Olive Garden probably isn’t the fanciest restaurant in the world, but I think everyone would agree they totally nailed it when they created their house salad dressing. It is so addicting! And conveniently too, considering they do that whole all you can eat salad thing before your dinner comes!
Get a pot of spaghetti going on the stove and let me show you how to make your own Olive Garden dressing for the salads and you can have an Italian night out at home!
DIY Homemade Olive Garden Salad Dressing
I thought I would bring you a little restaurant indulgence this week and I am really excited to finally share this recipe with you! It is one that I have been tweaking and working on over the last couple years and this fall I finally got it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup avocado oil
Or combo avocado oil & olive oil. I get my avocado oil at Costco. - ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- 2 TB mayonnaise homemade preferable to avoid toxic oils
- 1 TB Italian dressing mix this is not Italian seasoning – use salad dressing mix – my recipe is super quick to mix up! Go to the Italian dressing in THIS post and use the mix.
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- Optional ¼ cup Parmesan cheese I often make it without and it is just as delicious without if you can’t do the dairy! This batch did not have the cheese so you can see it is still creamy and delicious.
Instructions
- Everything into a jar and use an immersion blender to mix. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can put all of the ingredients into a food processor except the oil. Then use the oil drip spout on your food processor to add the oil in to emulsify in the dressing slowly.
- This recipe makes a good pint of dressing. Store the dressing in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
If you are looking for more restaurant inspired dressings, try this Caesar dressing, and this Asian dressing!
Also check out my DIY condiments pintrest board for more inspiration!
I can’t wait to try it!!!
This is a great post, so helpful. I remember even as long as 10 years ago going to Olive Garden and asking the servers what was in the salad dressing that comes with their “bottomless” salad as I like to call it. I wasn’t happy when I was told one of the main ingredients was soybean oil. I grew up having my mother make homemade dressing and she always used olive oil, and with a name like Olive Garden it seems completely backward that this restaurant would use soybean oil instead of olive oil!
I am grateful for posts like this which explain just how simple it is to make your own dressing, and which emphasize the flavor and nutrition as well. Thank you Renee!
Ohhh Renee I think you’re gonna put Olive garden out of business here!!
I can’t eat avocados so I am wondering how grape seed oil would taste? What other mild oil do you suggest?
Try rice bran oil from Japan or Korea. Mild tasting. Grape seed oil is fine. Sunflower oil is good, too.
Fabulous recipe! I love it. And so healthy!
This sounds absolutely delicious! I used to frequent Olive Garden all the time during my college days and I always had their salad {with breadsticks of course … before my gluten-free days}. Pinned it.
I can tell it will be just right. Nice recipe!!
This sounds delicious! We always make our own salad dressing, and it is good to get new ideas. Adding this to our list!
There are so few commercial and restaurant foods worth of emulating but OG’s dressing?? Yes, yes, yes!! Thanks for this – pinned!
This salad dressing is AWESOME! thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Hi Kait! Great 😉 Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Oh my, I just made this dressing again but this time I’ve used Avocado oil mayo and its soooo good!
I just did that the other day too! It was so yummy!
You can’t have avocados either? It’s such a random food allergy, I thought I was the only one. It makes me vomit. =( So sad because I used to love avocados on everything. I would probably just use all olive oil. It might not taste quite the same.
I made this dressing last night and I was so upset. It tasted good, but was very runny. I did everything exactly as the recipe stated and used an immersion blender to mix it. Any idea what might have happened?
Hi Anne! Hmmm I’m not sure – I make this dressing almost weekly and have never had it turn out super runny. What oil did you use? And what mayo?
Would it work with a mixture of Olive oil and grape seed oil?
Hi Shawna! Yep that should work!
My son just found out he is allergic to eggs. He LOVES Olive Garden dressing and will eat tons of salad if he has it. Now that we found out he can’t eat it because of the eggs, I am going to try and make an egg free version. I wonder if I use the food processor and drip the oil in to emulsify, can I just eliminate the mayo or will it change the flavor?
Hi Wendy! The mayo definitely gives the dressing some flavor and creaminess like the real Olive Garden dressing – have you seen my egg free mayo before?
Thanks for posting this recipe… I’m eating salads 2-3 times a day now. I used olive oil and vegan mayo… taste great to me.. no more store brought salad dressing. ❤️ The recipe 😋
So glad you enjoyed it Lawanda!
I could not download the Italian receipe, so am unable to make the Olive Garden dressing
Hi Nancy! You can find the Italian dressing mix recipe in this post :: https://www.raisinggenerationnourished.com/2014/04/diy-salad-dressings-5-recipes-whole-family-will-love/
Can I leave the sugar out of the Italian seasoning mix?
Yes you can Mary!
Can’t wait to try this! Have you also figured out a copycat gluten free breadstick recipe? That would be awesome.
That sure would be awesome! I have not!
We make this dressing at least once a month. We rotate between homemade ranch, caesar, and this. It’s go time!
I’m so glad to hear that Daniel! It’s a keeper!
Do you have something I could substitute the mayo for? We don’t normally have mayo or yogurt in the house.
This is probably a stupid question….but the Italian mix, those are dry herbs in the recipe?
Hi Sue! That is a great question! They are dried 🙂
Oh happy day! You did it! This IS healthy Olive Garden House Dressing! We can make it at home! If you like the dressing a little thicker, add the water 1T at a time. Make it without the water and begin adding the water a little bit at a time. This makes the best homemade salad dressing. Thank you.
So glad you enjoyed it Susan!
Hi, I’m glad I found you. Thank you for this recipe! I just wanted to let you know that there were so many ads, popups and even a video playing that I found the site super annoying. I figured I’d never come back. Which I wanted to tell you so you’d know how people react to the site. Then I switched browsers and that made all the difference in the world. Just letting you know. I realize you have to make a living. And I appreciate your approach to real food. Thanks again.
Appreciate the feedback JJ. I’ll pass this along to Mediavine, who manages the ads!
I love this recipe so much! I use it every week in a quinoa and farro salad. Initially, it’s bright white in color.
After being in the fridge for a couple days though, it turns more yellow and loses a bit of flavor. Any suggestions?
Hi Kelly! I don’t think I’ve experienced that before! It could be the mayo you’re using maybe? I’m not sure! You could season with more of the Italian seasoning mix if you want more flavor.
I am going to try and make your salad dressing.. hope it taste as good as it sounds…I normally just out olive oil on my salad..sometimes I put a scope of mayonnaise… thank you
Enjoy that dressing Carmen!
Love it. Made it with olive oil and did add the parmesan, yum. Thank you for leaving out sugar/ corn syrup ~tastes great without it.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it Tracey! Thanks for sharing!