Olive Garden may be known for its various pasta dishes, but one of the restaurants most popular offerings is the salad. The menu item is included in the soup, salad, and breadsticks combo, but it also comes with every entree. The fact that servers will refill your salad bowl as many times as you want is a major plus, but the reason many customers enjoy it so much is most likely the dressing Olive Garden uses. However contrary to popular belief, Signature Italian isnt the only dressing served in-house.
Olive Gardens salad dressing is so beloved by customers that since at least 2010, the chain was quietly selling bottles of it at its restaurants. Two years later, the dressing made it to Sams Club stores for a year-long test run. Evidently, it proved to be successful, because today you can find Olive Garden brand dressing at practically any grocery store. Olive Garden now even sells flavors like Parmesan Ranch and Classic Caesar, which you cant get at the restaurant. Meanwhile, dine-in customers may not realize that they have options when it comes to dressing their greens.
If you love the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad from Olive Garden, then you will love this copycat recipe too. It’s so quick and easy to make.
Olive Garden’s salad can be customized
Anyone who goes to Olive Garden often enough probably doesnt have to look at the menu before ordering the salad, though even if you did, you still wouldnt see anything about being able to customize it. The description under “Our Famous House Salad” only reads “tossed with our signature Italian dressing,” but it fails to mention the bespoke options that are available. On the restaurants website, however, it appears you can swap the signature Italian dressing with a low-fat version of it or simply oil and vinegar.
Besides being able to top your salad with as much freshly grated cheese as you want, Olive Garden also allows you to leave out the tomato, olives, onions, and pepperoncini. You can order extra toppings at the table — and not just simple items like sides of shrimp or sliced grilled chicken to put on top. Premium proteins including breaded and fried shrimp fritto and even chicken parmigiana are available. Theres a reason why Helen Rosner, writing for Eater, said, “The only thing at Olive Garden that comes close to the greatness of the toasted ravioli is the salad.”
An Employee Reveals Why You Should Avoid Olive Garden Salads
FAQ
What kind of salad does Olive Garden have?
Does Olive Garden have cesar dressing?
Does Olive Garden have more than one salad dressing?
Where does Caesar salad come?