 10 minutes before cooking.
- While the chicken is resting, place 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Add the peppers, onions, and garlic and season with a light sprinkling of salt. Sauté until the peppers begin to brown. Remove the vegetables from skillet.
- Place the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the hot skillet. Add the chicken and cook for 5 to 7 minutes on each side until the chicken has browned. Remove the chicken from the skillet.
- Deglaze the skillet with the white wine, using a spoon to scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the Italian seasoning and the heavy cream and mix well.
- Return the vegetables to the skillet along with the cooked pasta and stir. Plate the pasta and sauce, placing a few pieces of cooked chicken on each plate.
Video
Notes
- If you do not drink wine, you may substitute it with low sodium chicken broth.
- When choosing wine for this recipe, I would choose an inexpensive Chardonnay or another dry white wine. Pick something that is drinkable.
- Another substitute idea would be to use dry sherry when a recipe calls for white wine. You don’t have to worry about sherry going bad, in a couple of days. This stays good for a couple of months.
- You can make this a meatless dish by leaving out the chicken and replacing it with some mushrooms instead. Either way, this is going to be delicious.
Haley
Giving this 4 stars simply for the name of the dish is odd, its a copy cat of the olive garden dish that they also call it “chicken scampi”
Brenda Henry
One comment mentions lemon juice, yet lemon juice is not listed in the ingredients.
Hillary
I get this every time I go to Olive Garden. This has the chicken, noodles, peppers and onions but that’s it. It does not taste like the chicken scampi I get at Olive Garden. I’m not sure if there are seasonings missing or what but definitely disappointed 😔
Stephanie Manley
I am sorry that you were disappointed. If it was missing “something” that you can’t put your finger on, chances are you should add more salt.
Rachel
Just saying, I have found the opposite. I had been making this recipe for quite a while and never had it at Olive Garden. Ordered it a while back and I was so disappointed. I will continue to make my own lol
Timothy Woods
Just made this recipe for family and friends, and they all loved it! The sauce was perfect and the chicken was cooked to perfection. I will be making this again soon 🙂
Joan L.
This does sound delicious. However, “Scampi” means shrimp. A lot of people think that “Scampi” is how the shrimp entree is cooked. Typically with an olive oil, butter, garlic, lemon juice, etc. But in reality scampi are the shrimp itself.
Ceil
This my favorite dish at all of garden. I get it every time I go. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks Stephanie.