Olive Garden Salad Recipe - Dinner at the Zoo

This Olive Garden salad recipe is a copycat of the restaurant favorite with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onion and croutons, all tossed with a creamy Italian dressing. Serve this salad as a hearty side dish, or add some grilled chicken to make it a meal!

Whenever I go to Olive Garden, I order their Zuppa Toscana, minestrone soup, chicken scampi and of course have a generous helping of their famous salad. In my opinion, this homemade version is even better than what you’d get at the restaurant.

Olive Garden is a popular restaurant for good reason – who can resist all those hearty, cheesy Italian food options? My favorite part of eating at Olive Garden has to be the soup and salad. I’ve learned to make this copycat Olive Garden salad at home, and it happens to be quite simple to make! This salad pairs well with so many different main course options, including favorites such as chicken primavera, lemon thyme chicken, pan seared chicken breast, and chicken with spinach artichoke pasta.

Olive Garden Salad Ingredients

To make this salad, you will need iceberg salad mix, tomatoes, red onion, pepperoncini peppers, black olives, croutons and parmesan cheese. The dressing is made with Italian dressing mix, olive oil, white wine vinegar, water, sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper, garlic powder and mayonnaise.

How Do You Make Olive Garden Salad?

This recipe starts with a bag of iceberg lettuce mix, which contains the lettuce along with carrots and a little red cabbage. The lettuce goes into a bowl along with tomatoes, olives, pepperoncini, red onion, croutons and parmesan cheese. Whisk together the dressing ingredients until well combined. The final step is to pour your homemade dressing over the top, toss, then serve.

Tips For The Perfect Salad

• It’s most convenient to buy a bag of pre-prepared iceberg lettuce mix, but you can cut your own lettuce if you prefer, and mix it with 1/4 cup shredded carrots to get the same effect.
• I use a mandoline to thinly slice my red onions for this recipe.
• I like to use shaved parmesan in this recipe because it stands up well to the other ingredients and the dressing, but at the restaurant they often use grated cheese. You can use whichever variety you prefer.
• This salad is best served immediately as the croutons will soften as they sit in the dressing.
• If you’re looking to assemble the salad in advance, you can prepare the dressing 3 days before you plan to use it. Place your lettuce in a bowl along with all the other salad ingredients except for the croutons. Cover and refrigerate for up to 6 hours. Add the croutons and dressing just as you’re ready to serve the salad.

Olive Garden Salad Variations

This salad is the classic version that you’d get at the restaurant, but sometimes I like to add other ingredients to the mix to make it even more special. It’s easy to customize the flavors to your taste!

• Protein: Top your salad with grilled chicken breast, garlic butter shrimp or grilled flank steak to turn it into a main course.
• Vegetables: I like to add other vegetables such as roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes and cucumbers. You can also use cherry tomatoes instead of Roma tomatoes.
• Beans: Try adding 1/2 cup of canned chickpeas or white beans to your salad.
• Cheese: Add some mini mozzarella balls or cubes of fontina cheese for a fun twist.

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

Olive Garden salad dressing has a fairly long ingredient list, but it comes together in just minutes. The base of this dressing is a packet of Italian dressing mix. The dressing mix is blended with olive oil, vinegar and plenty of seasonings. A bit of mayonnaise adds a creamy texture. I make a bottle of this dressing at the beginning of the week and pour it over salads for days.

There’s no need to set foot in Olive Garden when you can make this legendary salad in the at home! Serve up a full Italian meal, or use this salad to round out other main course options such as chicken and rice bake, sausage and rice casserole and one pot chicken with tomato basil risotto. You’ll find yourself making this versatile salad all the time.

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Olive Garden Salad Video