Olive Garden Salad

Learn how to recreate the famous Olive Garden salad at home, complete with their signature dressing. This easy recipe will have you enjoying your favorite restaurant salad in no time!

Olive Garden Copycat Salad

Enjoy this quick and easy salad anytime. Here, you will find all the tips and tricks for the best-tasting and most authentic Olive Garden Copycat Salad. In fact, I think my version is a little bit of a step up with homemade croutons and fresh dressing. If you like this recipe, try my other Olive Garden copycat recipes, such as pasta e Fagioli, chicken gnocchi soup, chicken alfredo, and zuppa toscana.

Olive Garden Salad Ingredients

To make the dressing, you will need extra virgin olive oil, mayonnaise, white vinegar, lemon juice, granulated sugar, a dry packet of Italian dressing mix (Good Seasons), and black pepper.

For the salad, you need garden salad mix, Roma or Campari tomatoes, whole pepperoncini, black olives, red onion, croutons, and Romano or Parmesan cheese.

How to Make Olive Garden Salad

Add all the salad dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk vigorously. Alternatively, add the ingredients to a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake robustly.

Then, add the garden salad mix, sliced tomatoes, whole pepperoncini, black olives, sliced red onions, and homemade croutons to a large serving bowl. Whisk the dressing one more time and drizzle it over the salad. Sprinkle with the cheese and toss to coat.

Recipe Tips

• Make the dressing in advance and store it in an airtight container or mason jar in the fridge. It will keep for up to 4 weeks. The olive oil will solidify in the fridge. Just remove it from the fridge for 45 minutes before tossing the salad.
• Olive Garden uses iceberg lettuce mixed with red cabbage and carrots. Other good choices are romaine, leaf lettuce, spinach, and red leaf lettuce.
• When at Olive Garden, I always end up slicing my pepperoncini, so I get a little in each bite. Sliced pepperoncini are available in the grocery store next to the whole ones.
• If you like, Olive Garden sells its brand of croutons seasoned with romano cheese and garlic. I prefer to make my own, but to each his own.
• Campari tomatoes are a great alternative to Roma tomatoes. I find them more consistent and tastier.
• Give your salad a good, healthy helping of tomatoes,
• Olive Garden uses Romano cheese, but I prefer Parmesan cheese. Romano is made from sheep’s milk, while Parmesan is made from cow’s milk.

Storage

This salad is best enjoyed after it is tossed with the dressing. You can arrange the salad portion of this recipe up to 12 hours in advance. But do not add the crouton, cheese, or dressing. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to serve. When ready to serve, sprinkle with the croutons and the cheese, drizzle with the dressing, and toss to coat.

More Salad Recipes

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