Olive Garden Salad Recipe

This Olive Garden salad recipe hits the spot when you crave this irresistible salad. Along with the zesty dressing, it has everything the original has making it the best copycat!

Copycat Olive Garden Salad Recipe

If you crave the Olive Garden salad like I do, it’s for good reason! It’s an irresistible house salad with crisp colorful veggies, briny olives and salty, spicy pepperoncini peppers with crunchy croutons tossed with a vibrant and tangy Olive garden salad dressing.

If pasta e fagioli, chicken Alfredo pasta or sheet pan gnocchi are on the menu, you bet I am serving this copycat Olive Garden salad recipe with a side of Olive Garden breadsticks!

Salad Ingredients

• Salad Mix: I used a pre-packaged bag of salad blend that contained iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and matchstick carrots. You can chop your own.
• Tomatoes: I like to use slices of Roma tomatoes, but you’re welcome to use whatever tomatoes you prefer. Cherry tomatoes and plum tomatoes are great.
• Black olives: Make sure they’re pitted! Keep them whole or slice them.
• Croutons: Nothing beats homemade croutons, but if you’ve got a package of croutons you’d like to use they’ll work too.
• Red onions: Thinly sliced red onions are sweet, mild and add crunch and flavor.
• Shredded parmesan cheese: This is optional. Adds another element, but if you’d like to keep it dairy-free, it’s not a must. 
• Pepperoncini: These pickled peppers are briny, salty, tangy, and spicy! They are delicious but they are also optional. 
• Olive Garden salad dressing ingredients: Make your own using olive oil, white vinegar, water, sugar, mayonnaise, and salt and black pepper to taste. You can also grab the one at the store.

How to Make Olive Garden Copycat Salad

1. Dump: Add the lettuce mix into a large serving bowl. 
2. Top: Next, add in the tomatoes, olives, red onion, and cheese. Top with a few pepperoncini and any additional add-ins. 
3. Toss: Drizzle with homemade Olive Garden salad dressing and give it a good toss. Top with croutons and serve immediately!

Extra Add-ins and Tips

• Greens: When making your own, go ahead and use Romaine if you prefer. A spring mix, or any combination of romaine, iceberg, spinach, and bibb lettuce could work. It’s not an exact copycat but it still works!
• If you want smaller pieces of lettuce, you can chop them up a little smaller before adding them to your bowl.
• Protein: Grilled chicken, shrimp, steak, crumbled bacon, a hard-boiled egg.
• Nuts and seeds: Sprinkle on some sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, cashews, walnuts, or pecans. 
• A different dressing: Italian dressing, a vinaigrette, balsamic, ranch, blue cheese, or a combination of olive oil, vinegar (or lemon juice), salt, and pepper.

Make-Ahead

• If you’re serving a crowd or taking this on the go, using prep time comes in handy. Wash, slice, and chop all the necessary ingredients. Make homemade dressing.
• Place everything except the pepperoncini, croutons, and dressing into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and store for up to 8 hours beforehand. 
• Then, when you’re ready to serve, top with the remaining ingredients and the dressing and give it a toss!

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