Add Olive Garden Dressing To Pasta For An Easy Weeknight Dinner

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Olive Garden has garnered a cult following for its great prices and delicious Italian American menu. Perhaps the biggest sell that wins most of us over is the promise of endless breadsticks and salad — a duo that's one of our favorite non-pasta items at Olive Garden. The restaurant itself has capitalized on the success of its salad in particular, bottling and selling its famous Italian dressing. As it turns out, however, Olive Garden's Signature Italian Dressing isn't just meant for salad.

In a TikTok video, Valerie Rogers (@vrogers17) makes a flavorful chicken pasta recipe in the slow cooker using chicken thighs, a bottle of Olive Garden's salad dressing, and a block of cream cheese. She layers the chicken into the crockpot, adds seasonings, pours in the bottle of salad dressing, and tops it off with a block of cream cheese. After four hours on a high setting, she shreds the tender chicken and adds a generous portion of shredded parmesan cheese, all before adding boiled and drained pasta into the mix.

Olive Garden's Signature Italian Dressing is easily one of our favorite store-bought Italian dressings for its rich and creamy consistency and its classic, zesty flavor. When worked into this savory chicken pasta dish, the dressing makes the perfect base for pasta sauce, especially alongside tangy cream cheese.

If you don't have a slow cooker, you can still make a one-pot version of this recipe with the help of a deep skillet or sauce pan. Using the stove will be a little more hands-on, but it'll take less time to prepare. The biggest difference is that you'll want to sear the chicken for even cooking, before adding in the dressing and simmering. Once the chicken has fully cooked through, you can remove the meat and make a sauce with what's left of the dressing and chicken juices. Then, add in cream cheese, parmesan, and a cup of starchy pasta water. As the sauce simmers, you can cut or shred the chicken before adding it back into the sauce alongside cooked pasta. 

While this easy dish only requires a handful of ingredients, the addition of spices, aromatics, and herbs will take flavors to the next level. For example, you can season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder to add balance and savory depth to the sauce. Spicy seasonings like red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or even Cajun seasonings will instead help cut through any richness. You can even finish the pasta with diced scallions or parsley for a burst of freshness and a pop of color. 

Although you can use any noodles, ridged and curvy options like penne and fusilli are the ideal types of pasta types for this thick, creamy sauce featuring Olive Garden's Signature Italian Dressing.