Olive Garden Salad Recipe: Famous Italian Restaurant Copycat
If you’ve ever dined at Olive Garden, chances are you’ve fallen in love with their legendary salad. With its vibrant colors, crisp textures, and perfectly balanced flavors, this iconic Italian salad has become a staple for many restaurant-goers. The good news is, you can now enjoy this craveable salad in the comfort of your own home. After countless visits to Olive Garden and some experimenting in the kitchen, I’m excited to share this spot-on copycat recipe that captures all the magic of the original.
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This iconic Italian salad is wonderfully fresh, crisp, and topped with signature add-ins that elevate it far beyond an ordinary garden salad. Best of all, it’s surprisingly simple to recreate at home with just a handful of ingredients.
What You’ll Need
Equipment
- Large salad bowl (glass or ceramic works best)
- Salad tongs or servers
- Sharp knife for slicing vegetables
Ingredients
- Olive Garden salad dressing – The signature tangy, herb-infused Italian dressing that brings all the elements together
- American salad mix – Provides the fresh, crisp base for the salad, usually containing romaine, iceberg, and red cabbage for varied textures and colors
- Pitted black olives – Add a distinctive Mediterranean flavor and meaty texture that contrasts beautifully with the crisp lettuce
- Pepperoncini peppers – Contribute a mild, tangy heat and vinegary brightness that cuts through the richness of the cheese and dressing
- Red onions – Deliver a sharp, aromatic bite that becomes more mellow when thinly sliced
- Roma tomatoes – Offer juicy sweetness and beautiful color contrast, plus essential freshness
- Parmesan or Romano cheese – Adds savory, salty richness and umami depth that ties all the flavors together
- Croutons – Provide crucial textural contrast with their satisfying crunch and garlicky flavor
The Perfect Lettuce Blend
While the restaurant uses a specific mix, at home you can achieve excellent results with:
- 70% romaine for structure and crunch
- 20% iceberg for refreshing crispness
- 10% red cabbage for color and nutrition
- Pre-packaged American blend or Italian blend works perfectly
Temperature Matters
- Chill your salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before assembling
- Use cold ingredients straight from the refrigerator
- Dress the salad just before serving to maintain crispness
Sizing and Cutting
- Slice red onions paper-thin for the right intensity without overpowering
- Halve or quarter larger olives for better distribution
- Cut tomatoes into quarters or eighths depending on size
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Chill your equipment: Place your salad bowl in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before preparation.
- Prepare your ingredients: While the bowl chills, slice your onions very thinly, quarter your tomatoes, and drain the olives and pepperoncini.
- Build the base: Remove the chilled bowl from the freezer and add the entire bag of salad mix.
- Layer the add-ins: Top the lettuce with sliced red onions, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, and tomatoes.
- Add the finishing touches: Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese and add a generous handful of croutons.
- Dress and serve: Drizzle with Olive Garden salad dressing, toss gently to combine, and serve immediately for maximum freshness.
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Copycat Olive Garden Salad
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
Make-Ahead and Storage Tips
For the Freshest Experience
- Wash and dry lettuce: Up to 2 days ahead, store wrapped in paper towels in a sealed container
- Prep vegetables: Slice onions, tomatoes, and drain olives/pepperoncini up to 1 day ahead
- Assemble strategically: Keep all components separate until just before serving
Storing Leftovers
- Dressed salad: Will remain crisp for up to 4 hours in the refrigerator
- Undressed components: Can be stored separately for 2-3 days
- Reviving wilted salad: Add a squeeze of lemon juice and a splash of ice water, then drain well
The Perfect Olive Garden Salad Dressing
While you can purchase Olive Garden’s dressing at many grocery stores, making it at home allows you to customize the flavor:
Love Olive Garden? Try these copycat recipes!
- Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Fried Mozzarella Sticks
- Grilled Chicken Margherita
- Olive Garden Lasagna Recipe
- Olive Garden Shrimp Scampi
- Steak Alfredo
- Toscana Soup
- Watermelon Sangria
Favorite Salad Recipes
- Applebee’s Oriental Chicken Salad
- Cucumber. Tomato, and Onion Salad
- Hot Bacon Spinach Salad
- Panera Mediterranean Salad
- Wendy’s Strawberry Salad
Check out more of my easy salad recipes and the best Olive Garden recipes here on CopyKat!
Ready to bring the Olive Garden experience home? This salad is the perfect place to start! Pin this recipe for your next Italian dinner night or print it using the recipe card below. If you try it, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
That’s a shame they use iceberg lettuce which has no nutritional value whatsoever. I would probably use romaine like someone suggested.
actually they use a mix of iceberg and romaine lettuce, along with roma tomatoes, red onion, black olives, and pepperocinis. I know this as I use to work for them. Then add your croutons. Not sure on all the spelling but you get the idea
Thank you, I though that’s what I tried to write up in the recipe.
Check your local grocer….ours carries the Olive Garden brand salad dressing now. LOVE this salad.
Before OG changed their onions to raw red onions, they use to be a bright pink, thinly sliced, marinated onion that complimented the dressing wonderfully …do u have a recipe?
And before they started cutting large tomatoes, they used cherry tomatoes, tasted better.
I’m 53, n as a young girl these two items left a lasting impression…onions that were pretty n tasty….n learning how to fork a rolling tomato n trying not to squirt a tomato from my mouth. Lol
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry but I do not recall that their tomatoes were marinated. I don’t happen to have a recipe for these, they sound delicious though.
I was so happy when they switched tomatoes, personally. I don’t like the cherry tomatoes. Your recipe sounds great, and we will try it aoon. Thanks!
Thank you. I hope you enjoy it.
This salad looks so good! I will have to make this for my family!
This looks delicious and spot on! I do love their salad and dressing! Yum!
Why are people raving about this? It’s frickin’ ICEBURG LETTUCE, some other veggies, old bread and factory-made Italian dressing!
It’s not for me to judge, its for me to recreate 😉
I love their dressing. We were just there last night and I noticed they also had very tiny slivers of red cabbage. On the dressing, I’d use Agave instead of the Corn Syrup. Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe. YEA!
Mike Arienti: When I look at a recipe, I will substitute ingredients for a similar one with a higher nutrition content. Anyone can change the lettuce, make their own croutons, but I wanted some idea of what they use in their dressing because I love the taste.
Is it just me, or is Leahbean16 extremely rude (and quite honestly a giant bitch)?
I thought they really liked the recipe.
It’s Leahbean’s mean spirited comments to others post that are so rude…mental health issues I’m sure
You can now buy the Olive Garden dressing at Wal-Mart or Sam’s club. Sam’s also carries the olive garden brand of croutons.
Thank you for sharing that info. I have seen it for sale now. My recipe came out long before they started to sell this in the store. I hope you don’t mind if I keep the recipe up :-P.
If u don’t want to make the dressing it is now available in two packs at Sam’s. (Walmart)
I have made this several times and EVERYONE LOVES it! The only change I make is that I use bagged Hearts of Romaine lettuce instead of the iceberg American mix as we enjoy that more as our choice of lettuce
I bet the romain lettuce is a very nice change in this recipe.
I have been making this salad for years. there is no artichokes in this salad. but there is pepperoncini peppers. after purchasing the pepperoncini at different stores, I really prefer them from Gordon’s Food Store. They are not so bitter and taste great live theres. Also the tomato is a roma tomato they serve at Olive Garden
unbeilable so good my family and i are preparing the olive garden salad for our dinner
unbeilable so good my family and i are preparing the olive garden salad for our dinner
I am so happy you can enjoy your favorite recipe at home!
I believe that Olive Garden’s salad has artichoke hearts in it?
I don’t think it has any artichoke hearts in it, but it sure would be tasty if it did have artichoke hearts in it.
no you dork why would it and if it does than grose
no you dork why would it and if it does than grose
Leahgbean16 – do you usually post 2X??? LOL
I asked 2 different people at the Olive Garden what kind of cheese do the use and both said Romano. Just thought you would like to know.
Thanks for the update! ~Stephanie
but head
Are you a 4 year old?
but head
What?
They use pepperoncelli peppers, not banana peppers.
I’m pretty sure the recipe said that…and banana was an option to make it sweeter
thank you for this recipe I was too embarrassed to ask at the restaurant and so happy to see it on your website. thank you my family will be sooo happy! J
The peppers are supposed to be pepperoncini peppers and roma tomatoes sold at most grocery stores- Wal-mart, Kroger, Mejiers…etc. The dressing is sold at the Olive Garden Restaurant!
Just a FYI smart and final Carey s it.
The cheese is actually grated Romano cheese.
They’re actually peppercini’s, which is a sweeter pepper.
banana pepper = sweet
pepperoncini = medium hot