A copycat recipe for the famous Olive Garden Salad recipe full with juicy sweet berries, savory black olives, sharp red onions, garlicky croutons, tangy pepperoncini peppers and salty parmesan. The salad is dressed in a homemade creamy Italian dressing (or catch the Olive Garden dressing in the shop).
We are obsessed with this Olive Garden copycat salad, it is light, refreshing, wholesome, and rich with flavor. The Italian dressing is simple to make and full of good-for-you ingredients: red wine vinegar, plenty of herbs, olive oil and Dijon mustard. It is the ideal pair for all of the veggies.
Along with also the ultimate finishing touch for this salad is that the freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garlicky croutons on top.
What dressings does Olive Garden use?
Olive Garden really sells their salad dressing in local grocery stores. Or you’ll be able to create my homemade Olive Garden dressing I discuss from the recipe below! It is very similar & you will know precisely what components are in your dressing.
What kind of tomatoes does Olive Garden use?
Olive Garden utilizes “Roma Tomatoes” that’s what we use in this salad. I would recommend grabbing the ripest or freshest tomatoes potential with this salad.
What is in a house salad at Olive Garden Salad recipe?
- Red Onion: if you are sensitive to the taste of raw red onion, soak onions in the cold water (with a pinch of salt) for 10minutes. Drain thoroughly and dry before adding to the salad.
- Lettuce: while Olive Garden uses iceberg-lettuce combination, we like it best with “Romaine-lettuce”, it works!
- Croutons: Those work great in this salad, or some other garlic-herb flavored croutons. You may also create your own!
- Tomato: some fantastic ripe tomatoes will work within this particular salad (bonus points for garden-tomatoes, they are the best!) . In addition, we prefer to use cherry-tomatoes.
- Pepperoncini: All these are sweet, mild chili peppers, generally sold. They are usually found by jarred red peppers, pickles and jarred artichokes from the grocery shop.
- Black Olives: we enjoy them entire, but don’t hesitate to halve or slice them.
- Parmesan Cheese: I love to grate fresh-parmesan cheese onto a microplane and add it into the Olive Garden Salad.
Notes for this Olive Garden Salad recipe
- Grating parmesan cheese: I highly advise grating the cheese onto a microplane, it gives it an wonderful light texture that helps it spread evenly during the salad.
- Simply add cheese, croutons and dressing into the quantity of salad which will be eaten the exact same day that you make it. The veggies, lettuce or croutons do not sit well with the dressing.
- Make ahead: you can earn everything to get this Olive Garden Salad beforehand, simply store everything (croutons, lettuce, salad ingredients, dressing) separately. Throw it all together right before eating!
Please, if you recreate this Olive Garden Salad recipe, don’t forget to give me star rate or comment below. Thanks!
Try these other Delicious Salad Recipes options:
- Butternut Squash Brussels Sprouts Caesar Salad
- Morocan Salad with Quinoa and Chickpeas
- Healthy Broccoli Salad
- Avocado Tuna Salad
- Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad (Vegan + Gluten-Free)
Olive Garden Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup whole black-olives
- 8 oz romaine-lettuce, coarsely chopped
- 2 large roma-tomatoes, thinly sliced
- 6 whole pepperoncini-peppers
- ⅓ cup parmesan-cheese, freshly grated
- ¼ of 1 large red-onion, very thinly sliced
- 1 cup garlic-herb flavored-croutons (store-bought or homemade)
For the Dressing
- 1 ½ tsp dijon-mustard
- ½ tsp dried-oregano
- ⅓ cup red-wine-vinegar
- 1 tsp granulated white-sugar
- ½ tsp Italian-seasoning
- 2 tbsp good quality full-fat-mayo
- ½ cup olive-oil
Instructions
For the Salad
- Coarsely cut the lettuce then wash & throughly dry. Put lettuce in a large-bowl. Top the salad with black-olives, thinly sliced tomatoes, very finely sliced red onion and pepperoncini.
For Dressing
- In a large-mason-jar add all of the dressing ingredients.
- Put on the lid and shake to blend. It may take a moment of great vigorous shaking, however, the mayo should fully integrate (keep shaking till it does) In case you have time, make this ahead and chill in the refrigerator (intensifies-flavors). Shake again before adding.
Assembly
- Toss the salad with the dressing (you likely won't use all of the dressing, use what you would like.
- Add the croutons & freshly grated parmesan-cheese directly on the top and serve immediately.