Olive Garden Salad Recipe
You don’t need to go out to enjoy the flavors of your favorite Italian salad. This Olive Garden salad recipe is super easy to make at home and features all your favorite ingredients – tomatoes, olives, croutons and that classic pepperoncini. I’ve made this one dairy free, but you can easily customize it at the table with your favorite cheese, just like they do at the restaurant.
Why I love this olive garden salad recipe
I know a lot of places are opening back up, but the thought of going out to eat right now just doesn’t thrill me like it used to. Especially when we have to deal with food allergies on top of everything else.
Thankfully, we can make copycat versions of our favorite dishes, and this one is almost spot-on. I say almost because we left out the cheese, but this salad recipe is really satisfying. Feel free to add that back in if it works for you.
And since you’re making it at home, you can add as many of your favorite ingredients – for me it’s the olives and pepperoncini – as you want.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
- Small bowl
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Wire whisk
- Large mixing bowl
Dairy free tip: make sure to read the label on your croutons package. Many of them contain hidden dairy. If you aren’t able to find dairy free croutons at the store, you can easily make some homemade croutons. It’s easier than you might think.
How to make olive garden salad
Start with a bag of salad. Shortcuts like this save so much time and make it more realistic to cook at home on a regular basis. We usually opt for Italian or American blend bags, but if you really want to prepare your own lettuce, go for it.
Make the dressing. For this recipe, I usually mix a batch of my creamy Italian dressing. It’s really similar to Olive Garden salad dressing, but it doesn’t contain milk. If you want to make this salad vegan, swap the mayo for vegan mayonnaise.
Toss the salad. Add the salad ingredients to a big mixing bowl, and top with salad dressing. Mix the salad to coat it evenly in the dressing. This simple step takes the salad from homemade to “restaurant quality”.
FAQ’s and tips for making olive garden salad dressing
The salad at Olive Garden contains pepperoncini, tomatoes, croutons, olives, sliced onions, and a mix of lettuce. With that, there is an Italian dressing which unfortunately contains Parmesan cheese making it not dairy free.
Absolutely! Grab a head of romaine or iceberg lettuce and cut it up into salad sized chunks. You can even add in some shredded carrots and a little sliced purple cabbage if you want.
Yes, red onions are the perfect onion for salads and sandwiches because they have a simple sweetness to them that the other onion varieties don’t have.
You can expect it to last anywhere between 3 to 5 days if you keep it stored in the fridge in an airtight container (Mason jars work great!)
Yes, but not completely. This salad and the dressing can be made separately and kept apart until you’re ready to serve. Making the salad too far in advance will cause the lettuce to wilt in the dressing and the croutons to soften.
More salad recipes like this one
- Wheat berry salad
- Mediterranean salad
- Italian chopped salad
- Leftover turkey salad
- Easy broccoli salad
Other Italian recipes you’re going to love
- Sausage and peppers pasta
- Italian green beans
- Italian Christmas cookies
- Minestrone soup
- Baked meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 bag Italian (or American salad mix)
- 1 tomato (sliced into wedges)
- 1 cup croutons
- 1/8 cup thinly sliced red onions
- 1 – 3 black olives
- 1 – 2 pepperoncini peppers
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 garlic clove (minced (about 1/2 teaspoon))
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the dressing ingredients until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
- Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl. Add dressing and toss until the salad is evenly coated.
This dressing was absolutely delicious. I used a few more tablespoons of mayo than asked for to get the dressing to the creamy consistency I wanted. Haven’t had Olive Garden in some time, but the flavor of this was wonderful! Easily the best homemade dressing I’ve had.