Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli (Olive Garden Copycat)
“>Garlic herb chicken con broccoli is a mouthwatering dish featuring a creamy, garlicky alfredo-style sauce poured over steamed broccoli and al dente orecchiette pasta with perfectly seared tender and juicy chicken breasts on top. This meal is perfect for any time you want to wow and impress. Bonus: it’s a VERY close match to Olive Garden’s version of the dish.
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Garlic Herb Chicken con Broccoli (Olive Garden Copycat)
So let’s talk about Olive Garden here for a second. On the one hand, it’s a pretty great restaurant. They have awesome soup, salad, breadsticks, and entrees. There aren’t many restaurants that I look forward to each aspect of the meal (or where I can literally eat a full day’s worth of calories in an hour). On the other hand, they change their menu all the freakin’ time!! Every time I choose a favorite the next time I go in it’s gonzo. And then I cry. I wish I were exaggerating, but I really do get pretty passionate about food, folks.
So what do I do when Olive Garden breaks my pasta-loving heart?? Figure out how to make my favorite dish at home. Enter Olive Garden’s Garlic Herb Chicken con Broccoli copycat recipe. This recipe has been in our family’s rotation for several years, and while it dirties a few pans, it comes together quickly and is surprisingly simple.
How to create garlic herb chicken con broccoli at home
The secret to this recipe’s goodness are LOTS of garlic and LOTS of cream. Recently, however, I’ve begun using half and half instead of cream in this recipe. If you really want the Olive Garden creaminess, by all means use the cream, but I have found that half and half still produces a nice and creamy pasta. This calorie-reducing switch makes me feel like I can eat an extra homemade breadstick. I am all about justification folks. If you want to cut down on calories even more, I have even had success with 2% milk.
The chicken in this dish also gets a nice brown crust and as long as you don’t overcook it, it will be tender and juicy on the inside. I like to butterfly the chicken, and then pound it out even more with a meat tenderizer so it’s nice and thin and cooks quickly. Dredging the chicken in seasoned flour helps get that perfect crust, adds great flavor, and helps protect the chicken from overcooking as well.
Another tip I use for this recipe is to cook the broccoli in the pasta water. I am sure this is not culinarily correct, but I make my own rules. And yes, I just said culinarily, I told you, I make my own rules. Anyway, it’s a good shortcut that saves me a pan, if I add the broccoli to the pasta after it has been cooking for 5 minutes they both come out perfect. If you don’t want to be a rebel like me, the proper way to get perfectly good broccoli would be to steam it separately. You can do that using one of these steamer baskets or this AWESOME microwave steamer. It really works out just fine to boil it with the pasta though, I swear.
So if garlic herb chicken con broccoli was one of your favorites at Olive Garden as well, fret no longer and get cooking this dish!
Do you have an olive garden favorite that they’ve taken off the menu!? Tell me about it, and I might just decide to throw another recipe up!
Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli
This knock-off of the Olive Garden classic is not lacking in authenticity or flavor, if you miss this item on their menu be sure to give this a try
Ingredients
- 10 oz Orechiette Pasta
- 4 C Broccoli
For the chicken
- ½ C Flour
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tsp Italian Seasoning
- ¼ Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- 2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
For the Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Butter
- 2 C half and half
- 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon, I like "Better than Bouillon"
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
- Salt, tt
- Parmesan Cheese, Garnish
Instructions
- Cook Pasta according to package directions until just tender, drain.
- Steam and/or boil Broccoli until tender but not too soft. (I like to be a rebel and add the broccoli directly to the pasta water when the pasta has 6-7 minutes left to cook to save myself a dirty dish, it turns out perfect!)
- While the pasta and broccoli are cooking mix flour, salt, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes in a shallow bowl. Butterfly and tenderize chicken and dredge in flour mixture. Set Aside.
- Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is very hot, add two pieces of chicken to pan. Cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes before turning to the other side. Flip to the other side and cook another 2-3 minutes then lower the heat to medium and continue cooking until it reaches 165 degrees. Repeat with remaining two pieces of chicken adding more oil if necessary.
- In a separate skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until fragrant. Mix half and half with bouillon and cornstarch and quickly whisk it into the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken. Remove from heat and salt to taste. Add pasta and broccoli. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary and serve with a chicken breast on top and garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Notes
If I want to really up the yum factor of this dish, I use heavy cream in place of the half and half. Alternatively, I have also used 2% milk to cut on calories. Orecchiette pasta can be somewhat difficult to find, but it really is the best in this dish. I usually find it with the fancier looking pastas. Sometimes, I can even find whole wheat! Recipe Adapted from The Homespun Heart
Holy cow this was good! I made this with shrimp instead and it’s nearly identical to the Olive Garden version. I loved it. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment, so glad you liked it! I should try it with shrimp, it would definitely make for a quicker meal.
O.M.G!! I think I hear the food angels singing! Thanks for posting this recipe! I just found it so I haven’t made it yet but I have NO DOUBT that it tastes like Olive Garden’s! I tried this at OG one time & loved it so much, I religiously asked for this without even looking at the menu. So, as my luck has it, one night we went to eat with my husband’s family & he asks if I know what I want because I hadn’t looked at the menu, not that that was out of the ordinary there but I was distracted by our son & he was wanting to make sure before the server got to the table. So, she gets there & asks us all what we want. I confidently & excitedly asked for this & she literally did break my garlic herb chicken con broccoli pasta-loving heart!!! She said, Oh we don’t have that. I was in shock & had to scramble the menu for something else. I was so upset. My husband teased me saying I was ‘going all rogue’ & I ‘should take a look at the menu’! I am so super duper happy I found this. I really get my heart set on food also! Thank you thank you so much!!
Ha Ha Jami, this is one of my favorite comments that I’ve gotten on my blog. I Hope this recipe can bring some needed restitution to the situation 🙂
I use to order this at Olive Garden every time, so I am excited to give this a try. Can you please clarify how much butter is needed? Thanks in advance!
Hi Meredith, use the 1 tbsp of butter to saute the garlic. I split the ingredients up into sections to hopefully make that more clear. Thanks for your comment, and I hope you enjoy it!
Holy cow this is sooooo delicious! I’m so glad I stumbled on this recipe. Its so easy. This is been added to my ‘Go-to’ quick dinners.
So glad you liked it, we are big fans in our house! Thanks for your comment!
I never ever leave comments but seriously this needed one. I have tried every garlic herb chicken on the internet and this is right on. I didn’t have to change a thing. Soo good!b
Thanks Brittany! So glad you loved it, and thanks for taking time to comment 😉 It’s definitely one of our favorites as well!
This was great. All I had to do after cooking was to sit back and then I hear someone asking me “ can I get you more salad, more breadsticks. Great imagination, right?
I love the internet sometimes! Thanks for making me laugh out loud and glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I too was a lover of this dish and was so disappointed to see it go. I made your recipe tonight for my family and I couldn’t wait to eat and oh my GOODNESS IM NOT SURE IF IM THE ONLY ONE THAT DOES THE HAPPY TAP DANCE WITH A SMALL LITTLE WIGGLE WHILE EATING BUT LETS JUST SAY THERE WERE A FEW!!!! THIS WAS AMAZING. I will use half and half or 2% next time though it was a bit to thick for me. This is now a saved recipe in my book thank you so much.
So glad you liked it! Sometimes it thickens up too much for my liking too, if it does I just thin it back down with a little milk to get to the consistency I want it! Thanks for your comment!
I am excited to try this this weekend. I worked at the OG and miss this dish. I have a copy cat recipe for the Sausage and Peppers Rustica if you’re interested. I’ll report back in a few days with my review!
So fun! I haven’t tried that one, but I’d love to try it out. Looking forward to your review.
This recipe was excellent! We really enjoyed it. Thank you!
so happy you liked it!
This was by far the most authentic tasting version I have come across. Just fabulous! Thanks so much.
So glad you enjoyed it! It’s a favorite around here for sure!
Very good. I saved one pan by moving the sauted chicken breast to a separate plate then making the sauce in the same skillet. Remember to reduce the heat or your garlic will crisp up. Also think a good sub for cream or half n half would be 1 C chicken broth and 1 C cream, 1/2&1/2 or milk.
I’m soooo happy this was my favorite entrée at Oliver harden and was very sad when they discontinued it. This recipe is perfection it taste just like the Olive garden dish. Thank You
Can’t wait to make this tonight!
I do have an Olive Garden favorite they’ve sadly taken off the menu….stuffed chicken Marsala. My oh my was it good. The “revamped” regular chicken marsala fettuccini doesn’t hold a candle to the stuffed. Since the years it’s been discontinued I’ve tried many, MANY online copycat recipes that do not produce the same taste. Any chance you’ve had luck with this dish?!!
Darn it, I’ve never tried that dish so I can’t replicate it! Hope you find something similar