Olive Garden Chicken Scampi Pasta made with a creamy garlic white wine sauce with lemon, bell peppers and onions.
Creamy chicken pastas are sure fire winners in our house. This creamy garlicky, lemony, white wine sauce with Parmesan cheese is basically heaven on earth. This sauce would taste delicious with shrimp or pork or even beef medallions as well.
What is in chicken scampi?
Chicken scampi, similar to the shrimp scampi is a dish classically made with garlic, butter and white wine. This chicken scampi has heavy cream and parmesan cheese added to the sauce to create a rich, creamy main dish.
For an authentic copycat I stuck with angel hair pasta, but I tend to find angel hair pasta is simply too thin, cooks too quickly and won’t hold up to other vegetables and chicken well, breaking too easily.
For creamy pasta recipes I tend to stick to spaghetti or thin spaghetti which is still relatively thin while staying strong enough to not break apart in tossing the creamy sauce with the noodles.
The base of the creamy sauce is just a roux. The mixture of butter and flour is used to thicken sauces.
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.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
1/2 red bell pepper sliced thinly
1/2 yellow bell pepper sliced thinly
1/2 green bell pepper sliced thinly
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
2 tablespoons garlic minced
4 tablespoons flour divided
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 pound angel hair pasta
1 pound chicken breast tenderloins
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup heavy cream warm to the touch
1/2 medium lemon juiced
1 cup parmesan cheese shaved, divided
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Instructions:
Add 2 tablespoons of butter to a cast iron skillet on medium high heat and cook the bell peppers and onions for 2-3 minutes or until slightly softened.
Remove the vegetables and add in remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.
Once melted add in two tablespoons of flour and garlic.
Whisk well until the flour has had a chance to “cook” for about 20 seconds.
Add in the red pepper flakes, oregano, basil, wine and chicken broth, then let reduce on medium heat for 18-20 minutes.
While the sauce is reducing cook the pasta one minute shy of the instructions, do not rinse.
In a second pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat.
Coat the chicken tenderloins in the salt and pepper before tossing in the remaining flour.
Add in the chicken, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side.
Remove the chicken from the heat while the sauce finishes reducing.
When the sauce is reduced by half add in the heavy cream and whisk well until you have a nice thick sauce.
Add in the lemon juice and half the parmesan cheese and whisk.
Toss with the pasta, bell peppers and onions.
Top with the chicken and Parmesan and serve.
Source:https://dinnerthendessert.com/olive-garden-chicken-scampi-pasta/
