Olive Garden Salad Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is Olive Garden salad healthy? ›

House salad (without croutons) with low-fat dressing, and minestrone soup. Olive garden is famous for their house salad and breadsticks. Paired with minestrone soup, it's a healthier meal, although the sodium content is high. Omit the breadstick to reduce the sodium, fat, and calories.

Olive Garden starts with bagged pre-cut lettuce, adds some cut onions, cut tomatoes and a few canned black olives and pepperoncini and croutons - just like this recipe. Really? Come on!

Ingredients. Water, Soybean Oil, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, Eggs, Romano Cheese (Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Dehydrated Garlic, Spice, Xanthan Gum, Dextrose, Annatto Color, Calcium Disodium EDTA Added to Protect Flavor, Natural Flavor.

Olive Garden's salad ingredients are fresh

Across the board, the most important component in a good salad has got to be the freshness of the ingredients that go into it. The lettuce, greens, and produce have to be high quality, especially since you're eating most of it raw.

When dining at Olive Garden, soup or salad and a shrimp entree are going to be your best bets. Nutrition expert Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN, told TODAY Food that while these may be healthier choices than other menu items, we still need to watch the sodium levels and drink enough water to counteract all that salt.

Olive Garden, Red Lobster and T.G.I. Friday's boast a significant amount of meals that have more calories, saturated fat and sodium than is recommended and even more than a McDonald's value meal, according to the Drexel University-University of Pennsylvania study.

Fresh, crisp, and just the way you remember, this simple recipe for Olive Garden Salad makes it so simple to enjoy this iconic restaurant salad at home. Comes complete with the clone recipe for Olive Garden Creamy Italian Dressing.

Salads – And Most Other Dishes – Are Made Fresh

Additionally, the online ordering platform allows you to hold the olives, tomatoes, onions, and/or pepperoncini if you're getting a salad for pick-up. If the ingredients came to the restaurants already mixed together, customizations likely wouldn't be allowed at all.

Appetizers, Soup and Salads

Famous House Salad with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and/or Balsamic Vinegar. Request without croutons and without signature Italian dressing.

Olive Garden dressings are sold at most grocery stores, but I do not recommend them as they have a lot of calories. That said, you could certainly work it into your calories. Lettuce - Any lettuce variety, bagged salad can be used for this Olive Garden house salad recipe.

Does Aldi sell olive garden salad dressing? ›

Aldi Is Selling Olive Garden's Famous Dressing And Croutons So Your Salad Can Truly Be Unlimited. Olive Garden's salad has built up such a fanbase, some people go to the restaurant just to eat the salad. If you still can't get enough, Aldi thankfully has you covered in the salad fixings department!

Restaurants salt their salads.

This resulted in every bite tasting vibrant and flavorful. "Season your salad just like you would anything else," Simpson said. "Salt is a big difference between salads at home and salads in a restaurant." This doesn't mean you have to make your salads salty!

According to numerous Olive Garden marketing materials, the soups (as well as the sauces) are made fresh in-house each day — and the testimony of several purported Olive Garden employees on social media backs this up. So, if you're suddenly craving a bowl of pasta e fa*gioli, we don't blame you.

The Keys to Crisp Lettuce

Lettuce actually needs a good amount of airflow, in addition to a bit of moisture (but not too much!), in order to stay crisp. That's why restaurants store their lettuce in special perforated bins that allow for air circulation while it's held in the fridge.

Olive Garden Salad With Signature Italian Dressing (1 Serving) contains 13g total carbs, 11g net carbs, 10g fat, 3g protein, and 150 calories.

Best: Black Bean-and-Avocado Salad

The beans are a good source of disease-fighting antioxidants, and they have protein and fiber, as well as energy-boosting iron. Avocado adds creaminess and fiber. Plus, its fats help your body take in nutrients, including heart-healthy lycopene.

Salads – And Most Other Dishes – Are Made Fresh

Additionally, the online ordering platform allows you to hold the olives, tomatoes, onions, and/or pepperoncini if you're getting a salad for pick-up.