Olive Garden Salad

Olive Garden Salad is one of the best things about the Olive Garden. The Italian salad is so fresh and made up just for you. You can make the Olive Garden salad at home and we will show you how. It is easy to make a salad just like the restaurant.

homemade Olive Garden salad in a wood bowl


Famous Olive Garden Italian Salad

Have you ever wondered how to put together this famous salad? It is relatively easy to prepare this salad.

What makes this salad special? It is all of the wonderful extra ingredients in it that make it extra special. I don’t know about you, but when we grew up eating salad at home, we would add tomatoes, and if we were fancy we would add some sliced cucumber.

What is in Olive Garden salad?

Olive Garden salad consists of fresh lettuce, olives, peppers, cheese, croutons, and dressing. Here’s what you need to make it at home:

I like to use a bag of American salad mix to start with but then you need the special ingredients.

Pitted black olives add the right touch to this salad. I usually have a can or two of these black olives on hand.

For the peppers, you have a couple of choices. If you like the peppers hot, add pepperoncini. If you like those peppers mild, you could use banana peppers.

Red onions make this salad special. Slice your red onions very thin. When red onions are freshly sliced they can be a little hot, the air oxides them and takes away the heat.

Shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese is the perfect touch for an Italian salad.

You will want your salad piled high with croutons. If you have some leftover bread, you could always toast up the bread and make them fresh with my air fryer croutons recipe.

Finally, don’t forget the Olive Garden salad dressing. The salad dressing is sold everywhere now or you can make your Olive Garden Salad dressing with my copycat recipe.

How to Make Olive Garden Salad

  1. Chill your salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Empty the bag of salad blend into the bowl.
  3. Top the salad with onion, olives, pepperoncini, croutons, and tomatoes.
  4. Add some freshly grated cheese, if you like.
  5. Add Olive Garden salad dressing and toss to combine.
  6. Serve immediately.
a bowl of homemade Olive Garden salad

Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes!

Favorite Salad Recipes

Check out more of my easy salad recipes and the best Olive Garden recipes here on CopyKat!

homemade Olive Garden salad in a wood bowl

Olive Garden Salad

Make the much-loved Olive Garden salad at home with this easy copycat recipe.
5 from 11 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Olive Garden Recipes, Olive Garden Salad
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 24kcal

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces iceberg salad blend
  • ½ red onion thinly sliced
  • 6 pitted black olives
  • 4 pepperoncini or banana peppers
  • ½ cup croutons
  • 1 tomato quartered
  • ¼ cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (optional)
  • ½ cup Olive Garden Salad Dressing

Instructions

  • Chill your salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
  • Empty the bag of salad into the bowl.
  • Top the salad with sliced onion, olives, pepperoncini, croutons, and tomatoes.
  • Add freshly grated cheese, if desired.
  • Add Olive Garden salad dressing and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 24kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 119mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 370IU | Vitamin C: 7.9mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.3mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michelle Jenkins

    5 stars
    I made this salad today. I even chilled the bowl on the freezer. Omg. It was just like it’s supposed to be. I did buy the Italian Olive Garden dressing, though. It was perfect. My husband loved it I made it along side a chicken and mushroom Alfredo flatbread.

  2. DOHNA M KERCKHOVE

    This is like Olive Garden salad now. They use to have artichokes in the salad best part. I never cared for Italian dressing until I had this salad.

  3. Roxie Kromminga

    How much dressing from the store do I use on a lg bag of lettuce??? What dressing do you use, since they have so many of Olive Garden!!! I want the same taste as they do!!!

  4. toularosa

    Oh, disappointed, I was looking for the recipe for the SALAD DRESSING, not the veggie/lettuce ingredients.

    • Barb

      I just made the dressing. Here is the recipe.
      1/2C White Vinegar, 1/3C Water, 1/3C Vegetable Oil
      1/4C Corn Syrup, 2-1/2T Grated Romano Cheese
      2T Dry Pectin, 1 Beaten Egg,1t Lemon Juice
      1/2t Minced Garlic, 1/4t Dried Parsley, 1-1/4t Salt
      Pinch of Dried Oregano, Pinch of Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
      Mix in blender for 30 seconds then chill for 1 hour.

      • Shawna Morris

        I love Olive Garden dressings for it in smart and finals but I would prefer fresh dressing looking forward to making the dressing thanks for everything

5 from 11 votes (8 ratings without comment)

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