The Olive Garden Salad Staple You Can Buy At The Grocery Store

If you've ever tried to recreate Olive Garden's impressive pastas, breadsticks, or salads at home you know that it isn't as easy as it sounds. While you can easily make your own ingredients, and assemble everything the same way, it doesn't mean that all of the flavors will match up perfectly. Thankfully, Olive Garden has a few special ingredients that it's willing to share so you can get a little bit closer.

Sure, who needs to make Olive Garden salads at home when they're all you can eat at the restaurant, but you can't sit down at a restaurant any time you'd like. If you're making your own salad at home you can still mimic the brand's famous salads using its signature croutons. Yes, that's right, the Olive Garden Signature Recipe Seasoned Croutons with garlic romano cheese flavoring are actually widely available.

While you can make your own parmesan croutons at home, these are a great alternative for when you're in a rush and trying to whip up a flavorful salad in a jiffy. These are the very same croutons that adorn the chain's popular salads. If you never knew before, they're mostly flavored with garlic powder, parsley, and dehydrated romano cheese. They're just the thing to top any salad at home whether you're trying to mimic Olive Garden salad or not. You can find them online at Walmart, Target, or Amazon, among other stores. Plus, they aren't the only Olive Garden staple you can easily find in a store.

Anyone who's ever been to an Olive Garden knows that it's not just the blend of crisp lettuce, vegetables, and croutons that make its salads so great. The main key is their signature Italian dressing, and thankfully you can buy that, too. You can find their Italian, light Italian, and Ranch dressings on Olive Garden's online store, or at other common grocery store chains, as well.

Like most things at Olive Garden, this Italian dressing isn't exactly an authentic recipe from the motherland (Italian dressing is American after all). That doesn't stop it from being the perfect coating for any salad.

Olive Garden's Italian dressing uses a base of soybean oil and distilled vinegar that's once again been flavored with garlic and romano cheese, among other seasonings. This vinaigrette-style dressing has been charming customers for 30 years and works just as well as a dip or marinade. And now you've got two of Olive Garden's main salad components right at home. 

We all know that unlimited salad at home can only live up to Olive Garden if it comes with unlimited breadsticks to go with it. Thankfully, as shown on YouTube by Joshua Weissman, it's not hard to make your own at home. Best of all, because they'll be freshly made with love, they'll probably taste better too.

All you have to do is make a fairly simple yeasted dough, shape it into the general cylindrical breadstick shapes, bake them, and coat them with garlic butter and some salt. While we know this might be daunting for amateur bakers, it should be well worth it for anyone who loves Olive Garden breadsticks.

Taste of Home even claims that these breadsticks can come together in as little as an hour if you follow their methodology. Pair these with the croutons, dressing, and a parmesan-drenched salad, and you might think that you're at an Olive Garden. Who knew having a taste of the Garden at home could be so easy?