This Copy Cat Olive Garden salad recipe is the perfect make at home recipe of the restaurant version. With crisp lettuce, pepperoncini peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives, croutons and homemade Olive Garden salad dressing. This hearty salad is perfect as a side dish, or add some grilled chicken or shrimp to make it a meal.
Olive Garden Salad Recipe
You are going to love this homemade Olive Garden Salad Recipe! With all the perfect fresh vegetable ingredients and homemade Olive Garden Salad dressing, this salad will be perfect for dinner!
Making copy cat recipes at home is one of my favorite things to do. I love finding meals I love at restaurants and then figuring out how to make them at home. This copy cat recipe is so easy to make, and a great way to change things up when you are having a salad with dinner.
What is an Olive Garden Salad?
Olive Garden salad is the amazing salad that you get when you are dining in at Olive Garden. A Salad that has lettuce, pepperoncini peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives and croutons.
Make it a meal!
This Olive Garden Salad Recipe works great for a main dish and also for packing a lunch. You can also add protein like chicken or shrimp to this salad and make the salad a meal in itself. If you love eating at Olive Garden be sure to check out our other Olive Garden Copy Cat recipes!
- Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce
- Shrimp Alfredo
- Chicken Gnocchi Soup
- Olive Garden Chicken
- Copy Cat Olive Garden Ziti al Forno
Tips for making this salad
Use fresh ingredients. When making any salad the ingredients used will make or break it. You want fresh ingredients including firm tomatoes, crispy lettuce and quality red onions.
Keep it simple. I like to keep things easy and grab a bag of American Salad blend because it has the carrots and cabbage in it already. If you want to use fresh chopped lettuce, then you can. Just add 1/4 cup of sliced red cabbage and 1/4 cup of shredded carrots.
Use grated parmesan cheese. I like to grate a block of parmesan cheese when making this salad, but if you only have the store bought canister you can use that too. If you like more parmesan cheese you can also shred it instead of grating it.
Can I make this in advance?
You sure can! This salad is great for making a head of time and meal planning. I do suggest that you wait to put the dressing on top until you are ready to eat it so the lettuce stays crispy. I like to put the keto olive garden salad in small mason jars and then the dressing in a container and then I just add the dressing when I am going to eat my salad.
If you are wanting to enjoy it for lunches I suggest only making 2-3 days worth at a time. The fresher the better and it is so easy to make that you can quickly toss it together as long as you have the ingredients on hand.
You can make a large batch of olive garden salad dressing to keep in the fridge to use any time you want it and make a fresh salad.
Olive Garden Salad Ingredients
- 1 batch Olive Garden Salad Dressing
- Bagged American Salad blend
- pepperoncini peppers
- tomato
- red onion
- black olives
- croutons
- parmesan cheese
How to Make Olive Garden Salad
Wash and chop the tomatoes, slice the olives and the onions.
In a large bowl place the bag of salad mix, then add the pepperoncini peppers, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced olives, croutons and grated parmesan cheese.
Use a salad spoon to mix everything together, then pour the homemade Olive Garden Salad dressing on top of the salad and toss with salad utensils.
Easy Salad Recipes
- Chicken Caesar Salad
- Chicken Taco Salad
- Beef taco salad
- BLT Salad
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Crispy chicken, cranberry and apple salad
- Big Mac Salad
Olive Garden Salad
Ingredients
Olive Garden Salad Ingredients
- 1 batch Olive Garden Salad Dressing
- 1 10 ounce bag American Salad blend
- 6 pepperoncini peppers
- 1 to mato sliced
- 1/4 red onion thinly sliced
- 12 black olives
- 1 cup croutons
- 1 tablespoon parmesan grated
Olive Garden Salad Dressing Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese grated
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
How to Make Olive Garden Salad Dressing
- Using a cheese grated, grate the parmesan cheese.
- Add the olive oil, white wine vinegar, parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice, garlic salt and Italian seasoning to the blender.
- Use the pulse feature or blend option and blend until smooth and everything is well mixed together.
- Serve immediately, or store in the fridge.
How to Make Olive Garden Salad
- Wash and chop the tomatoes, slice the olives and the onions.
- In a large bowl place the bag of salad mix, then add the pepperoncini peppers, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced olives, croutons and grated parmesan cheese.
- Use a salad spoon to mix everything together, then pour the homemade Olive Garden Salad dressing on top of the salad and toss with salad utensils.
Comments & Reviews
Anne K says
Ths was delicious! People thought I bought the salad from Olive Garden! Perfect for an Easter family dinner. Thank you!
Kathy says
This was GREAT! So close to what you get at Olive Garden or their bottled dressing you can buy at the store. Thank you for the recipe!!!
Linda says
I’m also 4′ 10″, I don’t mind my size at all. Yes there are times I have challenges. But I love to cook. I cook a lot for my church. I don’t have a large family to cook for anymore and don’t know how to cook small. I would love to try your recipes.
Pamela says
Hi Lauren,
Tried this a couple of weeks ago and it is a great recipe! It is now my go to salad recipe. Making it again tonight to go with my chicken cacciatore! Thanks for sharing this recipe!