Copycat Olive Garden Salad & Dressing

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Make your favorite copycat Olive Garden salad at home with its matching zesty Italian salad dressing! The flavors in both combine to make a subtly sweet yet slightly tangy dish that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Olive Garden At Home Salad Recipe
Who doesn’t like the all-you-can-eat soup, salad, and breadsticks from Olive Garden? Olive Garden is well-known for serving hearty pasta dishes, mouth-watering soups and buttery, garlicky breadsticks. 

However, I personally think that the salad steals the show. Olive Garden salads are so crisp, fresh, and addictive. Even known salad-haters love this salad and dressing combination! The crunchy, tangy, spicy flavors all come together with a burst of zestiness. 

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

Olive Garden Salad & Salad Dressing

It would be a disservice to this tasty salad to enjoy it without the addition of the heavenly Olive Garden salad dressing. Ingredients like garlic, parsley, and cheeses blend together to match the red onions and black olives in the salad. You simply must try them together! 

Olive Garden salad and dressing is perfect for lunches, and brunches and makes a wonderful side dish. Bring it to any potluck or get-together. It is a classic favorite that takes very little effort.

Olive Garden Night at home pinterest pin - soup, salad and breadsticks

OLIVE GARDEN NIGHT AT HOME

One of my family’s favorite Sunday night dinners is when I make “Olive Garden Night at Home.” We gather around the table with this delicious Olive Garden Salad, piping hot bowls of Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana, and a big basket of warm Olive Garden Breadsticks

There is no need to go out, stay comfy and enjoy this classic meal at home. 

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

 

Looking for more copycat dishes to make at home? Try my Copy Cat Taco Bell Enchirito Recipe, Cinnamon Honey Butter – A Texas Roadhouse Copycat Recipe or Cincinnati Chili | Skyline Chili Copycat!

 

INGREDIENTS FOR COPYCAT OLIVE GARDEN SALAD & Dressing

Ingredients for Olive Garden Salad Dressing Recipe

FOR THE SALAD DRESSING

  • Mayonnaise: Used as the base for many salad dressings, mayonnaise gives the dressing a nice creamy texture.
  • White Vinegar: White wine vinegar is best used with more delicate salads and any situation where you want to add a hint of vinegar, but do not want that flavor to overwhelm the dish.
  • Vegetable Oil: Any oil labeled “vegetable oil” or “salad oil” is fine for making a basic vinaigrette for salads.
  • Corn Syrup: The syrup ensures a smooth texture and a natural sweetness to balance out the tangy mayonnaise and lemon juice flavors.
  • Parmesan Cheese and Romano Cheese: While many salad dressings use these cheeses, this particular recipe calls for both because they blend so well with the Italian flavors.
  • Garlic Salt: One clove of garlic can be used if no garlic salt is on hand.
  • Italian Seasoning: The blend of herbs present in Italian seasoning usually consists of basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram, with other herbs and spices sometimes making an appearance.
  • Parsley Flakes: Parsley flakes make a good addition to salad dressings and vinaigrettes and add to the other seasonings in this recipe.
  • Lemon Juice: Beyond keeping fruit salad fresh, lemon can also help enhance its flavor.
  • Sugar: This step is optional. If you prefer your dressing on the sweeter, less zesty side, then you will want to add sugar.

Ingredients for Olive Garden Salad

FOR THE SALAD

  • Dole American Blend Salad: To make this recipe as easy as possible, you can buy this salad blend in a bag at your local grocery. It contains green leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, carrots and radishes. If you cannot find the American Blend, I love to make it with the Italian Blend. So yummy!
  • Red Onion: Red onions are most often used in salads, salsas, and other raw preparations for their relatively mild flavor and light crunchy texture.
  • Black Olives: These tasty olives blend well with the other tangy flavors in this recipe.
  • Pepperoncini: This particular salad is usually served with the whole pepperoncini. The flavor can be quite spicy so if you prefer a sweet pepper, you can use a banana pepper instead.
  • Croutons: Croutons are deliciously crunchy and take a good salad to a great salad instantly!
  • Tomato: This recipe calls for a small tomato, sliced in four portions. You can also use cherry tomatoes instead if you would prefer.
  • Romano Cheese: Romano cheese blends perfectly in this salad because it is also in the dressing. For that reason, Parmesan cheese works well, too.

HOW TO MAKE COPYCAT OLIVE GARDEN SALAD AND SALAD DRESSING

Mixing Ingredients for Olive Garden Salad & Dressing Recipe

FOR THE SALAD DRESSING

Place all ingredients in a blender until well mixed. If this is a little too tart for your own personal taste, add a little extra sugar.

Olive Garden Salad Dressing

You can enjoy your Olive Garden salad dressing for about 10 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Unmixed Copycat Olive Garden Salad

FOR THE SALAD

Chill one salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Place the bag of salad in a bowl. Place on top of the lettuce the red onion, black olives, pepperoncini, tomato, and croutons. Add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top.

Parmesan Cheese for Olive Garden Salad

Finish it off with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Olive Garden Copy Cat Recipe_ An Affair from the Heart

Love it? Pin it!

Don’t forget where you found these tasty Olive Garden inspired Salad and Dressing recipes! Pin it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest before you go!

 

Cabbage & Bleu Cheese Soup in a bowl

OTHER COPY CAT RECIPES YOU WILL ENJOY

 

Olive Garden Night at home isn’t complete without a big bowl of their signature Salad with its zesty Italian dressing! Let’s make some!  M. logo An Affair from the Heart

 
Copy cat Olive Garden Salad in a clear serving bowl
4.63 from 8 votes
Print Recipe

Olive Garden Salad & Dressing

Make your favorite Copycat Olive Garden salad at home with its matching zesty Italian salad dressing! The flavors in both combine to make a subtly sweet yet slightly tangy dish that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time1 hour 10 minutes
Additional Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 45 minutes
Cuisine: American/Italian
Keyword: Olive Dressing Copycat, olive garden dressing, salad
Servings: 6 -8 servings
Calories: 179kcal
Author: Michaela Kenkel

Ingredients

  • FOR THE DRESSING:
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoon corn syrup
  • 2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoon Romano cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt or one clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • sugar optional
  • FOR THE SALAD:
  • 1 bag Dole American Blend Salad
  • 4-5 slices red onion
  • 4-6 black olives
  • 2-4 pepperoncini peppers
  • 1/2 cup croutons
  • 1 small tomato quartered
  • freshly grated Romano cheese Parmesan Cheese works well too!

Instructions

  • To prepare the dressing: Place all ingredients in a blender until well mixed. If this is a little too tart for your own personal taste, add a little extra sugar.
  • To Prepare the Salad: Chill a salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Place bag of salad in the bowl. Place on top of the lettuce the red onion, black olives, pepperoncini, tomatoes, and croutons. Add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese if you like, and add plenty of Olive Garden Salad Dressing on top. Toss before enjoying.

Notes

You can enjoy your Olive Garden salad dressing for about 10 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 179kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 716mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g

This recipe was originally posted on October 17, 2011. It has been updated to improve user experience and re-shared on April 9, 2022.

Similar Posts

18 Comments

  1. These recipes look great! I am an editor on AllFreeCopycatRecipes.com and would love to feature your recipe as a linkout to your blog. Check out our site and let us know if you would like to work with us! Have a great day and keep on cooking!

  2. This is fantastic! My family loved it and was very impressed with my skills. LOL, I need to thank you for that.

  3. One of my favorite salads to order! I’m glad I can make this salad at home. I love the tangy dressing and make extras

  4. I love the dressing on this salad especially so it’s my new favourite to make at home. Such a gorgeous salad too.

  5. Delicious salad with so many textures! The dressing is one of my favourites ever! Highly recommend everyone try it! 🙂

  6. This is my kindof salad! I love that it has croutons for crunch as well as cheese for yum. Can’t wait to make this, sounds like it goes with everything!!

  7. Olive garden’s salad is my favorite and I love that you have created a copycat version of it! I need to try this out at home!

  8. It’s that salad dressing for me! So tasty and SPOT on to the real deal at the restaurant. Thanks for sharing!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.