Here at Taste of Home, we love making our favorite restaurant dishes at home. And, based on the amount of copycat recipes on the site, we clearly have a thing for cooking up Olive Garden copycat recipes.
It’s hard to say which is our favorite, but this copycat Olive Garden chicken and shrimp carbonara might be it! With crispy pieces of juicy chicken and tender shrimp tossed in a rich, bacon-infused Parmesan cream sauce with red peppers and al dente pasta, it’s elegant yet homey, and beloved by all.
Ingredients for Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara
- Chicken: If you’re confused by all the different labels on chicken (organic, air-chilled, free-range, among others), you’re not alone. Learn to read labels and you’ll be able to find the best chicken every time.
- Breading: This recipe’s fried chicken dredge is made from seasoned flour, milk and a thick coating of Parmesan bread crumbs.
- Pasta: Look for a package of spaghetti or bucatini noodles. Bucatini is slightly thicker than spaghetti, with a center hole running the length of each noodle. The hole adds texture and soaks up our yummy carbonara sauce better than spaghetti.
- Bacon: Since you’ll only need four bacon strips for this recipe, you’ll have a lot left over. Check out our leftover bacon recipes for ideas on how to use them up—as if you needed an excuse!
- Garlic: Mince up three garlic cloves, or use 3 teaspoons of pre-minced garlic.
- Heavy cream: Double-check that you’re grabbing a carton of heavy whipping cream and not just whipping cream—they have different fat percentages and will yield different results!
- Butter: It’s common to find butter in pasta sauces. It acts as an emulsifier, adding shine and richness to the sauce. You usually only need 1 tablespoon of butter to achieve this.
- Parmesan: Buy pre-grated Parmesan or grate it yourself at home. Italian-made Parmigiano Reggiano takes the flavor to a whole new level, and doesn’t clump like some imitations.
- Parsley: This pasta dish is pretty heavy. With cream, milk, Parmesan and butter, it’s full of fat and richness. Minced parsley breaks up the heaviness with a note of freshness and a gorgeous pop of green.
- Milk: Two percent milk helps thin out the sauce without taking away its richness.
- Pasta water: Reserve 1/2 cup of the finished pasta’s cooking liquid to add to the sauce later. It’s better than just regular water since the pasta liquid is filled with starch that helps thicken the pasta sauce and cling to the noodles more easily.
- Red peppers: Jarred roasted red peppers add a subtle hint of smoke and a fire-red color to the pasta.
- Shrimp: Using precooked shrimp saves time and energy, but you can also use raw shrimp. Just cook the shrimp and add them to the finished pasta before serving.
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the chicken
Pound the chicken with a meat mallet to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut the pounded chicken into 3-inch strips.
Editor’s Tip: Do your best to pound and cut the chicken into equal sizes so they finish frying at the same time.
Step 2: Bread the chicken
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt and pepper. Place the milk and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Stir the Parmesan cheese into the bread crumbs.
Take a piece of chicken and dredge both sides of it through the flour. This will prevent your breading from falling off. Shake off any excess. Then, dip it in the milk before pressing it into the breadcrumb mixture, generously coating it on all sides. Set the pieces aside on a platter and repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes.
Step 3: Fry the chicken
In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken in batches until the pieces are golden brown, six to eight minutes, turning once. Drain the fried chicken on a paper towel-lined baking sheet. Keep the chicken warm by placing the chicken in an oven set to warm (170°F) while you finish the rest of the recipe.
Editor’s Tip: Once the chicken hits the oil, resist the urge to shift it around. Let it cook and allow the cheesy breading to toast and caramelize. If you attempt to flip the chicken and it sticks to the pan, let it cook for another 30 to 60 seconds. The chicken should naturally release from the pan once the breading is perfectly golden.
Step 4: Cook the bacon
Cook the pasta according to its package directions for al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until it’s crisp. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Discard the bacon drippings, reserving 1 tablespoon in the pan for the sauce.
Editor’s Tip: To keep the pasta warm and prevent it from sticking together while you finish the sauce, toss the cooked pasta with a teaspoon of olive oil, and keep it covered.
Step 5: Reduce the cream and garlic
Add the heavy cream and garlic to the pan with the leftover bacon drippings. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is reduced by half, six to eight minutes. Crumble the bacon into bite-sized pieces.
Editor’s Tip: Reducing the cream is key to achieving a thick and creamy sauce. Don’t rush the process. You’ll know the cream is ready when it clings to the back of a wooden spoon.
Step 6: Make it cheesy
Add the butter, Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon, fresh parsley and salt to the skillet with the reduced cream mixture. Stir in the milk and enough reserved pasta water to reach your desired sauce consistency.
Step 7: Add the shrimp
Stir in the shrimp and heat them through.
Step 8: Stir in the pasta and peppers
Add the al dente pasta and the red pepper strips to the sauce. Toss to coat them.
Step 9: Add the chicken
Gently fold in the fried chicken.
Step 10: Serve the pasta
Serve the pasta topped with additional Parmesan cheese and garnish with a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Recipe Variations
- Change the protein: Skip the fried, breaded chicken and instead opt for sliced grilled chicken or even pieces of cooked rotisserie chicken. If you don’t like shrimp, you can swap them for scallops or omit them entirely and go for extra chicken.
- Add extra veggies: Load up this easy copycat Olive Garden recipe with color, texture and nutrition by including an array of other vegetables. Sauteed bell peppers or mushrooms make lovely additions. Steamed broccoli or grilled zucchini, like in this summer carbonara, are other tasty options to consider.
- Use a different pasta shape: Spaghetti and bucatini are traditional for carbonara, but if Olive Garden has taught us anything, it’s that you can deviate from the classic. Smaller, kid-friendly shapes like rotini, penne or farfalle (bow tie pasta) are great for tiny mouths. Fettuccine and linguine are other long-cut pasta shapes that work well in this recipe.
How to Store Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara
If you know you won’t consume this meal in one sitting, we recommend storing the pasta sauce separately from the pasta. Use airtight containers for the various components and store them in the fridge for up to four days. Just make sure they are cooled to room temperature before storing them.
To reheat, slowly heat the sauce on the stovetop over medium-low heat, adding a bit of extra milk until the sauce is steaming. Toss with reheated pasta that you’ve warmed separately and serve.
Low and slow is best for dairy-based pasta sauces since they tend to curdle and separate when heated quickly or in the microwave. For this reason, we also don’t recommend freezing this recipe since it can cause the sauce to separate.
Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara Tips
Why doesn’t this carbonara have eggs?
Wait, isn’t carbonara sauce made with eggs? Yes! An authentic carbonara recipe is made primarily with eggs, Parmesan cheese, hot pasta water, pancetta and pepper.
However, we opted to omit the eggs from our copycat Olive Garden chicken and shrimp carbonara because, after a quick scan of Olive Garden’s allergen information on their website, we learned that their adaptation of this classic Italian recipe doesn’t contain eggs either. What?!
Olive Garden isn’t exactly known for being authentic, so we can’t say we’re surprised their “carbonara” skips this pretty crucial ingredient. It’s a delicious rendition, so we’ll forgive them. Here are more of our favorite carbonara recipes to try next!
What should I serve with copycat Olive Garden chicken and shrimp carbonara?
Complete your pasta-and-protein-loaded dinner with vegetable-forward Italian side dishes like white beans and spinach, stuffed mushrooms or a Caprese salad. Or, go full-fledged copycat Olive Garden and cook up our recipes for their comforting minestrone soup, refreshing Italian chopped salad and creamy hot chocolate tiramisu. Don’t forget to serve it with a batch of the best copycat Olive Garden breadsticks.
