Copycat of Olive Garden Italian Salad Dressing

“Okay, so I went into making this recipe with a very pessimistic view. I’ve heard non-stop negative reviews for attempts to make the Olive Garden dressing. First, I purchased the original bottle at Olive Garden. Wayyy too expensive, there’s hardly any dressing, and you’re paying for a heavy glass bottle! I was running low, so I wanted to try a few recipes. Thank god I tried this one first… I followed it to par, using light corn syrup and everything else as listed. I let it chill for 3 hours while I ran errands, came back, and sampled each dressing on a plate. Yes, it was very tart, and I’d have to agree, it wasn’t quite Olive Garden’s dressing. It needed more garlic powder in addition to the fresh garlic. I added probably about 1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and voila! PERFECT, if not BETTER… The bottled one tastes more bland, and that’s probably because of preservatives. This recipe is brighter in taste than the bottled Olive Garden one. Definitely my favorite now…And seriously, side by side, they look almost identical. This recipe turned out a little more yellow than the bottled Olive Garden one, and a little more rustic and chunky than the bottled one, but over all wayyyy better than Olive Garden’s own!!! Totally a keeper. Just add more garlic powder at the end. 🙂 Yay! THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting it!!!!!!

“We LOVED this.My only recommendation is to let it chill longer than an hour.A day, if possible.We ate it after 2-3 hours of chilling, and it was semi-bland with an after taste of the olive garden dressing.However, the next day, the flavors had married together and the dressing was PERFECT.Absolutely great!!”

“We loved this dressing. Left ouf the pectin and not sure how it would have changed flavor more but this was delicious. Thank you”

“Very good. However, the first time I made it, thewhite wine vinegar was overpowering and gave a strong vinegar taste andit was much too tart.I made it a second time, used seasoned rice vinegar and it was surpurb!”

“While we didn’t feel it was an exact duplicate of Olive Garden it does make an acceptable substitute an is closer in texture than anything else I’ve tried.It is pleasantly tart, slightly sweet, and creamy.It held well several days.Thank you for sharing the recipe!”

“I made this for a family gathering at Christmas time and everyone loved it. It does taste better after sitting in the fridge overnight, but I don’t think it was bad before that either. The only modifications I made was to add more cheese, and thats just because we all love cheese. Thank you for the recipe! It is definately one that I will continue to use, especially since my husband has already requested that I make it again!”

“Great dressing! The closest Olive Garden is 2 hours away so I can’t just run out and pick some up

“There are enough good reviews that I must have done something wrong. Runny, wet and flavorless. The pectin didnt seem to help with the consistency at all. I threw out one batch and made another. I left in in the fridge overnight thinking that maybe the problem was that it needed to sit for a while. I served this the next day on a green salad and the family hated it. It was like cloudy water with a little seasoning in it. This was the worst result I have ever had.”

“you can buy the dressing from Olive Garden for 4.50”

“Great Italian dressing-just a bit acidic, but it is Italian, not supposed to be sugary sweet. Prepared exactly as recipe was written. For those who didn’t like it-I’m guessing that they didn’t allow enough time for the flavors to meld together, I tried some directly afterwards-UGH-tasted like vinegar. This recipe is a keeper for sure. I can’t say that this tastes like Olive Garden, since we don’t have that in our neck of the woods, but was an excellent dressing.”

“I have to say this is the closest you will ever get to the Olive Garden Italian Dressing.For the people that didnt like it, well thats what you get for substuting stuff.Yes it will be a little tangy if you put too much in one bowl for one serving, I recomend putting in a big bowl and tossing the salad with the dressing over it.This is by far the closest thing you will get to their dressing.A+++++”

“Awesome!!! I loved this dressing! So much that after I made the first batch… I doubled it and made more. Doubling the recipe made exactly 1000mL. I did wonder Kroger for some time looking for Pectin. Asking if anyone knew where it was. I’ve never used it before. Finally someone knew what I was talking about, and told me it was boxed and labeled Sure-Gell and then I was pointed in the area of the gars and containers. I hope no one else has as much trouble finding pectin now… Sure-Gel worked out great. Thanks Princess for the recipe :)”

“A very very close copycat of this delicious dressing.I have been using this recipe for years now, but with just a slight difference in technique of putting it together.I add the vinegar, lemon juice, egg and blend that in my mini processor for 10 seconds. I let that rest for 10 minutes before adding the remaining ingredients and blending for 30 seconds on low.I chill for at least 1 hr before using to make sure all the flavors are blended.It is a little thin if you don’t use the eggs or pectin, but still so yummy.Some people say when you add the eggs with the vinegar and lemon juice, it will kill any Salmonella that may be present.Or you could just use a pasteurized egg product.I think this is a closer recipe than others that contain mayonnaise…Thanks for sharing!”

“Made this for my daughters Pasta dinner for the Field Hockey team.This has now become the favorite salad for the team.Followed the recipe exactly and it came out great.Thanks this is a keeper”

“It’s wonderful. I use Klamatta olives, cause they’re the best. I don’t care for romano so use parmesan. Yum, yum!”

“Excellent.A little on the tart side, but we like it like that.I used extra virgin olive oil instead of the vegetable oil and rice wine vinegar (what I had on hand) and it was perfect.Served this on recipe #273158.Thanks so much for sharing.”

“I don’t think it tastes exactly like Olive Garden’s, but this is good.I didn’t add any egg.”

“I just wanted to pass along–You can buy bottled dressing from Olive Garden for 4.95 and get the real thing.Sometimes it is just easier.This dressing is close – a little tangy, but not the real thing.Still a very good italian dressing recipe.”

“This is a great recipe.Very close to OG.I did as others suggested and added a teaspoon of sugar or equal.It made the flavor better.Everyone loves it in my house and I make it at least once a week.Thanks for another addition to my cookbook. Oh, I almost forgot….I add extra romano cheese. I have made it with parm cheese, but the flavor wasn’t as good.You have to use the romano, Delicious!”