FOOD NEWS
Are Olive Garden's Soups Really Made From Scratch?
By Ariana DiValentino
By most accounts, the majority of items on Olive Garden's menu are made in-house, from scratch, on a daily basis — including its signature soups.
On its menus, Olive Garden describes the soups as "homemade" and claims that its many soups and sauces are made "the Italian way" — by hand, in-house, daily.
The brand has posted videos of the inner workings of an OG kitchen, where viewers can clearly see chefs cooking with fresh ingredients.
Additionally, alleged Olive Garden employees have shared detailed descriptions online of how things work in the kitchens and how the soups, in particular, are made.
A self-identified server on Quora said, "a large vat of each flavor is started very early in the morning, then vacuum sealed in large bags and kept in a warmer until needed."
One Redditor, a supposed former Olive Garden general manager, affirmed this theory, saying some ingredients may arrive frozen or pre-chopped, but the actual cooking happens onsite.