Copycat Olive Garden Salad
Our copycat Olive Garden salad recipe features crisp veggies, a tangy dressing and crunchy croutons, just like the famous restaurant makes!
Olive Garden Salad Ingredients
You’ll need:
For The Salad:
- 6 cups of chopped iceberg lettuce
- 1 cup of whole pitted black olives, drained
- 1 cup of thinly sliced red onions
- 4 medium firm Roma tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cup of seasoned croutons
- 6 whole pepperoncini peppers
- ¼ cup of fresh parmesan cheese
For The Dressing:
- ⅔ cup of extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup of white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of water
- 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons of fresh minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
- 1½ teaspoons of Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon of red pepper flakes
Substitutions And Additions
DRESSING: If you can’t find the official Olive Garden dressing at the grocery store, you can substitute it for the homemade dressing.
You can also substitute a 0.7-ounce packet of Italian dressing mix for the homemade dressing.
LETTUCE: Any variety of lettuce, or bagged salad, can be used for this Olive Garden house salad recipe.
A bagged salad mix will save you time to whip up this easy recipe in a flash.
MIX-INS: You can add chopped bacon, cubed ham, or even shredded cooked or grilled chicken.
CROUTONS: You can use store-bought or homemade croutons in this recipe.
TOMATOES: Halved grape or cherry tomatoes would also work just as well as the Roma tomatoes in this Olive Garden Italian salad recipe.
How To Make Olive Garden Salad
STEP ONE: Using a large bowl, layer 3 cups of the chopped lettuce, ½ cup of the black olives, ½ cup of the sliced red onion, ½ of the sliced tomatoes, and ½ cup of the croutons.
OUR RECIPE DEVELOPER SAYS
Make sure your red onions are sliced nice and thin. A mandoline would work well to slice them.
STEP TWO: Layer the remaining lettuce, black olives, red onion slices, tomato slices, and croutons.
STEP THREE: Lay the pepperoncini peppers on top of the salad.
STEP FOUR: Evenly sprinkle the grated parmesan on top of the salad. Set the salad aside.
STEP FIVE: Using either a small mixing bowl and a whisk, or a quart-sized mason jar with a lid, combine the olive oil, white wine vinegar, water, mayonnaise, sugar, fresh minced garlic, lemon juice, Italian seasoning, kosher salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
If using the bowl and whisk, whisk until the dressing is well combined. If using the mason jar, tightly screw on the lid and shake until the ingredients are completely incorporated,
PRO TIP:
Small mason jars are just the right size to make salad dressing and to store any dressing leftovers in the fridge.
STEP SIX: Immediately pour the dressing over the top of the salad. Serve immediately.
PRO TIP:
This salad is best served right away, otherwise, the croutons will start to soften in the dressing.
IN THE FRIDGE: Store any leftovers from this amazing salad in an airtight container, or a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, for up to two days.
If you anticipate having leftovers, we would recommend adding croutons to individual servings as they will get soggy if left in the dressing for any amount of time.
IN THE FREEZER: We don’t recommend trying to freeze any components of this salad recipe.
This copycat recipe is a great way to bring your favorite restaurant home. Our homemade version of the Olive Garden salad recipe features all the fresh ingredients from the original and is topped with a tangy copycat dressing that you will love.
