Copycat Olive Garden Salad (2024)

We can't talk about Olive Garden without talking about their soup, salad, and breadsticks combo! It is famous not only because of its affordability, but because of how satisfying the flavor is in all of their dishes.

And while I have shared with you a lot of Olive Garden copycat recipes in the past, from Zuppa Toscana to Pasta e fa*gioli to Chicken Gnocchi Soup, it is well past time I share with you copycat version of their salad.

Made with fresh lettuce, crisp cabbage, shredded carrots, juicy tomatoes, tangy pepperoncini peppers, and briny black olives, the base of this salad features all the players in the iconic Olive Garden salad. But what makes this salad is the generous sprinkling of croutons and creamy Italian dressing. And it is so easy to make (not to mention better tasting!)

Ingredients Needed

This recipe is composed of the salad base, croutons, and a copycat Olive Garden salad dressing. Feel free to customize the classic version to fit your preferences and/or use produce that is in season.

• Salad Mix: Use a bagged iceberg salad mix or a combination of chopped iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, and shredded red cabbage. Of course, you can swap out the base of the salad to use dark leafy greens, romaine lettuce, or cabbage, but that will not result in a copycat Olive Garden salad.
• Roma Tomatoes: While Roma tomatoes are what are classically featured, use what is in season or looks good. Vine-ripened tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, or grape tomatoes are all great substitutes.
• Red Onion: I don't recommend substituting the red onion for another variety, as other types of onions can easily overwhelm the salad. Feel free to omit the red onion if you don't care to add onion to your salad.
• Pepperoncini Peppers: Olive garden uses whole pepperoncini peppers in their salad. Feel free to use sliced peppers to make them easier to enjoy.
• Black Olives: Omit the black olives or swap them out for Kalamata or Spanish olives if preferred.
• Croutons: I recommend using homemade croutons or store-bought Italian or garlic-seasoned croutons.
• Copycat Olive Garden Dressing: The dressing is made with mayonnaise, distilled vinegar, sugar, fresh lemon juice, salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and parmesan cheese to replicate the flavors of Olive Garden's dressing perfectly.

How To Make Olive Garden's Famous Salad

The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Make the Creamy Italian Dressing. It is as easy as dumping the ingredients into the blender and blending to replicate Olive Garden's salad dressing.

• Toss Ingredients Together. Toss the lettuce, cabbage, carrots, olives, peppers, onions, and sliced tomatoes together until evenly distributed.

• Dress Salad. To prevent overdressing the Italian salad, drizzle with just ½ cup of the salad dressing and toss to combine.

• Serve. Right before serving the salad, add the croutons and parmesan cheese. Serve the additional dressing on the side to use as desired.

Make it a Meal

If you really want to recreate an Olive Garden experience, serve this salad with Olive Garden breadsticks, and a copycat Olive Garden Soup, such as Instant Pot Minestrone, Crockpot Minestrone, Instant Pot Pasta fa*gioli, Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana, or Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi Soup.

However, don't just limit yourselves to soup, salad, and breadsticks! This Italian salad is the perfect compliment to any of the following dishes.

• Easy Baked Rotini
• Chicken Piccata
• Marry Me Chicken
• Easy Skillet Lasagna
• Italian Stuffed Shells
• Instant Pot Lasagna