Copycat Olive Garden Italian Salad Recipe

Dressing Ingredients

• Extra-virgin olive oil – For richness and a fruity, peppery flavor. And don’t forget, the healthy fats in olive oil help your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the salad that you eat with this dressing (read more on News-Medical).
• White wine vinegar – I had to check the bottle when I bought this white wine vinegar because of its amber color! It looks more like apple cider vinegar, but I found out that white wine vinegar can range in color from clear to amber to golden. If you don’t have white wine vinegar on hand, you can use apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar instead.
• Garlic – Friends, don’t skimp out and use garlic powder here! Fresh garlic is a must in this recipe. Punchy raw garlic helps create the signature flavor that we all love.
• Mayo – For rich flavor and creamy texture.
• Sugar – Use granulated white sugar here. For the keto version, use your favorite keto sugar replacement.
• Dried Italian herb seasoning – With herbs like rosemary and basil, this mix packs a punch of savory flavor.
• Salt and black pepper – These pantry-staple seasonings make sure the dressing isn’t bland.
• Crushed red pepper flakes – For a touch of heat to add balance.
• Dijon mustard – Dijon mustard in salad dressing isn’t just for its tangy flavor. It also acts as an emulsifier, helping the oil and vinegar blend and stay blended.

Salad Ingredients

• Romaine lettuce – You’ll need 8 cups of chopped lettuce for this salad, which is about 1 large head of Romaine. There’s some debate regarding the type of lettuce in the original salad at Olive Garden, and whether it’s iceberg, Romaine, or a mix of both. However, most agree that it’s a bagged lettuce mix that includes red cabbage and carrot. Instead of using a pre-bagged salad mix, in this homemade version we add each ingredient. Feel free to use iceberg if you prefer, or a mix of iceberg and Romaine, or any kind of salad greens you fancy to make it your own!
• Red cabbage – An ingredient in authentic Olive Garden salad.
• Red onion – Another traditional component in the original salad. TIP: If you’re worried the raw onion’s flavor will be too sharp, after slicing it, soak it in ice-cold water for 10 minutes, and then rinse, drain, and add it to the salad.
• Carrot – Here we want the carrot julienned, which means cut into short, thin strips like matchsticks.
• Tomatoes – Use Roma tomatoes in this salad. Or if you can find them, I prefer slightly sweeter Campari tomatoes.
• Olives – The restaurant uses canned pitted whole black olives, but feel free to make it your own and use your favorite kind! Kalamata olives would also be delicious here.
• Pepperoncini peppers – Make sure each serving gets 1 pepperoncini pepper for the full experience!
• Croutons – Use store-bought garlic croutons or make your own croutons for even better flavor and texture.
• Freshly-grated parmesan cheese – If you’ve been to Olive Garden, you know the drill; the waiter puts your plate down in front of you and grates parmesan cheese onto your food, saying “tell me when to stop”!