Master one of Olive Garden’s most beloved dishes right in your kitchen! Our copycat Chicken Scampi recipe perfectly recreates the restaurant’s tender chicken, colorful peppers, and signature white wine sauce you can’t resist. Best of all? Our version costs a fraction of the restaurant price and serves your whole family.
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Table of Contents
What Makes the Olive Garden Chicken Scampi Pasta So Good?
Chicken scampi is similar to shrimp scampi, except it’s more kid-friendly and economical. You can use chicken tenders, typically less expensive and sure to please the entire family.
The recipe uses many of the same flavor components as the original shrimp scampi, meaning you can enjoy sauteed veggies and delicious sauce with your juicy chicken.
It’s the perfect way to upgrade plain-old chicken tenders or breasts into an exquisite, memorable meal! Try this recipe to make your weeknights more exciting.
Why This Copycat Recipe Works
- Restaurant-quality results at home
- It uses the exact same fresh vegetables as Olive Garden
- Recreates their signature sauce technique
- More generous portion size than the restaurant
- Customizable spice levels
- A perfect balance of garlic and wine
Chicken Scampi Ingredients
This copycat Olive Garden chicken scampi recipe uses fresh ingredients, combining the wonderful flavors of peppers and red onions. Here’s what you will need:
- Chicken Tenders or Chicken Breasts – this is the main protein, tenders provide a better texture than chicken breasts
- All-purpose flour – Creates signature light breading
- Milk – Helps breading adhere
- Salt & Pepper – Enhance the overall flavors
- Red, Green & Orange Bell Peppers – Provides color and flavor
- Red Onion – Adds sweetness and texture
- Garlic – Essential flavor base
- Pasta – Spaghetti or Fettuccini
- White Wine – Creates classic scampi flavor
- Heavy Cream – Provides richness and body
- Italian Seasonings – Authentic herb blend
How to Make Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
- Bread the chicken first. Dredge the chicken tenders in flour, milk, salt, and pepper. Let them rest while you prepare 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 for the peppers and chicken in the same skillet.
- Add the pasta and veggies back into the sauce and stir to combine.
- Serve the pasta with chicken tenders on top. If desired, sprinkle parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley over the dish.
Please scroll down to the recipe card to see my video on creating this dish!
Professional Tips for Perfect Results
Chicken Preparation
- Tenderizing:
- Pound to even thickness
- Pat dry before dredging
- Season flour well
- Breading Technique:
- Use one hand for wet, one for dry
- Let breading rest for 5 minutes
- Don’t overcrowd the pan
Sauce Secrets
- Wine Selection:
- Use drinking-quality wine
- Avoid cooking wine
- Chardonnay preferred
- Cream Integration:
- Add slowly while stirring
- Keep heat medium-low
- Watch for proper thickness
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 alone. If you are going this route, either garlic bread or homemade Olive Garden breadsticks is the perfect way to sop up all that delicious sauce!
No matter how you serve your Chicken Scampi, consider adding caprese bruschetta or Marinated Mozzarella Salad as a starter or side.
Storing Chicken Scampi
Olive Garden Scampi sauce leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about five days. Reheat gently over low heat. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of wine or milk.
The cream, lemon juice, and wine in the recipe make it difficult to freeze the Chicken Scampi without losing quality.
How To Reheat Homemade Chicken Scampi
I suggest reheating this dish on the stovetop. Ideally, reheat gently over low to medium heat. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of wine or milk.
Cover the pan to prevent moisture loss! Flip the chicken occasionally and remove it from the heat once the internal temperature is 165 degrees.
You can reheat pasta in the microwave if you made pasta and stored it separately. Otherwise, it might turn soggy if you reheat it with the chicken and sauce.
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? Please review it below and 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.
- Allow the wine to reduce by two-thirds.
- 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.
Nutrition
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. Prawns are sauteed in butter and garlic, maybe with 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 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 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.
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”
One comment mentions lemon juice, yet lemon juice is not listed in the ingredients.
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 😔
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.
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
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 🙂
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.
This my favorite dish at all of garden. I get it every time I go. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks Stephanie.