I Made The Cheesecake Factory's Recipe for Chicken Bellagio—Here's What Happened (2024)

With more than 250 items available on their 21-page menu, it’s amazing that any single dish can reign supreme at The Cheesecake Factory. However, year after year, Chicken Bellagio always comes out on top as one of their best sellers.

If you’ve tried this dish, you’re probably not surprised it’s a customer favorite. You’ll also be thrilled to learn that the official Chicken Bellagio Cheesecake Factory recipe was released to the public, along with dozens of other customer favorites.

It’s time to put the official recipe to the test and see how it stacks up to the original!

The Official Chicken Bellagio Cheesecake Factory Recipe

The recipe provided by The Cheesecake Factory is supposedly for a single serving. However, if you’ve ever eaten at The Cheesecake Factory, you know that their portions are enormous.

I tested the recipe below and feel you could pretty easily serve 2-3 people, depending on their appetite. In all honesty, you could even stretch it to 4 servings as long as you serve this Cheesecake Factory-inspired Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake for dessert.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces thin spaghetti pasta
• 1 ounce canola oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 3 ounces each
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 ounces egg wash (that’s about 1 beaten egg)
• 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
• 3 ounces Parmesan cream sauce
• 1-1/2 ounces basil oil
• 1/2 ounce chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 ounce Parmesan/Romano cheese blend

To plate the dish:

• 1/2 teaspoon parsley, chopped
• 3/4 ounce prosciutto, sliced
• 1/2 ounce baby arugula
• 1/2 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 ounce Parmesan/Romano cheese blend
• Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Editor’s Tip: To complete the meal, serve with one of these Cheesecake Factory copycat recipes.

Initial Thoughts

Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you. Most of them are pantry staples you already keep stocked in your kitchen.

The most difficult to find (and most expensive) ingredient is basil oil. I found it at a specialty oil and vinegar store, but it’s also on Amazon. If you don’t want to splurge on this ingredient, feel free to swap in a tablespoon of store-bought or homemade pesto. I will say, however, that the basil oil really does give this dish its signature flavor!

Aside from that, the process of making this dish is easy and straightforward. Even if you’re a beginner when it comes to cooking, The Cheesecake Factory’s Chicken Bellagio is an impressive dish you can definitely pull off at home.

Preparing the Chicken

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

The first thing I did was prepare the chicken. When you order this dish at The Cheesecake Factory, the chicken always comes breaded, pan-fried and pounded thin. To flatten the chicken, I laid a piece of plastic wrap over each breast and pounded them to about 1/4-inch thick with the flat side of a meat tenderizer.

Editor’s Tip: If you can’t find small, 3-ounce chicken breasts, feel free to butterfly larger chicken breasts (here’s how to butterfly chicken) into four, smaller pieces.

Next, I seasoned the breasts evenly with salt and pepper before dredging both sides in flour. To finish breading the chicken, I dipped each breast in beaten egg and then coated them on both sides with Italian breadcrumbs. The Cheesecake Factory suggests gently pressing the breadcrumbs onto the chicken to help “set” the coating.

Struggling a little? Here’s why your breading might be falling off.

Cooking the Pasta

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

After breading the chicken, I brought a large pot of salted water to boil. Then, I dropped the pasta into the boiling water to cook to al dente—this took about 8 minutes.

Pan-frying the Chicken

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

While the pasta cooked, I pan-fried the breaded chicken. Warming just enough oil to coat the bottom of a 9.5-inch skillet, over medium heat, I fried each piece of chicken one at a time. You have to fry the first side for 3-5 minutes before flipping and cooking the other side until the breading is golden and crisp.

As the chicken finished cooking, I transferred each piece to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Finishing the Pasta

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

Once the pasta was fully cooked, I drained it using a colander, then returned it to the empty pot. Next, I tossed the pasta with the basil oil, chicken broth, butter and grated Parmesan cheese until it was well coated.

I couldn’t believe how simple this sauce was to make. It’s so flavorful!

All the Toppings

The last thing I needed to do before assembling the dish was warm a bit of store-bought Parmesan cream sauce (feel free to make your own homemade Alfredo sauce if you’re feeling ambitious) in a small saucepan over low heat, open a package of prosciutto and make the lemon-arugula topping.

For the arugula, I simply tossed the greens with fresh lemon juice, a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.

Assembly

Lauren Habermehl for Taste of Home

One of the most impressive aspects of this dish when served at The Cheesecake Factory is how all the ingredients are layered together and how the colors contrast against each other.

To replicate this restaurant-style plating, I began by mounding a large amount of the cooked pasta onto the center of a plate, leaving room around the rim of the plate to ladle a generous amount of the warmed Parmesan cream sauce.

Next, I layered the breaded chicken on top of the pasta and drizzled with a bit of the remaining Parmesan cream sauce and sprinkled with chopped parsley.

To finish off the dish, I shaped the prosciutto slices into a ring on top of the chicken, leaving a small, open area in the center. Then, I crowned everything with a heaping portion of the lemon-dressed arugula and a final sprinkle of Parmesan.

Taste Test and Verdict

WOW! I couldn’t believe how much this homemade version tasted like the real thing. It was creamy, crunchy, lemony, salty and oh-so-satisfying!

The cooking process had quite a few steps but was honestly very easy and not any more complex than making homemade chicken Parmesan (just with slightly different ingredients). If this is one of your favorite menu items from The Cheesecake Factory, it’s definitely worth trying to make at home—especially if your nearest restaurant is a few towns away.

Looking for dessert? Why not turn your kitchen into a home-based cheesecake factory with one of these contest-winning cheesecake recipes? Or if you’re looking for a great side dish, check out this recipe for the Cheesecake Factory’s Crispy Brussels Sprouts.