Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara (Olive Garden Copycat)

Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara (Olive Garden Copycat)

I looked up copycat recipes online and found this one to be the most convincing, and I used it as the basis for my recipe. 

Ingredients:

chicken tenderloins or boneless skinless chicken breasts

milk & lemon juice or buttermilk

garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, pepper, salt

red bell pepper, sliced

minced garlic (I used jarred)

butter

olive oil

bacon, diced

heavy cream

parmesan romano

1 egg yolk

shrimp, deveined, shell off 

italian breadcrumbs

Chicken tenderloins or boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into thin pieces and then cut lengthwise. Marinate in buttermilk (I used milk & lemon juice) along with heavy handed amounts of garlic powder, onion powder, salt, dash pepper. Marinate at least 4 hours or over night.

Marinate shrimp in a little bit of olive oil, heavy handed garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, dash, salt, dash pepper, for about 15-20 mins. 

Sauté diced bacon in a skillet until cooked but not completely crispy. Move bacon pieces to a bowl. Drain bacon grease into a bowl, leaving a tiny amount in the skillet. Add a little butter, and sauté bell peppers until soft and starting to brown. Remove bell peppers to a bowl, set aside. 

Add some bacon grease back to the pan. Mix breadcrumbs, parm romano, dash of garlic salt, dash of paprika in a shallow dish. Dip chicken pieces in breadcrumbs and then sauté in the bacon grease. I added a little olive oil also as there wasn't enough bacon grease and I didn't want to use more bacon grease in this step. This is one time you don't have to worry if you don't get the piece perfectly coated with breadcrumbs. The breadcrumbs are just to give the sauce something to adhere to. Cook chicken on both sides, remove to a plate once fully cooked. 

Add more bacon grease to the pan, sauté shrimp on both sides until fully cooked, remove to a plate. Be careful to not overcook. 

Add 2 T butter to the pan, 1 t minced garlic, sauté for a minute or two. Mix one egg yolk into heavy cream, add parm romano and mix well. Add heavy cream mixture to the skillet, sauté until thickened. Add more cream and cheese as necessary. 

When spaghetti is fully cooked, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain spaghetti, add to the skillet with the sauce, add the peppers, the shrimp, the chicken, the bacon bits, and stir well. Cook a minute or two until thickened. Add pasta water if necessary.

Serve with additional cheese.

This was VERY close to the real thing! I used a pound of pasta and it made enough for 6-8 people at least. Next time I will do half a pound of pasta, one chicken breast or 4-5 tenderloins, and about 12 shrimp.