This chicken scampi recipe is to die for. Angel hair pasta covered in a creamy garlic sauce with caramelized onions and bell peppers, then topped with pan-fried chicken tenderloins.
After trying chicken scampi for the first time at the Olive Garden I just knew I needed to recreate it and make it even better. Some of my other favorite Olive Garden copycat recipes I’ve recreated are Olive Garden Italian dressing and Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana soup.
I am so excited to share one of my families most favorite pasta dishes with you today! It’s my Chicken Scampi recipe and it is so good that me and my husband always fight over the leftovers the next day!
Have you tried the Chicken Scampi from Olive Garden? This is where I first fell in love with this dish. Angel hair pasta covered in a creamy garlic sauce mixed with caramelized red onions and bell peppers. Then topped with pan-fried chicken tenderloins. Oh my!
Although I love Olive Gardens chicken scampi, I honestly prefer my own recipe. Does it taste better you ask? I will let you be the judge. But the answer is yes. 100% yes.
HOW DO YOU MAKE CHICKEN SCAMPI?
The recipe starts by creating a creamy and delicious scampi sauce. Then boiling your angel hair pasta until al dente. Pan-frying your lightly coated chicken tenderloins until crispy and cooked through. Then carmelizing your peppers and onions, mixing it all together and serving on a big nice platter topped with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
HOW DO YOU MAKE SCAMPI SAUCE?
It is super easy to make scampi sauce. Basically, all you need to do is saute some garlic and onion, add in chicken broth and some seasonings and simmer for 15 minutes. Then after the flavors have come developed together you add in some heavy cream and simmer on low for 10 minutes more. Such a delicious and creamy sauce.
MORE CHICKEN RECIPES
- Honey Sesame Chicken
- Creamy Hazelnut Chicken Penne
- Chicken Enchilada Casserole
- Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Chicken Picatta Freezer Meal
- Make Ahead Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 tbs butter
- 2 tbs minced onions dried or fresh
- 1 tsp heaping minced garlic
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tbs dried parsley
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 16 oz angel hair pasta
- 1 lb chicken tenderloins about 9-12 pieces
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup flour
- 4 tbs olive oil
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 red onions
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- In a medium sized sauce pan add butter, minced onion, minced garlic and saute over medium heat for a 1-2 minutes. Don't let the garlic burn! Add in chicken broth, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and the dried parsley. Simmer for 15 minutes on med-low heat.
- After 15 minutes is up add heavy whipping cream and simmer on low, without boiling for 10 minutes.
- In a separate pot, boil the angel hair pasta according to the directions on the box.
- To prepare your chicken tenders, sprinkle with salt and pepper and dip in flour. Fry in a skillet over medium heat with a couple tablespoons of olive oil 3-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked all the way through. Set aside.
- Take your onions and bell peppers and cut in julienne strips, making sure to remove all seeds and the white membrane on the inside. In the same skillet that the chicken was cooked in, add another tablespoon or so of olive oil and saute the onions and bell peppers. I cook on high for 3-5 minutes until they get soft and caramelized.
- Take the creamy garlic sauce and add half of it to the pasta. Stir to incorporate sauce.
- Add all the onions and bell peppers and mix into the pasta. Dish up pasta, adding the chicken on top. Drizzle more sauce over pasta and chicken. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
This dish is perfect in so many ways. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Karrie, this looks delicious, I’m gonna have to try this. I love easy cheap recipes like this, simple ingredients and small shopping list. Yum!
Karrie, do you think it would work with half and half instead of the heavy cream?
I haven’t tried any substitutes on this recipe. The cream thickens the sauce and gives the noodles something to stick to whereas I am not sure you could get that thickness with half and half. But I definitely think it’s worth a try! Let me know what you think! 🙂
Karrie, approximately how many servings can you get from this recipe?
About 6 servings.
Thanks! I tried the recipe and can’t seem to get the sauce creamy enough. It ends up more like the consistency of a watery soup. Is this how it’s meant to be? If not, how do I get it creamier? I am using heavy whipping cream and keeping it on a low simmer for 10 mins after I add in the cream.
What if you do t have purple onions, i am making this right now not sure what do do I have yellow onions can I use those instead?
Yes you can use yellow onions, however the purple ones have a slightly sweeter taste, but it would still be good.
I used half and half and then about 2 tsp of corn starch to thicken it up. Worked great and was very yummy!!!
Half and Half is what I used. It worked fine. I also added a little bit of corn starch with the melted butter whisked together until blended, then added the chicken broth. Brought this to a boil, then I added the half and half, with a squirt or two of lemon juice.
I cannot have dairy, are there any substitutions I can try for the cream? I used to work for Olive Garden years ago and this was one of my favorite meals!
I used 1 cup almond milk whisked together with 2 tbs corn starch instead of the cream, and it worked great!
I know this may be a “silly” point to make ,but I have some beginning chefs at my house and got the comment,”mom,am I sposed to drain the pasta and then add the onions and peppers or what?——————-:) anyway Love your blog Keep up the great work!!
We made it for dinner last night and it was a hit with both my husband and the kids! This is definetly going into the regular weekly menu. Thank you!
Made this the other night. AMAZING.
Keep recipes like this coming. . .
Thank you! I am so glad you like it!
I made this last night and it was AMAZING! And you are right…my husband and I were fighting for leftovers. So excited to make this again!
So glad you liked it!
Making this for our Easter dinner tonight. Been planning our meal for weeks now! Looking forward to trying this!
Gave a shout out on my blog to you today! THANKS for all the great recipes!
This was great! Hubs is in a food coma now he loved it so much. He usually doesn’t like any different sauce on his pasta besides the red stuff but he really loved this! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Thanks, Becky! Hope dinner turned out great!
Just had the real thing for my Easter dinner last night and told my hubby I would love to make it myself if I just had a recipe for the cream sauce. I can’t wait to try this!
I just finished making a batch of your dishwasher detergent tabs, can’t wait to see how they turn out! Thanks for the recipes.
Do you use the ENTIRE 16 oz box of pasta? I was a ‘lil bit confused by step 6 and didn’t want to get my proportions wrong… Thanks!!!
Sorry that was confusing! Yes, you cook the whole box of pasta! I had you put half the sauce on half the pasta and mix it up and then put the other half of the sauce on the other half of the pasta. That way all the pasta is coated in the yummy sauce! 🙂
Hi Karrie,
I made this recipe a few days ago when my father in law was visiting. I invited my dad and brother to join us and everyone really liked it. I added a pound of shrimp in addition to the chicken. My kids liked it too, even though it had more of a ‘grown up’ taste according to them. I added a bit too much pepper but to my grown up taste buds it was still really good. My husband has been hording the left overs for the past two days! I’ll definitely be doing this again! I made your freezer chicken taquitos first and we were addicted so I had to try something else. On to the next recipe! Hmmm….what to choose?
I made this saturday night(7-5) for dinner testing out new recipes for chicken on the hubby,well two bites into it says “when can you make this again?” I was pretty surprised when he said that because it normally takes him a few more bites than that to give me his opinion on things. I was pretty nervous to make this since i have never made scampi before and hubby has never had it before but I’m quit happy with the results and i now have a new recipe to add to my rotation.
making it for my second time! Both my daughters LOVE it as well as my man and myself 🙂 The only thing I did different this time, was to double the sauce! The pasta absorbs it wonderfully, and we all like a litte extra sauce, so… there you have. It’s a hit, and a new go to favorite! Thanks!
So glad you like it!
Very good. I substituted 1/2 cup of the chicken broth with white wine.
Made this for dinner tonight. Sub for broth half white wine and broth.
Doubled Italian herbs. Doubled garlic.
We are gluten free used cornstarh for flour.
Family went nuts! Next time I will increase sauce amount as it is yummy! Thanks for the recipe it is the best! Even if I changed it.
So happy you liked it! I just made it tonight again too, it’s a family favorite!
Love this recipe! Even better, I didn’t even need to go to the store. Just googled and came across this. Family is lucky tonight!
Thank you for helping me put a smile on my family’s faces! They loved this yummy pasta! First time making chicken scampi and it was amazing!
This recipe is delicious, although I had to make a few substitutes. I made my own italian seasoning which was a blend of dried basil, dried oregano, black pepper, dried thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, dried parsley, and dried rosemary. I also didn’t have red peppers so I used an orange pepper. I substituted heavy cream with milk, flour, and a butter mix. I’m sure the original is better but this substitute was a hit at home!
One more thing, I also used linguine instead of angel hair. It came out good with the linguine but next time I’ll definitely use angel hair.
We live in Newfoundland, Canada, and recently spent two weeks touring around the USA. The chicken scampi at the Olive Garden was the best meal I ate for the entire trip! I decided to try your recipe and it is very close! I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
Thanks for posting!
Also there isn’t an Olive Garden Restaurant in our entire province, so if I wanted to have it again, I had to make it myself!
Made this last night and it was absolutely amazing! I did substitute half a cup of broth for Pinot Grigio and only made half a box of pasta since it’s just me and the hubby. Thank you SOO much for sharing this recipe! Will most definitely be making this again soon! =D
I was wondering how many ppl would this recipe feed? Thanks…
It feeds my family of six with no leftovers!
Hi –
Am anxious to make this recipe; however, I am a bit confused. How does 4-6 tenderloins feed a family of six? Can you tell me how many pounds of tenderloin you used?
Wanted to do a scampi, googled it and this is what I picked. Super easy and super good. I will most defiantly be doing this again adding a little shrimp in the mix. Thank you
Made it tonight for my son’s 23rd birthday. Requested Olive Garden chicken scampi and I made this instead. He said it was the best meal he ever had!!! Took a long time the first time, but should be much simple the next time. Was a huge hit the day of and the following day, as well. Kudos to you!!
Picky eater hubby approves. haha
Chicken scampi is my favorite dish at Olive Garden, your recioe is SPOT ON! Made this for my family tonight. It was a big hit, everyone enjoyed. Thanks for sharing!
All i can find is heavy whipping cream. sure hope that’s the same.
Yes, that’s the same thing!
First I must state a disclaimer……I never comment on recipes….however this dish deserves it!! I found this today, I made it this evening for dinner. AMAZING!!!!! Excellent recipe. I will definitely make it again. THANK YOU!!!
So glad you liked it!
I LOVE Olive Garden’s Chicken Scampi and have been ordering it for years – however – I made this recipe tonight for dinner and it definitely BEATS Olive Garden’s version!
The flavors are spot on and I think the chicken tastes better cooked this way vs. Olive Garden.
Love this recipe!!
My wife has made this twice for me over the past few months. Really delicious. Last time we realized that if we be a little patient and let it sit and cool for a brief spell after it’s done cooking, it thickens ups a bit and tastes that much better. I’m not a huge leftover fan, but this does very well as leftovers.
I made this tonight for my mom and my honey and it was a major hit! I did add some lemon and white whine to the sauce, and upped about 17 times more garlic (which for me worked good), but the base recipe itself was super swaggy. Thanks for this friend!
Tried your recipe tonight and it was a huge success! Not ony was it very quick and easy to make after work, but my family and I LOVED it. This is definitely being added to our regular dinner menu:)
Stumbled across this recipe today and just had to try it today. Great recipe from a food hobbyist. I did substitute with half and half since I had no cream and I added a little Italian cheese blend to help thicken the sauce which did the trick for me. I was very pleased and will be making it again very soon. Next time I will have cream and some crusty bread to sop up the sauce which is soooo good. I will probably try with shrimp as well as the sauce over grilled/steamed mussels which actually sounds good. Thank you so much.
Yum! You just made my taste buds dance with your addition! 🙂
What about adding a little lemon juice and how much do you think? Will be trying this tonight!
I think the lemon juice would brighten up the flavor. Try it and let me know if you liked it!
Do you think the sauce and chicken would freeze well? I’m making a few of your freezer meals for a friend that’s having surgery next week and this sound so good – I’d like to include it if freezing is an option.
Thanks so much! SO glad I found this site!!
I think the chicken would freeze well but I haven’t tried the sauce yet. Let me know what you think!
I’ve recently moved to a different province and there isn’t any Olive Garden restaurants here, I’ve been craving for chicken scampi for a long time now and I’m so glad I stumbled upon your website and found this SPOT-ON recipe!! My cravings are satisfied!!! This was incredibly easy and I followed your recipe to the T! Thanks a bunch!! This is now my go to recipe each time I crave chicken scampi !!
I am so glad you like it! It is one of my family’s staples!
I made this yesterday it was wonderful my kids loved it. I will be making this often i’m always looking for new dishes to make i love to cook. Thank you 🙂
It sounds delicious I would make it this week for my family. I just have a question for how many people is this recipe, the way I calculate the amount correct with my family members.
This recipe feeds 4 adult portions!
I’m literally making this now! Very excited to see how it will turn out 🙂
Yum! Hope you enjoyed dinner!
Made this tonight for dinner and it was a hit. Both hubs and I love the original and this one is very close! Only thing is my sauce didn’t thicken. Any idea why?
It’s a pretty thin sauce. It coats the noodles and the chicken. If you want it thicker I would add a little cornstarch slurry to it about 5 minutes before you want to eat it.
When ya get a fist bump from Hubby u kwow it’s a keeper
Best approval out there!
This is easily one of our favorite recipes! I make it when we have guests over and it is always a hit. Thanks for a delicious, cheap meal!
I am so glad you like it! It is one of my family favorites!
This dish is sooooo crazy good! I actually found it about a month ago when I was looking for something to take to a family who just had their first born. I thought of your dish when I saw this from Publix! If it were my recipe, I would totally submit it! Hope you consider it – and if you do -good luck!!
https://www.publixrecipecontest.com/?utm_medium=social+media&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=brd+inc+2015_aprons_recipecontest_social_oosj&utm_content=pp+rs+20150930+apronsrecipecontestpost4
Thanks so much! I would enter but I don’t live in the states that it is required for!
This recipe is awesome! Very flavorful. I did add lemon because I like I that way, but the recipe is delicious without it, just as-is. I did make one fatal mistake, though. This dish was a hit, so I’ll definitely make it again. However, next time, I will cook the pasta LAST. Tending to the chicken and the pasta at the same time, I overcooked the pasta 🙁 Rookie mistake, alas, I am a novice. Family still seemed to enjoy it, though! The red pepper flakes give it some bite!
i am having a dinner party and would love to serve this. Could I make the sauce in advance and reheat right before dinner? I like to have things prepared in advance. Thanks
I haven’t tried it before but I think it would work as long as the sauce was reheated before adding in all the other ingredients.
Made this for dinner last night. Garlic heaven !! I didn’t have any chicken tenders so I brined some chicken breasts. They came out nice & tender. Added extra Parmesan too. My guys definitely want me to make this one again !!
Hi Karrie,
I came across your recipe on Pinterest….I have made many recipes from there but I have NEVER left a comment anywhere. But your chicken scampi was AWESOME! I am a very average cook and some how always manage to mess up chicken. But I followed your recipe to the tee (I set the timer every time, ha!) it turned out great! Thank you! I look forward to checking out more of your recipes. 🙂
That makes me so happy! The chicken scampi recipe is one of my family’s favorites and I have never messed it up! I am so glad you liked it…and that I got your first comment! 🙂
Eeeeeek!!!…I LOVE the Chicken Scampi at OG!…I cannot wait to try your recipe!…Thank you!
Can you provide a nutritional count for this?
This was a great recipe, I changed a few things because i like more sauce, I cut the chicken broth to 1 cup and included 1/2 cup of white wine and 2 cups of cream instead of one.
Can I substitute whole milk for the cream?
You really need it to be cream if possible, as your sauce may be runny otherwise.
Excellent recipe! I’m cooking for 2, so I used 8 oz. of fettucine, 2 chicken breast halves, 1 red bell pepper, 1 yellow onion, doubled the garlic, added 8 oz. of sliced mushrooms. Used half & half with a couple of tablespoons of cornstarch stirred in. Perfect amount of sauce and consistency.
This amount provided for about 3 more servings as leftovers. There was no leftover chicken, but the leftovers were just as good. I’ll make this again and again, with and without chicken.
Thanks, Karrie, for sharing!
I just made this for my very picky 2 daughters and husband. They are all saying how great it is. My husband said “it’s amazing!” My girls are gobbling it up!! I just sat down as us moms usually do and haven’t made my plate yet. But I told my husband hands off!!! I can’t wait until I get my peaceful plate :-). Thank you so much for your recipe, I LOVE scampi when it’s done right. I’ve never had Olive Garden myself, but order it when I go out (very rarely), and this is just terrific!!!! I will be saving this recipe and making it with confidence, even with company :-). The cat is even begging for it like a dog! Btw, I read a lot of other recipes for 3 days before making, and I’m SO happy I chose yours 🙂
This recipe is phenomenal. I just sent the link to add my friends to try out.
The red pepper flakes gave it an extra kick (which I love) but if your not into spicy I wouldn’t add it.
This looks really good. Unfortunately my husband hates onion so I’ll be making it without the carmelized onions.
One Word. DELISH!!! This is certainly a restaurant quality recipe. If I could give it 10 stars I would.
This is by far the most anazing recipe ever!! Wow , this is delish!! Chicken scampi is the only thing i order at olive garden and this recipe is exact! I probably used more garlic and parm cheese than called for because…who measures? I did also thicken just a tad with cornstarch. I love this revipe and also ate untill i was ill!!
Yay, so happy you love it too!
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is amazing it is one of our favorites meals!
I made this dish tonight and I thought it was very good. My only suggestions would be to omit the red pepper flakes and scale back the red onions to 1 as well as maybe 1/2 tbs of minced garlic. This dish while good, prepared at full strength is a little spicy.
Just stopped by to say this recipe is wonderful! I pinned it a few weeks ago, made it tonight for dinner, and was so impressed, I had to come back and say thank you!
This was delicious! My wife and I are saving this one for sure!!! Wow, I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow 😉
I made this tonight and it was amazing . We all LOVED it . I will definitely be making again ! Yum !
This was wonderful! My husband had bought an enormous bag of very bland chicken nuggets at Costco and I have been trying to find ways to use them up. I substituted them into this recipe and it was great! I sprinkled just a bit of fresh lemon juice over the nuggets before adding them in and the dish came out really good! I had tried a few other recipes to use up these wretched things, but your recipe is the first one that (almost) made me wish I had more of them! Thank you so much for sharing it.
This recipe is so great! Tastes just like the chicken scampi at Olive Garden (which is the only thing I get there). It’s a little time consuming to make with a newborn so I was wondering if youve ever tried freezing it (Either just the sauce alone or the whole pasta dish). Would love to make a big batch of this ahead for multiple dinners and could just cook the chicken and add. Thanks!
So delicious!
I used red and yellow peppers and zuchinni too. Next time I think I need to double the vegetbles. But this was very good. Thank you for the recipe.
I LOVE this dish! I made it for my boyfriends daughter’s birthday diner! Her and her sisters and my daughters loved it! They even asked to take some home! My boyfriend called dibs on anyone who couldn’t finish! He says it’s one of his favorite meals I make! Makes me feel so good that everyone likes it so much, so thanks to you for sharing this recipe with us!
I have made this several times. It turns out perfect every time. I have even made it without the peppers when I had none, and it still tasted great.
This dish was delicious! My husband loved it! I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
I love this recipe! It tastes just like the dish from Olive Garden which is my favorite thing there! The entire family loved it!
This was amazing! I stirred in some fresh spinach for a bit of color and boom! Adding this to my list of “always make” 🙂
This is AMAZING!!! Made it and I couldn’t get enough! Seriously so delicious!!!
Thank you!!!
The best chicken scampi recipe ever! Spot on 🙂