Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Scampi—sauteed chicken, red bell peppers, onions and angel hair pasta tossed in a lemon-butter-cream sauce. Tastes better than the restaurant!
Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
I think you’re really going to love this copycat Olive Garden dish! It’s a perfect spring recipe. Serve alongside some steamed or roasted asparagus to round out the meal. The lemon cream pasta is addicting and the chicken is perfectly browned and tender. I think it’s better than the restaurant, for sure. And all of this recipe can be made in your Instant Pot!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Flour–all purpose works great
- Garlic salt–or 3 parts salt to 1 part garlic powder
- Smoked paprika–I like to buy this in the bulk section at Winco
- Chicken tenderloins–or chicken breast cut into the size of chicken tenders (across the grain)
- Olive oil–or another oil like vegetable or canola
- Red onion
- Red bell pepper–or another color like green or orange
- Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon chicken base
- Angel hair pasta–or spaghetti (cook 1 extra minute)
- Butter
- Fresh lemon juice–fresh is best but, if you must, you can use bottled
- Dried parsley–or fresh
- Dried onion–I like to buy this in a big container at Costco
- Kosher salt–or sea salt
- Heavy cream–or evaporated milk or half and half
Steps to make chicken scampi in the Instant Pot
- Coat the chicken in a flour mixture.
- Brown the chicken using sauté setting. Set chicken aside for later.
- Sauté the red onion and the red bell pepper until tender. Set vegetables aside for later.
- Deglaze the pot.
- Add in the pasta, butter, lemon juice, parsley, dried onion and kosher salt.
- Pressure cook for 4 minutes.
- Stir in the heavy cream and the red onions and bell peppers.
- Serve pasta with the chicken. Eat and enjoy!
Notes/Tips
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. This can also be made in the 8 quart pot. For the 3 quart pot you will have to work in batches to cook the chicken.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- If you don’t have chicken tenders and want to use chicken breasts cut them across the grain. The chicken will need to be fresh for this recipe, not frozen.
More Lemon Instant Pot Recipes…
- Instant Pot Creamy Lemon Chicken
- Instant Pot Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
- Instant Pot Lentil Lemon Chicken Soup
- Instant Pot Lemon Chicken Meatball Wraps With Spicy Garlic Sauce
- Instant Pot Lemon Rice
- Instant Pot Skinny Honey Lemon Chicken
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Want More Tried And True Instant Pot Recipes?
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Instant Pot Olive Garden Chicken Scampi
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes
- Total Time: 29 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Sauteed chicken, red bell peppers, onions and angel hair pasta tossed in a lemon-butter-cream sauce. Tastes better than the restaurant!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 8 chicken tenderloins
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 8 ounces angel hair pasta
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 Tbsp dried onion
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- On a plate stir together the flour, garlic salt and paprika.
- Dredge each of the chicken tenders in the flour mixture.
- Turn Instant Pot to sauté setting. When display says HOT add in ½ Tbsp of oil into the pot. Add in the red onion and the red bell pepper. Sauté for about 4 minutes. Move out of the Instant Pot and set aside for later.
- Add in 1 Tbsp of the oil. Place the chicken tenders into the pot in one even layer. Let them brown for 5 minutes then flip and brown for 5 minutes on the other side. (Internal temperature of chicken should be 165° F.) Use tongs to place on a plate. Cover with foil.
- Pour the broth into the pot and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Cancel off the sauté setting. Break the pasta in half and lay it in a criss-cross pattern pressing to submerge. Add in the butter, lemon juice, parsley, dried onion and kosher salt.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up move valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Stir well. Stir in the heavy cream and the red onions and bell peppers.
- Serve pasta with the chicken. Eat and enjoy!
- Category: Chicken
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I was really excited when I saw this recipe because it is my favorite dish at Olive Garden! I made it right away and I was amazed. It was so good! One thing that impressed me was how the sauce thickened up when I stirred in the heavy cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good it was! Thanks so much for what you do, Karen!
★★★★★
I’m so glad you tried it Denise! This one was sooo good!
This is what I order anytime we go to Olive Garden. I don’t care for cooked bell peppers so I ask for none. I look forward to making this in my kitchen, sans peppers.
Thank you for this!
I think you’ll really love it Janis!