Olive Garden Salad

Craving that iconic Olive Garden Salad? Whip up this copycat recipe, loaded with sweet tomatoes, zesty peppers, rich olives, and crisp croutons. Go classic with a creamy Italian dressing or grab Olive Garden’s bottled magic from the store.

Pair this salad with some other Olive Garden copycats like this Zuppa Toscana Soup  or this Pasta e Fagioli Soup.

Best Olive Garden Salad Copycat Recipe

We’re obsessed with this Olive Garden copycat salad — it’s light, fresh, healthy, and loaded with flavor. And what’s more, the Italian dressing is easy to make and filled with good-for-you ingredients. How does olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and plenty of herbs sound? It’s the perfect pairing for all the veggies!

The ultimate finishing touch to this salad is the crunchy, garlicky croutons and freshly grated Parmesan cheese on top!

• Lettuce: Olive Garden uses an iceberg lettuce mix, but we like it best with Romaine lettuce; either type of lettuce works!
• Red onion: Onions add a nice bite to the salad. If they seem to have too much of a bite, see my quick tip below to help tame them.
• Pepperoncini: These are sweet, mild chili peppers, usually sold pickled.
• Tomato: Any good ripe tomatoes will work in this salad. We often use cherry tomatoes.
• Black olives: We like them whole, but feel free to halve or slice them.
• Croutons: Olive Garden sells their croutons at the grocery store, and they work great in this salad. You can use any garlic-herb flavored croutons. Or, you can even make your own!
• Parmesan cheese: I like to grate fresh Parmesan cheese on a microplane and add it to this Olive Garden Salad.

More Delicious Salad Recipes:

• Italian Salad with an herb vinaigrette
• Chickpea Salad Mediterranean inspired
• Cobb Salad with an herb vinaigrette
• Crispy Chicken Salad with a honey BBQ dressing
• Orzo Pasta Salad with a lemon vinaigrette

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4.75 from 12 votes

Olive Garden Salad

By Chelsea Lords

Craving that iconic Olive Garden Salad? Whip up this copycat recipe, loaded with sweet tomatoes, zesty peppers, rich olives, and crisp croutons. Go classic with a creamy Italian dressing or grab Olive Garden's bottled magic from the store.

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 -6 servings (as a side)

Ingredients 

USMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 ounces romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup whole black olives
• ▢ 2 large Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
• ▢ 1/4 of 1 large red onion, very thinly sliced
• ▢ 6 whole pepperoncini peppers
• ▢ 1 cup garlic-herb flavored croutons (store-bought or homemade)
• ▢ 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Dressing

• ▢ 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 and 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ 1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup olive oil
• ▢ 2 tablespoons good quality full-fat mayo

Instructions 

• SALAD: Coarsely chop the lettuce, wash, and thoroughly dry (I love a salad spinner for this step). Place lettuce in a large bowl. Top the salad with black olives, thinly sliced tomatoes, very thinly sliced red onion, and pepperoncini.
• DRESSING: Add all the dressing ingredients to a large glass jar. Put on the lid and shake to combine. It might take a minute of good vigorous shaking, but the mayo should completely integrate (keep shaking until it does). If you have time, make this ahead and chill in the fridge to intensify the flavors. Shake again right before mixing into the salad.
• ASSEMBLY: Right before eating (See Note 1), toss the salad with the dressing (you probably won't use all the dressing -- See Note 2). Add the croutons and freshly grated Parmesan cheese right on top and enjoy immediately.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: Freshness: Only add dressing, cheese, and croutons to the amount of salad that will be eaten the same day you make it. The salad ingredients will get quite soggy if they sit too long in the dressing.

Note 2: Dressing: This makes a lot of dressing! You can halve it if you'd like, but I like to make this full batch and use it on other recipes throughout the week. It will last up to a week stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Nutrition

Serving: 6servings (as a side) | Calories: 426kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 40g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 26g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 9mg | Sodium: 525mg | Potassium: 294mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 5394IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 148mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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