grilled chicken margherita olive garden

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INGREDIENTS

Now, the ingredients list may look long, but I promise you it’s worth it. Not to mention, most of the ingredients you need you probably already have, or you can easily find at any store.

Anyway, here’s what you’ll need:

2 pounds chicken breasts, divided in 4 portions
1 cup Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 tablespoons butter
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
About ½ pound sliced mozzarella (1 slice for each piece of chicken)
½ cup pesto
¼ cup basil sliced thin
1 cup grape tomatoes

By the way, if you have to run to the store to pick up anything, grab some extra chicken breasts to make Olive Garden’s chicken & shrimp carbonara next!

It’s another one of your knock-out chicken recipes that tastes like it’s from the restaurant, and it’s sure to be a big hit.

Olive Garden Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Olive Garden Chicken Scampi

Olive Garden Grilled Chicken and Alfredo Sauce

Crock Pot Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Olive Garden Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara

Olive Garden Angry Alfredo with Chicken

Olive Garden Chicken Marsala

Home » Protein » Chicken Recipes » Olive Garden Chicken Margherita

Olive Garden Chicken Margherita

September 16, 2018 by Stephanie Manley, Last Updated June 6, 2022 25 Comments

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The Olive Garden Chicken Margherita is an easy chicken recipe to make and it’s so easy it’s perfect for a weeknight dinner.

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All About the Olive Garden Chicken Margherita
Americans are Chicken Lovers
The Story of Margherita
Ingredients
How to Make Chicken Margherita
More Olive Garden Chicken Dishes
Favorite Italian Recipes with Chicken
Olive Garden Chicken Margherita

All About the Olive Garden Chicken Margherita

People love the Olive Garden with its home-style Italian food. In fact, the majority of Americans will tell you they love to “mangia italiano” — or eat Italian. I wonder about the minority – they just don’t know what they’re missing!

Once you’ve eaten at the Olive Garden, you will always crave the restaurant’s freshly made pasta sauces and its famous breadsticks.

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Fun fact – someone has estimated that the Olive Garden serves about 700 million breadsticks per year. Their signature starters are baked in hundreds of batches each day and delivered fresh to every Olive Garden restaurant; the breadsticks, like the chain’s soups and sauces, are never frozen.

Did you know that you can make Olive Garden’s famous breadsticks at home? Get the Olive Garden breadsticks recipe.

Americans are Chicken Lovers

The Olive Garden caters to everyone’s love of chicken by serving up several delicious chicken dishes. Olive Garden’s Chicken Margherita combines grilled chicken breasts with a delightful medley of mozzarella cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil pesto, and a garlic/lemon sauce, served with Parmesan-crusted zucchini.

This dish is so enjoyable because it combines many bright and vibrant flavors. Complete your meal with a side serving of pasta.

The Story of Margherita

Legend has it that in 1889, Queen Margherita, while staying in Naples, grew tired of the French gourmet food that was the standard cuisine served to European royalty at the time. The queen summoned the famous pizza-maker, Raffaele Esposito, and instructed him to bake her three pizzas with different toppings.

She wasn’t keen on the one with garlic (pizza marinara) or the one with anchovies (pizza Napoli). However, she absolutely loved the pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and a sprig of basil.

Esposito immediately named his invention after the queen – and the now-famous Margherita sauce was born.

Ingredients

Here’s a list of what you need:

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Italian salad dressing or chicken marinade
Olive oil
Garlic
Butter
Lemon juice
Sliced mozzarella
Pesto
Grape tomatoes
Fresh basil

How to Make Chicken Margherita

Pound chicken out between two sheets of plastic wrap.
Place the chicken breasts into a gallon-sized zip-top bag.
Add Italian dressing and allow the chicken to marinate for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
Wash grape tomatoes and slice them in half. Set aside.
Pour olive oil into a large cast iron skilletover medium-high heat.
Add chicken and cook for 7 to 8 minutes on each side, or until the chicken is almost done.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and place them in a baking dish.
While the chicken is cooking, heat butter, minced garlic, and lemon juice in a small pot until butter is melted, stirring to combine.
Brush the lemon butter garlic sauce on the chicken breasts.
Top the chicken breasts with mozzarella cheese.
Place pesto on top of the mozzarella.
Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese begins to melt and brown.
When you serve the chicken, brush it with additional lemon butter and garnish with sliced grape tomatoes and basil

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE LEMON GARLIC SAUCE?

In a small saucepan, melt some butter; then add minced garlic. Sauté for about 1 minute; then stir in some flour. Add fresh lemon juice and chicken broth and stir about 3-5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken. You can make this the night before and keep covered in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.

What is Margherita Chicken?

This chicken dish is a popular one that features cheese, cherry tomatoes, and basil pesto. Think of a margherita pizza: you have pesto sauce (or marinara), topped with mozzarella hunks, and basil. So it’s like pizza on top of the chicken, except minus the crust, of course

Expert Tips

You can totally use store-bought pestosauce in this recipe, but if you have five extra minutes, that’s all it takes to make my super easy, homemade basil pesto sauce. If you don’t have or don’t like pine nuts, you can use walnuts or cashews as well!
I almost always use fresh-squeezed lemon juicein my tomato topping, because I think it has the best flavor. But, you might not have a fresh lemon laying around. If that’s the case, feel free to use bottled lemon juice or even lime.
After placing the cheese on top of the chicken, I always close the grill lidto help the cheese melt faster and keep the chicken from drying out.
I also like to use cherry tomatoesfor the garnish because they are small and easy to cut. Plus, they taste so good and are in season right now. But you can use any kind of tomato you like, just be sure to dice it small enough to be able to top the chicken with.
To make your own Italian seasoningfor this chicken, simply combine 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/4 teaspoon dried basil, and 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme and sprinkle all over the chicken.
Swap out Italian seasoning for Herbs de Provence(one of my most favorite cooking tricks!).

Recipe Notes

Learn how to make the classic Italian sauce with this quick and easy homemade basil pesto sauce recipe mostly made from pine nuts, basil, and garlic.

Nutrition

Calories: 1194.05kcal
Protein: 63.41g
Cholesterol: 239.76mg

Recipe Variations

You can easily sub in pre-shredded mozzarella for the fresh if you don’t have some on hand.
Swap in in sun-dried tomatoes for the fresh tomatoes.
Try a combination of provolone and mozzarella cheese for a little more tang and zip.
Sauté the chicken in smaller pieces, cook the sauce like normal, then toss it with pasta. Top with the pesto and cheese and tomatoes, stick it in the oven, and enjoy it as a pasta bake.
You can make pesto with any green vegetable so try mixing it up with a combination of veggies and herbs like broccoli or spinach along with the basil and garlic.

Thank you for staying with this post “grilled chicken margherita olive garden” until the end.

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grilled chicken margherita olive garden

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