Olive Garden Salad Dressing
This homemade copycat Olive Garden Salad Dressing tastes even better than the original and the bottled stuff! It works great in pasta salads and as a marinade too!
A CREAMY ITALIAN DRESSING RECIPE
I think one of my favorite things to do is to recreate my favorite restaurant meals at home, like with this Olive Garden Salad Dressing. I always say that even though recipes can sometimes come close to those restaurant favorites, I will never say it tastes exactly like what you get in the restaurant but we can get the taste pretty darn close. Also, I know you can totally buy this stuff in the grocery store now but I promise you that this version will taste WAY better.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Yes. First you are going to prepare the packet of Good Seasons Italian Dressing just like it tells you to do on the back of the packet. Then you will take that prepared dressing and add the other ingredients listed below to turn this into Olive Garden Salad Dressing.
If you want the full Olive Garden experience then serve this with my Olive Garden Breadsticks and Olive Garden Pasta e Fagioli or Zuppa Toscana!
This dressing is delicious in pasta salads and as a chicken marinade!
Store unused dressing in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Be sure to give the bottle a good shake before using.
If you’ve never seen Good Seasons Italian Dressing before, you can usually find it down the aisle in your grocery store where all the other salad dressings are. The packets are usually near where they keep the packets of ranch dressing. Most stores carry the boxed sets that also come with the salad dressing cruet. See my ingredient image below for reference.
You will need:
– 1 bag of iceberg lettuce mix
– 6-8 pepperoncini peppers
– 6 ounces of whole black olives
– ½ red onion, sliced into rings
– 1 Roma tomato, sliced
– 1 cup of croutons
– ½-1 cup of parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Add the lettuce to a large salad bowl then add the peppers, olives, onion slices, tomatoes, croutons and parmesan to the salad. Drizzle the salad dressing over top and toss to combine, then serve.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- Good Seasonings Italian Dressing mix
- (Ingredients needed to make the dressing mix; oil, water, vinegar)
- Italian Seasoning
- salt and pepper
- sugar
- garlic powder
- mayonnaise
- light extra virgin olive oil
- white vinegar
- water
HOW TO MAKE OLIVE GARDEN SALAD DRESSING
Prepare Good Seasonings Italian Seasonings Dressing as it states on back of packet.
The packet makes just a small bit of dressing. Once prepared, pour dressing in a medium bowl. Then whisk in additional ingredients listed above (starting with the dried Italian Seasoning.)
Using a whisk, mix all ingredients until mixed thoroughly combined.
At this point you pour it into a container with a lid. Mason jars also work well for this or pour it over your salad and enjoy!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Olive Garden Salad Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 packet Good Seasonings Italian Dressing
- Ingredients needed to make dressing; oil, water & vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon mayonnaise
- ¼ cup light extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a bowl, prepare Good Seasonings Italian Seasonings Dressing as it states on back of package (mixing with oil, water & vinegar in the measurements given on packet)
- Once prepared, add the rest of the ingredients listed to the bowl
- Using a whisk, mix all ingredients until mixed thoroughly combined.
- Serve with your favorite salad fixings.
Video
Notes
- Store unused dressing in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Be sure to give the bottle a good shake before using.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Recipe Credit: Barenaked Chef
Originally published: January 2012
Updated & republished: June 2019
I live abroad and no Italian dressing spice packets here (aka good seasons). Can you please tell me what the ingredients in those packets are (minus the chemicals of course, lol). Thank you!
2 Tablespoons basil
2 Tablespoons marjoram
2 Tablespoons oregano
2 Tablespoons rosemary
2 Tablespoons thyme
This was amazing! The only change I made was I used cider vinegar (it was all I had) and I added Parmesan to the dressing! The whole family raved! This will be my go to dressing! Thank you so much for sharing!
The salad dressing was delicious. I made it for a party we had at our house and it was a hit. Thanks!
Loved the recipe! It was delicious (coming from a non-salad eater!). Thanks again.
Very, very similar! Tastes great! My new go to vinaigrette for sure! Thank you so much for the recipe:)
I just made this salad dressing and WOW, to me, it tastes just like Olive Garden's! Thank so much for posting this 🙂
I just love reading everyone's comments! I'm just so happy y'all are enjoying this recipe!! Sarah, I got that bowl a few years ago at Target (it was a Black Friday sale..LOL. But I have recently seen a similar one at Kohl's. 🙂
I love your salad bowl! Where can I find one like that?
I am excited to make the dressing!
Made this at lunch; Delish! Now I'm waiting for my 12 and 13 year olds to get home from school with their friends; I have a huge bowl of salad waiting in the fridge I know they will eat it right up! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Ok, so when you make the dressing first according to the directions on the packet, do you use Veggie oil or Olive oil? Then add the 1/4 Olive oil at the end?
Thanks!
Hi, I just have a question about storing this. I have all the ingredients and I am about to make this but I am afraid I will have to toss out most of it after 2-3 weeks. Is there anyway to prolong the life of the dressing? Maybe freezing half or putting it in an air tight container? (haha i have no idea if it will even freeze) It is only me and my husband and I dont like having to throw stuff out if i can help it! (Although, we might end up eating more salads because of the dressing and then it wont be an issue)Thanks cant wait to try it!
Sooooo delicious! Pregnant currently and I CRAVE this! Delicious!
Thank you SO much for this recipe. It's awesome! I'm going to post the link to your website on my facebook page so my friends can check it out for themselves. Hope you don't mind my sharing it.
Hi!
JUST finished making/ eating this dressing, and I have to say I love it! OG dressing is my favorite, but being a broke college girl means I don't get to eat there very often! & I've been trying to find a great dressing to eat at home- besides the ever faithful ranch! I just wanted to thank you for sharing this recipe! I'm going to go fix myself another helping of salad… 🙂
IMO.. this recipe is spot on perfect and tastes exactly like the real deal.
My husband and I use to celebrate our anniversary at olive garden every year (our tradition) but in the past two years we haven't been able to go (with having small kids), so we skip it. But this year we can have olive garden at home, the tradition lives on 🙂 ty.
Kgibsongirl, you said you added the sliced onions, pepperchinis & olives to marinate, does that mean you removed them before serving or did you chop them up real fine and leave them in dressing when serving?
I would like to know what is in the salad…It looks delicious!! Plus I will be trying the dressing it also sounds very good!! 😉
I made this last night for my boyfriend (as well as the breadsticks) and let's just say I may get a ring out of this. You nailed it! It was absoultely exact to the dressing I have had (many a times) at The Olive Garden!
I modified it a bit (after tasting it and agreeing it tasted exactly like OG's) by adding the following ingredients and letting them marinate in the dressing for a couple hours before I served: about an 1/8 cip shredded parmesan, 1/2 cup sliced onions, black olives and pepperoncini peppers.
We live in Manhattan so you saved us a trip down to the only OG in the city – which is located in Times Square, an area which is great but at the same time, one in which those who live in NYC tend o want to avoid.
Thanks again!!
I made this dressing last night and it was IDENTICAL to the Olive Garden! I live in Manhattan so the only Olive Garden we have is in Times Square, a great area but one in which people who live in NYC tend to want to avoid. You saved me a trip to get our fill.
I modified your recipe a bit by adding an 1/8 cup of fresh shredded parmesan cheese, some black olives, sliced onions and a couple pepperoncini peppers into the dressing. I threw these ingredients in a couple hours before I planned to serve, so they could marinate and soak up the dressing.
I also made your breadsticks the night before and reheated them the next night to serve (reheated at 350 and rebrushed with oil/garlic powder mix).
I would have to give you two thumbs way up on this. Perfect job recreationg the recipes!
I used to work at the Olive Garden and my son got totally hooked to the dressing when I worked there…it was the only dressing he would eat (and therefore the only time he would accept salad as his veg of choice! Now as a full time mommy blogger, it's nice to have this in the arsenal. Great idea and thanks so much!
~Kate
@anon asking about the nutritional info, I think you would be pretty safe in just going with the value of your olive oil.. so i would think it would be pretty close to 120 cal/tbs, with it all being fat cals BUT it's the good fats,but you'd still want to use it as sparingly as possible. Yes I know there is sugar and mayo in it, but it's a small amount and it also has water init which would come into play also.I just think you'd be safe the way I said.
Made this for our salad tonight. Since we can't buy the Good Seasons seasoning here in Canada, I substituted Club House Italian Dressing mix. Made the dressing as per instructions…only modification I made was about 1 tbsp. of parmasan cheese added. This dressing was the bomb…just like Olive Garden!! This recipe is definitely a keeper 🙂
Ok I just made it. Taste darn close to the olive garden dressing. I used a fresh garlic clove instead of garlic powder and 2 tsp of parmesan cheese.
Anonymous 1 – I'm sorry, I can't really help you out with the nutritional information. I'm sorry!
Anonymous 2 – I always sprinkle a bit of parmesan on my salad when I make it but I don't put it in the actual dressing. 🙂
FYI, I was told by the wait staff at OG that the dressing has parmesan in it (I have a dairy allergy so I asked) perhaps adding some would make it even more authentic. But if this tastes like it then i'm going to have to try the dairy free version!