Tiffany publishes Eat at Home. I’m excited to share that she will be sharing yummy recipes from time to time. Enjoy her first tasty creation so you can make a special Valentine’s meal at home for a lot less!
Recently, my husband and I went out on a date. We left our 4 kids home with a $5 pizza. Is there a better, more freeing feeling in the world? We wandered a bookstore, actually had a conversation and shared dinner at Olive Garden.
I ordered Smoked Mozzarella Chicken. It was delicious and I knew the kids would love it too, but the cost for 6 of us to eat at Olive Garden? No way. My meal was part of a 3-course special, which included salad and a tiny dessert. The cost was $12.95. Times that by 6 = Too much!
So I set about recreating this at home. I was able to make this recipe for well under $2 per serving.
Before we get to the recipe, I do want to be honest about the Smoked Mozzarella. I could not find any. I checked two stores, including Kroger, which has a nice selection of specialty cheeses. If you can find it, Smoked Mozzarella will make the dish taste much more like Olive Garden’s. I decided to substitute Smoked Provolone slices. It’s affordable and easily available. It doesn’t pack quite the smokey punch that the specialty cheese does, but it is a good substitute.
Here’s what you’ll need to make this copy-cat recipe. You’ll also need white wine and butter, which didn’t make it into the photo.
Chicken and Marinade Ingredients
Pasta Ingredients
{Step 1} Marinate the chicken in lemon juice and garlic for an hour in the fridge.
{Step 2} Heat water for pasta and cook pasta. While it cooks, do remaining steps of recipe.
{Step 3} Heat 2-3 Tbs. olive oil in a large skillet. Add chicken and cook till done. Remove from pan.
{Step 4} Add 3 Tbs. butter to same skillet. Cook garlic in butter 2-3 minutes. Add chopped red pepper. Cook several minutes till pepper is tender-crisp. Remove from pan.
{Step 5} Whisk in wine, cooking a minute. Whisk in half & half.
{Step 6} Stir in Parmesan and Asiago cheese. Turn heat down to simmer, stirring to let the cheese melt.
{Step 7} Drain cooked pasta. Combine pasta with sauce and red peppers. Top with cooked chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, Provolone or Smoked Mozzarella and parsley.
Serves 6-8 people.
Tiffany King writes the blog, Eat at Home. She shares easy recipes as well as printable menus with complete grocery lists. There are over two years’ worth of menus available for free. She focuses on common and frugal ingredients to make meals that are family friendly and quick to fix. Tiffany is also the author of Feast in 15, an eBook of 15 minute meals.
This looks delicious! Pasta is one of our favorite meals and so much more cost effective to make at home.
What kind of white wine???
Brittnie, any white wine will do. Something that you would drink is always the best type to cook with.
Your recipe seems much healthier, lighter and fresher than Olive’s. I like the smoked chicken but the dish was so greasy!!
I love this recipe. I had to modify it a bit because I couldn’t find the smoked mozz or the asiago but I added regular fresh mozz and provolone as well as fresh parm. So amazing! I made this for my new boyfriend and he thinks I’m some sort of amazing chef! I’ve never cooked with cooking wine before but it was delicious and easy to make. I will be making this again and again!
Highly recommend it!
Hello im really excited about trying this recipe but im not sure on how much pasta to cook.
Also can I use fresh lemon juice to marinate the chicken?
And last im not a wine drinker so I have no idea about what kind to look for. Can someone plese recommend a brand or something to guide me? Please
Thanks!
Cynthia, you could use fresh lemon juice for sure! And, I would search for a pinot noir or a riesling to cook with. Usually I just use whatever I have on hand. HTH!
so we have to buy the chicken and just to put the chicken into the lemon ? right
WHAT CAN I USE IN PLACE OF THE WINE FOR THIS RECIPE?
V, you could use chicken stock instead.
Hi,
How much pasta does it call for? You didnt say. Sounds great and looks easy enough to make :-)
Hi Erica! One box of penne should do!
Thank you!! Trying this out tonight! Sorry for the late reply! Will let you know how it turned out. I couldn’t find smoked anything..so I am using Mozzarella and Asiago -plain. Thanks for posting a much easier, healthier dish! :-)
I couldn’t find smoked mozzarella either, but realized that I had some liquid smoke that I add to barbecue sauce sometimes and tried mixing about 1/2 to 3/4 of a teaspoon to my shredded mozzarella— it was the taste I was looking for to duplicate Olive Garden’s dish. Got rave reviews from everyone who tasted the above recipe.
I make this at home, too. We have smoked mozzarella here, but to save and for convenience I added some hickory smoke seasoning to the white sauce. Here’s my version:
Lois’s Olive Garden photo Smokey Mozzarella Chicken (I haven’t tried OG’s yet, just liked the picture)
In skillet cook chicken bite size pieces in some olive oil.
Add juliennedred peppers.
Meanwhile cook penne pasta.
Meanwhile make a white sauce (butter, flour, milk, bay leaf), add a small dash each white wine and hickory smoke flavoring.
Mix sauce with chicken, peppers, and pasta. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella Serve with a salad.
I love smoked mozzarella! I live in San Jose CA and you can find it at Whole Foods (in the deli and specialty cheese section), Safeway and Lucky (sometimes). It is also great (sliced) on sandwiches.
I found smoked mozzarella at Whole Foods. I’m trying this dish this weekend–it tasted great at the restaurant. I’m not a fan of asiago cheese though–it really is in it? Surprising that I liked it then!
I use regular mozarella with hickory smoked flavoring to save money and for convenience. Here’s my version. (I haven’t tasted OG’s yet, just got inspired by the ad.)
In skillet cook chicken bite size pieces in some olive oil.
Add red peppers.
Cook penne pasta.
Meanwhile make a white sauce (butter, flour, milk, bay leaf), when thickened add a small dash each white wine and hickory smoke flavoring.
Mix all together. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella
Serve with a salad. Definitely a restaurant quality meal for a lot less.
I just made this because my friend brought me this dish from Olive Garden and man it was impressive!
Thanks for this recipe! I made a few changes and used shrimp and crab for the meat since I had some still packaged in my freezer. The sauce didn’t come out smooth possibly because I had to use hard cheese and grate it for asaigio cheese & the mozarrella. I added a half tsp of liquid smoke for the flavor with just a bit of cornstarch.
It turned out great!! Thanks so much!!
You don’t need smoked mozzarella it liquid smoke in a bottle. You can usually find it in the spice isle.