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Chicken Scampi is a quick, easy chicken pasta with juicy chicken bites cooked in a buttery white wine sauce with garlic and lemon.
This chicken scampi recipe is just like classic shrimp scampi, made with juicy chicken bites instead! It’s an easy chicken and pasta recipe with loads of flavor, cooked in a buttery white wine sauce with garlic and lemon.
Buttery, lemony, deliciously tender chicken scampi is a shellfish-free version of shrimp scampi. I served it over spaghetti the other night, and the whole family is hooked. It’s simple to make, with lightly breaded, seared chicken bites sautéed in a garlic butter sauce with white wine and fresh lemon.
Erin’s Notes
- An easy twist on a classic. Chicken scampi is also the perfect way to enjoy scampi if you’re catering to a shellfish allergy, since there’s no shrimp to be found.
- All-in-one. Served over spaghetti, this chicken scampi is basically a meal in one. It’s fresh and still comforting, perfect for any season.
- Adaptable. Of course, you can always swap in shrimp if you prefer to make a more traditional version. There’s also the option to skip the pasta in favor of another carb, like potatoes, rice, or crusty Amish bread.
Is This the Same as Olive Garden’s Chicken Scampi?
Not quite, and it’s worth knowing the difference before you start cooking. Olive Garden’s version (and most of the copycat recipes for it) uses bell peppers and red onion, breaded chicken tenders, and a creamier sauce built on heavy cream. This recipe is a lighter, more classic scampi: seared chicken bites in a buttery garlic, white wine, and lemon sauce, closer in style to a traditional shrimp scampi than to the restaurant dish.
If you’re craving the Olive Garden version specifically, look for a copycat recipe that calls for peppers and cream. If you want a simpler weeknight chicken pasta with big garlic-butter-lemon flavor, this is the one.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Spaghetti – Or your choice of dried pasta. This can be long cuts like linguine and fettuccine, or short-cut pasta like penne, rigatoni, rotini, etc. When cooking the pasta, set aside about ½ cup of the starchy pasta water, as you’ll use this to emulsify the sauce.
- Chicken Breasts – Chopped into even-sized, 1” cubes. You can use chicken thighs for even more tender chicken bites.
- Flour – All-purpose flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to coat the chicken pieces.
- Butter and Olive Oil – I love the flavor that comes from searing in butter, but I add a little olive oil to the pan as well to raise the smoke point and prevent the butter from burning. Any mild-flavored oil will work here.
- Garlic – I highly recommend freshly minced garlic. You can substitute 1 teaspoon of garlic paste per fresh clove if you need to.
- White Wine – Choose a dry white wine that you’d still like to drink. Medium-bodied white wines, like Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, are all good options for scampi recipes. Feel free to substitute the wine with chicken stock if you’d prefer to cook without it.
- Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed. Bottled lemon juice will work in a pinch.
- Parsley – Chopped fresh. You could also use another herb, like thyme leaves.
Why Is It Called Scampi?
Scampi is an Italian name for a tiny, lobster-like shellfish called a langoustine, used in original scampi recipes. In the US, shrimp scampi became a popular stand-in for lobster, as it was easier to find. Nowadays, “scampi” also refers to the cooking style, where ingredients like chicken are sautéed with garlic, white wine, and lemon.
Chicken Scampi
Ingredients
- 10 ounces dried spaghetti
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
- 1 to 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 Tablespoons butter, divided
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 8 cloves minced garlic, divided
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook pasta according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of water before draining.10 ounces dried spaghetti
- Toss together pieces of chicken with flour and salt and pepper until well coated.1 to 1 ½ pounds chicken breasts, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 Tablespoons butter and olive oil. Once the butter is melted and the pan is hot, add the chicken pieces. Cook for 5-6 minutes until browned.6 Tablespoons butter, 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Add garlic and cook for a minute until you can really start to smell it.8 cloves minced garlic
- Remove chicken from the pan and keep warm.
- Remove the skillet to the pan and pour in the white wine. Boil over high heat for about 5 minutes until it reduces by about half.2/3 cup dry white wine
- Add the remaining butter to the pan, and melt. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and parsley and mix well.2 Tablespoons lemon juice, 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Return the chicken and any juices to the pan and cook for another minute or two to warm the chicken thru.
- Add the pasta to the pan and stir well to combine. Slowly add the reserved pasta water to create a light sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste.½ cup reserved pasta water
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Make Chicken Scampi
- Cook the pasta. Boil the pasta al dente in a pot of salted water. Before you drain the pot, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water to use in the sauce.
- Cook the chicken. Meanwhile, toss the chicken pieces with flour, salt, and pepper. Next, sear the chicken in a hot skillet with butter and olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the garlic. After 5-6 minutes, add the garlic. Sauté for another minute, then move the browned chicken and garlic to a plate.
- Deglaze. Pour white wine into the pan and bring it to a boil for 5 minutes, until it’s reduced by about half.
- Make the sauce. Add butter, and when that’s melted, stir in additional garlic, followed by the lemon juice and fresh parsley.
- Put it all together. Lastly, return the chicken to the pan. Cook for another 1-2 minutes in the sauce, enough to heat the chicken through, then stir in the pasta. Slowly add the reserved pasta water a little at a time to emulsify the sauce, and give everything a final season with salt and pepper to taste. Your scampi is ready to serve!
Recipe Tips
- Preheat the skillet. Make sure that the skillet is nice and hot. The better sear you get on the chicken, the more flavor it will have.
- Don’t overcook the chicken, or it’ll be dry. Keep it tented lightly with foil when you set it aside on a plate. If you cover it too tightly, it might steam and continue to cook.
- Simmer the sauce for long enough. After pouring in the wine, let it boil for a few minutes. This allows most of the alcohol to cook off, so it doesn’t overpower the dish.
- Save the pasta water. This is a simple step that adds great flavor and texture to the white wine sauce. The starches leftover from cooking the pasta help emulsify the butter with the wine.
Recipe Variations
- Make shrimp scampi instead. Feel free to substitute shrimp for chicken. Check out my post on how to sauté shrimp for pasta for tips.
- Change up the sauce. Borrow the lemon pepper sauce from my lemon pepper shrimp scampi.
- Use chicken thighs. Swap in boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1” pieces, for even more tender bites.
- Skip the wine. Substitute the white wine with an equal amount of chicken stock if you’d rather cook without alcohol.
- Change the pasta. Swap the spaghetti for linguine, fettuccine, or a short-cut pasta like penne or rotini.
Storing and Reheating Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Store leftover chicken scampi in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Reheat. Warm up the chicken scampi in the microwave or on the stovetop. I’ll often sprinkle a little water or broth over the pasta to loosen up the sauce while it reheats.
Yes — shrimp scampi is the classic version of this dish. Swap in peeled, deveined shrimp for the chicken; they’ll cook much faster, so keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook.
No. If you’d rather not use wine, substitute an equal amount of chicken stock for the white wine when you deglaze the pan.
This usually means the sauce needs more starchy pasta water. Add it a splash at a time while tossing the pasta in the sauce — the starch helps emulsify the butter and wine into a smooth sauce instead of a greasy one.
