Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo with Tortellini

Our recipe for Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo has been a hit with readers. We’ve been loving it at home, too, now that we’ve been exploring all kinds of different authentic Italian sauces.

However, I know that readers also love anything they can cook in their slow cookers. So I set about recreating this copycat recipe in my Crock Pot. Read on for the results.

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo

You would think that taking a stovetop recipe and turning it into a slow cooker recipe would be easy. At least, that’s what I thought when I decided to recreate this copycat dish in my Crock Pot. Well, I was so wrong.

There were some important things I learned along the way. One, I remembered how much better chicken thighs do in the Crock Pot, versus chicken breasts. My first go around with this recipe was with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. By the time they were fully cooked, they were simultaneously rubbery and dried out. What? How is that possible?

Also, as you know, an alfredo sauce is a cream based sauce. So, I made the dish in the slow cooker using cream. Wrong! I learned that cream will curdle in the Crock Pot.

After more trial and error versions with chicken thighs and using evaporated milk — not condensed milk — with cream added at the end of the cooking time, I think I’ve finally perfected a copycat version of Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo that you can make in the Crock Pot.

Oh, and one more difference from the stovetop version: I made the chicken and then I added fresh tortellini to cook with it at the end. So it became a one-pot, one-pan meal with pasta. Normally, I would boil water for the pasta in a separate pot but I had a feeling that tortellini would cook up beautifully in the slow cooker. I was right.

I just discovered another great copycat restaurant recipe that you can make in your slow cooker: Buffalo Wild Wings CrockPot Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Recipe. It’s delish!

Step-by-Step Instructions

I made this dish using my 6-quart Crock Pot brand slow cooker. Before adding the ingredients, you can spray the crock with non-stick spray or using olive oil on the bottom to prevent things from sticking. Add the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a single layer in the slow cooker.

Season the chicken with salt, pepper and Italian spices.

Chop the full stick of butter into smaller pieces. Place on top of the layer of seasoned chicken thighs.

Add the evaporated milk.

Add the shredded parmesan cheese until all of the ingredients are covered in it.

Cover and cook on high for six hours or low for 10 hours, depending on your slow cooker. I made this dish on high for six hours.

When the chicken is fully cooked, remove the top and add the heavy cream. Stir well.

Add tortellini and stir well so that all of the pieces of pasta are covered in liquid. If you skip this step, you’ll end up with crunchy tortellini.

Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

By recreating this copycat chicken alfredo recipe in the Crock Pot, you get a delicious dish. But you’re not getting a traditional alfredo dish. The pasta and chicken end up coming out more like a casserole than a bowl of pasta. Also, the sauce is less creamy than you might expect from a traditional alfredo. Nonetheless, it’s yummy.