Copycat Olive Garden Italian Salad Recipe

Copycat Olive Garden Italian Salad Recipe

Skip a trip to the restaurant and make this classic salad at home. Fresh veggies, crunchy croutons, tangy pepperoncini, salty parmesan, and the best part: the zippy salad dressing made from scratch!

Course Salad

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Copycat Olive Garden Salad, Olive Garden Italian Salad Recipe, Olive Garden Salad Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 0

Servings servings

Calories 286kcal

Author Faith Gorsky

Ingredients

Dressing:

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 large cloves garlic peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons mayo
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian herb seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Salad:

8 cups chopped Romaine lettuce 1 large head
1/2 cup thinly sliced red cabbage
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup julienned carrot
2 Roma tomatoes or 4 Campari tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup canned pitted whole black olives drained
6 jarred pepperoncini peppers drained (increase to 8 if you need 8 servings of this salad so every serving gets 1)
1 cup garlic croutons
1/2 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the dressing. Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Transfer to a lidded glass jar and refrigerate until using (or up to 1 week).
Make the salad. Add all ingredients to a bowl, gently toss, and serve. If you're serving immediately, you can toss the dressing in the salad, or serve it in a pitcher on the side so people can add their own.

Notes

Salad Dressing Yield: This recipe makes 1 cup of dressing. You might not need all of it for this salad.
Salad Yield: This recipe makes 6 generously-sized side salads. If you need to, you can stretch it into 8 servings.
Storage (Dressing): Store this dressing in a lidded glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. Shake or whisk it before using.
Storage (Salad): If you chop and store the lettuce, cabbage, carrot, and onion separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator, they should stay fresh for up to 3 days. (The only thing I recommend waiting to chop until right before serving is the tomato to avoid it turning mushy.) To maintain crispness, wait to toss everything together and add the dressing until right before serving.

Nutrition