I’ve made quite a few “copycat” recipes, most of those not quite up to snuff. The same went for a recent Olive Garden Dressing I made. I should have known when it began with a bottled dressing, but I gave it a try. Finally, I combined a recipe I found with a cruet of Italian Dressing that I prepared from 2 envelopes of Good Seasonings, and I had my dressing!
FOR YOU EXPERIENCED COOKS, HERE’S THE QUICK VERSION:
MAKE 2 ENVELOPES OF GOOD SEASONS ITALIAN DRESSING. MAKE THIS RECIPE AND MIX THE GOOD SEASONS ITALIAN DRESSING YOU HAVE PREPARED WITH IT.
Still don’t get it? Just go below, I’ve combine all the ingredients you will need in one place:
Italian Dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian spices
- 1 teaspoon salt
- black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 9 tablespoons water (that’s 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon)
- 2 envelopes Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix (each envelope is .7 oz)
- Combine all ingredients in a blender on high until combined, about 30 seconds.
- Pour into small bowl and cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Stir before serving.
- Yes,yes, it makes a ton of dressing. Put it in the fridge, you’ll drink it later.
barenakedchefsaidso.com 
I’m confused about step four.Can you explain please. I am supposed to add salad dressing to the salad dressing?
Wouldn’t it have been easier to say make up 2 packages of Good Seasons Italian dressing and add the other ingredients? Or am I still confused??
that is what i think it is suppose to say, and it probably would have been easier….??
No its saying the Italian
dressing mix. Look in the dressing isle of your groceries store and you will see small packets of Italian dressing seasons.
What is so difficult to understand folks??? She clearly states “2 envelopes of Italian dressing….”, get it? Envelopes! NOT bottles!
Ok, I’m not following step 4. Buy 2 bottles of hidden valley italian dressing (do they make something other than ranch?) and add them to all the other ingredients you listed? What size bottles? Sorry if it’s obvious and I’m not getting it.
Here is what she is saying: The Italian dressing listed in the recipie comes in a packet. It is just the dried herbs. SHe wants you to prepare that dressing ilke it says on the box. Then add it to the other ingredients. Does that make sense? Let me know.
It is 2 envelopes…dry seasoning mix..not the bottled dressings…Hope that helps!
I am not sure I your directions..Do you add an envelope of dry dressing or a bottle of Italian dressing ? Thanks
Do you mean just add two powdered packets to this mix, or make the whole powdered recipe and then add that to this recipe. Did that even make sense? Thanks
Hi Sarah! I mean go ahead and make the 2 packets of Italian dressing following the directions given on the package. Thanks for your comment, sorry that wasn’t clear.
So make the 2 packets up AND THEN add to your recipe?
That is exactly right!
Wow Ill have to give this a try! I love their dressing.
Does Hidden Valley make an italian dressing, or did you mean Good Seasons?
Yes, Good Seasons is the brand, I believe. Any in an envelope will work.
What brand of olive oil do you use? I know the taste varies brand to brand…
Michelle, I don’t use any specific brand of Olive Oil. Whatever I have on hand, and it is usually the cheap stuff 🙂
o.m.g. your recipe rocks….thanks soooo much! Now I don’t have to go to OG just for the salad!!!
We liked this so much over at Copycat Crafts that we have decided to feature it today! You can view it here
http://www.copycatcrafts.com/make-your-own-olive-garden-dressing/
We’d love it if you’d like to display a featured button! You can grab your button on the right hand side of your post. Thanks!
I just made this over the weekend for my son and his homecoming date and friends….and it was AMAZING!!!! We have found our new favorite salad dressing recipe!! Thank you for sharing!!
I just made this over the weekend for my son and his homecoming date and friends…and it was AMAZING!! We have found our new favorite salad dressing recipe! Thank you for sharing!
I am so glad this dressing worked for you! I know it makes a ton, but we just gobbled it right up. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Can you tell me what kind of vinegar you use when you make the good seasons packet? It just says “vinegar”……..white wine vinegar, distilled white, apple cider? anything?
Hi Michelle, I just used white vinegar. I will change the recipe to reflect that. Thank you for pointing this shortcoming out!
When preparing the good seasons packet, do you use olive oil? What type of oil for that?
Nellie, I just used regular vegetable oil, nothing fancy. The packet gives you variations, but I liked it with Veg Oil.
What do you mean when you are saying 2 envelopes of Good Seasonings Italian dressing????
They are in the dressing section of my grocery store: http://www.kraftbrands.com/goodseasons/
Thanks so much. I made it before sending the message with olive oil, and I thought it was still good, just a little overpowering….Next time I will definately make it your way! Thanks again! Declicious!
I live in England, and Im pregnant and have been craving olive garden for some time… unfortunately I cant find packets of italian dressing (as its not as popular here), and the closest I can get is Newmans Own Italian dressing in a bottle… Is there anything I can subsitute to make it close? Everything else I can get except the prepared packets. Any suggestions would be great, as im desperate at the moment. Sad I know. lol
Samantha,
Are you military overseas? I live in Japan and could MPS the italian dressing packets to you if you want.
I’m going to try this recipe this coming week with some copy-cat gnocchi soup–but I’m going to divide it in half (which doesn’t look difficult at all) and instead of using the packaged italian dressing mix, I’m going to try it with some I’ve made myself. 🙂 Hope it’s close to the same thing–I don’t have Olive Garden near me anymore and I miss their salads!
Samantha,
I would be happy to mail you some of the packets. I understand pregnancy cravings.
I worked at Olive Garden and the dressing was Wish Bone Italian dressing that we added parm cheese too. Seriously.
Yep! I worked there too, and it’s true. Took it and poured it in to a huge mixer to stir it all up and just served it. Wish Bone all the way.
You are the second person who said this, so I gave it a try but it didn’t taste like it to me 😦
was it the house Italian or regular Italian?
Hi Kellie…I was unaware that there were 2 types. I will say it was the regular Italian 🙂
When I worked at The Olive Garden it was owned by General Mills foods. We made and bottled the dressing every day for the restaurant and for sale. This was almost 10 years ago, but the recipe was VERY simple. If I remember right it was
1 Gallon of Kraft Italian Dressing
1 pound finely shredded Parmesan
1 pound finely shredded romano
6 raw eggs
Thank you so much for the recipe! It was great! I for some odd reason had no Italian seasoning so I threw in some basil, oragano, and thyme in there in it’s place and it was delish! I pared the salad with some fast Amy’s Harty Veggie soup and we felt like we were at The OG!
Hi! we love olive garden! Im sooo trying this.. but what do u mean when u say..dried italian spices??? Where and how so i buy them?
Camila, The dried Italian Spices are just a blend of dried herbs, mixed together in one jar. Basil, tarragon, oregano, etc. I find mine in the spice aisle of the grocery store.
This recipe was spot on! I sent a jar to my grandma who loves Olive Garden and she was thrilled! I only left out the mayo because I can’t stomach the stuff 🙂
How much black pepper??
Just to your taste…I used 1 teaspoon!
You know, we sell our dressing at Olive Garden for $4.65. Skip the hassle and just have the original. You can even bring home some Tiramisu!
Olive Garden – When You’re Here, You’re Family!
If I *had* an Olive Garden nearby, I’d totally do that. But, since I don’t… I’m desperate!
Yeah we would have to add 75 dollars to that price for gas to the nearest Olive Garden!
Most of the ladies here are home makers. We make what’s in our homes. 4.65 is a lot to spend on dressing, not to mention going into a restaurant just to buy their dressing. Thank you guys for posting this delish copycat recipe! We love it.
I made this tonight to use tomorrow for lunch. Haven’t tasted it yet but the color came out more white than yellow. Is this normal?
Megan, absolutely! Mine was whiteish, too. I snagged that Olive Garden photo you see for posterity only.
to eliminate confusion how this for a rewrite of the recipe?:
2 envelopes Good Seasons Italian dressing
1 1/2 c. olive oil
3/4 c. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper (or more or less to taste)
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2c. plus 1 tbsp. water
Combine all ingredients in blender; process till smooth.
There you go. BTW, LOVE the dressing. Thanks!
*2 envelopes (small or big? please clarify.) PREPARED Good Seasons Italian dressing mix*
Thanks, Judy, for doing the math for everyone!
I made it tonight. Absolutely delicious!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Natalie!
I made it and blogged about it here -http://jamesandleighann.blogspot.com/2012/01/copycat-olive-garden-dressing.html I gave you a shout out!
btw War Eagle! Sorry had to do that!
War Eagle!
Hey! This is a Roll Tide blog! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Made this according to Judy’s post….very good dressing, but still not quite Olive garden dressing. I may tweak the seasonings, and the mayo next time around. Keep at it, If I could make something like Olive garden…I’d be set…
I love the dressing. Even my four year olds were amazed. They said it is delicious!!! Lol. Salad was gobbled right up :)) for no olive garden on island this is perfect!
Really close, but its lacking a little something, I think it may be cheese.
From what a few are saying, the real recipe does have cheese, so you may be on to something!
I’m not sure what Olive Garden you’ve been to, but this tastes nothing like their dressing.
Sorry you didn’t find it so, it tastes very similar to my Olive Garden’s Dressing. Two people have commented that their Olive Garden uses 2 ingredients only: Wishbone Italian Dressing and parmesan cheese. I tried it and it did NOT taste like our OG dressing. So, perhaps there is a difference in recipes that varies by restaurant?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great dressing and everyone here loved it! It was just different from our OG’s dressing. We’ll have to try the Wishbone and cheese.
Olive Garden doesn’t make their dressing in the restaurant and it is most definitely not wishbone dressing and cheese. It does have cheese in it, and I would guess that it is grated romano since that is what they grate on food and use mostly. I work at an OG and I can’t imagine any store that would be different. We are the largest in the country and all of our dressing comes in pre-made. It comes in bags for the actual salads, and we have bottles and togo dressings as well.
What type of vinegar do you mix the packets of dressing with?
I used white vinegar. I will change the recipe to reflect this, thanks for your comment!
Thank you! Regular white distilled or white wine?
Just the plain old white distilled vinegar.
Okay, thank you so much!
Looks goid
I have worked at olive garden for two years now and at two separate ones and wishbone italian dressing is most definitely not used on the salads. Unless there is a shortage until the truck brings more. But it comes packaged in big bags of dressing other than the retail bottles.
I *knew* that couldn’t be right. I actually tried it and was very disappointed.
wether is tastes just like olive garden or not (I cannot remember, it has been so long since I have been to one)….it is FANTASTIC!!!! made it this morning for dinner tonight and dipped my finger in there to test it. cannot wait to have it tonight with our italian dinner. I think this might become a staple in our fridge 🙂
From topsecretrecipes.com
Olive Garden Salad Dressing
1/2 cup of white vinegar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup veg. oil
1/4 cup of corn syrup
2 1/2 Tbs grated romano cheese
2 Tbs pectin ( makes dressing thicker)
2 Tbs of beaten egg
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Combine with mixer med speed or blender low speed 30 sec. Chill at least 1 hr.
Salad- iceberg and romaine lettace, shredded carrots, purple cabbage, black olives, roma. tomato, peperoncinis, thin sliced red onions, croutons and parm. cheese.
The “topsecret” recipe could not be correct. It has raw egg in it and a restaurant would not be allowed to serve it without cooking.
That is a very good point. Also, 2 people in the comments section swore it was only Wishbone Italian with Parmesan Cheese, but that wasn’t right at all either.
It *could* be that they used “raw” pasteurized eggs, however. They can serve that. You could substitute egg beaters from the grocery store.
Caesar dressing has raw egg in it when served at most restaurants so it could be true
The vinegar “cooks” the egg.
Oh man this is an AMAZING recipe!!! LOVE IT. SUPER SUPER SUPER close to the Olive Garden recipe! I will never buy dressing again from the store. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I think this recipe is delicious and definitely tastes like OG! I tried the wishbone and cheese also and it did not taste like OG.
Italian dressing
We love this dressing! Not used anything else since I found.
How long is this good for in the fridge?
If I had to guess, I’d give it a week (purely a guess). But if I were a betting lady, my bet is that it won’t LAST that long because you’ll gobble it all up long before.
To stop the chance that making so much would go bad…could you half this recipe with good results?
That is a good question, but I don’t know the answer. I don’t know why you couldn’t 1/2 it. Please let us know if you do and have success!
All I have on hand is white distilled vinegar. Can i use that instead of the white wine vinegar? Not sure if it would make a big difference??
-Thanks in advance-
Hi Tawny! That substitution would be perfectly fine, I did it myself with delicious results. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you!!
Did you use 2 small or 2 large packets of the Italian dressing mix? My store has both, so I wasn’t sure. Also I found a copy cat recipe for the OG salad and OG breadsticks, which you might think of adding to this post. If so, do a search on Pinterest, that’s where I found them. Thanks for the dressing post!
Alisa, I’ve only seen one size of envelope so I’m guessing it is one of your small packets. Thank you for your comment!
OMG what is wrong with you people. Nowhere in the recipe does she say Hidden Valley bottled dressing. Has common sense completely been lost. The directions couldn’t of been more straight forward.
Tried this tonight….It is very good!! Very close to Olive Garden Dressing. I didnt measure the mayo and might use a tad less when i make the next batch…and I will make another batch. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I am so glad you liked this recipe, Carrie! My family is nuts over it, especially when I make it and add a little feta cheese to the salad. That’s not like Olive Garden’s but we love it!
Found this recipe through pinterest and made it this past weekend for dinner with friends and everyone LOVED it – tasted just like Olive Garden! Thanks for the great recipe!
I am so thrilled your family enjoyed it! Pinterest has made this recipe go nuts!!
Amen!!!! LOL!!! I am making it all the time we just love it. I gave some to my neighbor and she wanted the recipe!!!! it may not be exact but it is close enough for me.
Very good dressing and I had no problems following the recipe and or instructions. Thank you so much for sharing. It is our go to dressing even on pasta salad. Love it and laughed a lot at most of the comments.
I just made the dressing, but too much salt. 1 teaspoon of salt is too much. I had to add more oil and pepper to the recipe.
Just made this today for a group Bible study and I know they will be happy! It looks, smell and taste delicious!!! I know some are saying to just pick up a bottle at Olive Garden but for the price of one bottle I can make 2 and give one as a gift. Anyone would love this. Thanks for sharing.
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Candice!
Love this dressing:-) Just made it today & I halfed the recipe, very easy and definitely worth the time. Next time I make it I will just mix all ingredients together at one time though! Thanks for sharing!
I agree, mixing all ingredients together at once! I was getting a load of comments that had people confused, so I thought this might make it as simple as possible?
very oily, kind disappointed! It goes way too much oil and I think it didnt taste anything like OG
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
It’s been awhile since I have had Olive Garden dressing so I can’t remember EXACTLY how it tastes but this recipe sure is good!! It has to be awfully close in taste anyway. Thanks for the great recipe!
Just made this for the first time. Had to use Red Wine Vinegar instead of White Wine Vinegar and also used some Agave Nectar instead of sugar and still WOW. With the lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and some Parmesan cheese I was blown away! Great job! Thanks for the recipe!
I am so thrilled you enjoyed it!
Where did you purchase the bottle and Olive Garden Logo?
Did you purchase a bottle dressing from them and then concocked your own recipe?
Leslie, that is simply a picture I found on the internet, NOT what I made. The actual dressing is lighter in color. Next time I make it again, I will remember to take a picture and post it here so you can see what it actually looks like.
Thank you, Suzanne. I made this for my Olive Garden salad-loving husband and he was impressed! I halved the recipe and dumped everything in the blender as I went along. Tastes fantastic! It’s a keeper!
I’m so glad you liked it, Jamie! I’m going to re-write that recipe again to make it easier…”dump it all in the blender and whiz!”
I recently tried this recipe and was very pleased with the results. It is pretty darn close to Olive Garden, enough to satisfy my craving for it anyways. From some previous guesses at what OG really does I would guess the mayo takes the place of eggs, which is fine with me as this was super simple to make.
Hi Melissa, it didn’t occur to me about the mayo taking the place of the eggs, but you could be right! Thanks for reporting!
I have a question can you substitue the white wine for something else?
Aysha, It actually calls for White Wine Vinegar, not white wine. And yes, you can substitute regular white vinegar for it.
OMG…you weren’t kidding when you said you’ll drink it!! lol I LOVE this stuff! I can’t stop eating salad. Only ate at Olive Garden once and loved the salad and to me this tastes just like it.
Linda, I’m so glad you like it! Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
I’ll probably try the recipe. The most fun out of ur post tho was just realizing just how friggin stupid people can be. Your directions were perfectly clear.
I hope you will try it out and let me know what you think. To be fair, I retyped the whole recipe yesterday in hopes of making it clearer 🙂
Amen and Amen!!! LOL!!!!!
I’ve worked at Olive Garden, and actually made/bottled the dressing. The ingredients are “somewhat” close, but NO CIGAR !!! ….Ever heard of Green Goddess dressing? …”that” and a number of other things need to be added. Good Season’s Italian Dressing Mix IS NOT part of it!
Oh, any further hints you want to give us, Guy??? Some others who worked at Olive Garden told us it was Wishbone dressing and Romano cheese. That really didn’t taste like it to me.
Sounds yummy and easy!
This was not confusing at all. So easy to make.
I worked at Olive Garden and this tastes spot on.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks, Nicole!
Crap! You changed the recipe on us! lol I have made this recipe a few times before. So I knew to pre-make my italian dressing packs. After I did I started to add all the ingredients you had listed. Didn’t realize until the very end that your new version doesn’t say to make the packet ahead. 😦 I just wasted tons of oil.
No, nothing about the ingredients changed! I just got my packets out and put all the ingredients in one place. I don’t know what the heck to do, if I keep it the old way, people complain that it is too hard to follow, if I keep it this way, people get confused. HELP!!!
Susan just breath. its ok!! It a wonderful dressing. And there just cant be any more questions to ask. Heaven forbid just get the oil and vinegar out girls and mix it up!!! Oh yes and water and it can come from a bottle or just turn on the faucet!!
Lol I know no the ingredients didn’t change. I just started to make my seasoning packets… and THEN started to add the ingredients you had listed. It is a great recipe… I was just use to the way you had it written before! lol
Would have loved to try your recipe, but the background made your blog really hard to read and was kind of “dizzying” to look at. Just some constructive criticism.
Oh no! I just splurged $50 for that new look 😦 I’m so sorry it made it hard for you to read. Should have kept the free layout, lesson learned.
I don’t know what Allison is talking about, I have no trouble reading your blog. You know, you can’t please everyone all the time! So, don’t worry about it, more people like the recipe than not. Yay, you!
Found this on pinterest. Just made it and it is yummy. Now I need the garlic bread-sticks to go with it. LOL. Thanks for the recipe.
Cheryl, so glad you liked it! Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, too.
This is fabulous!!! Thanks so much for posting. I too found this on Pinterest. I have made it twice now. I did make a few small changes though. I used all Olive oil and no vegetable oil, fat free mayo, and Stevia in place of sugar. I will never buy Italian dressing again…awesome!!! Thanks again! Kim : )
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, and good job on making it your own 🙂
Hi Suzanne, I’m popping over from Pinterest & I wanted to thank you for sharing this recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
Warmly, MIchelle
Hi Michelle! Thanks for popping over, I hope you enjoy the dressing. I’m going to pop over to your blog now and see what you’ve got cookin’! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Made this tonight!! It was awesome! 🙂 I added a little parm. cheese and it tasted so close to the original!! 🙂 Hubby said it was a hit too!
So glad you and your hubby liked it! I’m adding parm next time, too.
Hi Suzanne, Just made this dressing, added some parm cheese and some of the juice from a jar of those peppers they put in their salad. Oh YUM! Thanks for posting the recipe!
I just tried your recipe. I have an open bottle of OG’s dressing, so I used the ingredients you suggested and referenced the bottle. It listed lemon juice & parm cheese, which I added. I made 2 batches, first with the olive oil, but I thought it was a bit much, so the second batch I just used vegetable oil, & I am very happy with it. You’re onto a good thing. since buying the dressing at the restaurant is about $6.00/bottle. Thanks so much! (The lemon juice gave it a noticeable brightness.
Hi! How much lemon juice & parmasan did you add? Could you please be specific as I am not a very good chef. Please can you also state if your quantities are based on the full recipe or half of it…as I have seen a few people have halved the recipe. Thank you so much in advance!
Don’t forget some cheese that is what make OG dressing 🙂
l love this recipe, its quick and easy to make. Just add some grated cheese.
Hi there! I’m really looking forward to trying this recipe! Just a quick question…a few people have mentioned whether to use olive oil or vegetable oil. You said you tried olive oil & it was a bit too much so then you tried the vegetable oil & it was much better. I have read a few people say something similar. In your recipe you call for olive oil & vegetable oil – should I be using both, just as the recipe says? This may seem so obvious to some people, but I’m a little bit unsure. I’d really appreciate it if you could please confirm this. Thank you in advance!
Hi Aimee,
I make my recipe *exactly* as written here. Comes out great. I use it on a salad of iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, croutons and top it all with grated romano cheese. Yum!
I made this recipe today. Even though I had to substitute for the white wine vinegar (I used 1/2 cup red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup lemon juice with just a dash of lime juice) it still turned out great. Thank you so much. It’s delicious!
Made this tonight and LOVED IT! Delicious I’ll probably be drinking it instead of dressing with it. Great recipe 🙂
NO MAYO!
Do you know how many tbsps you get from the recipe? I’m trying to calculate the calories. Thanks!
No, not certain. I will measure for accuracy next time I make it.
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet
I never found any interesting article like yours.
It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.
How many cups does this make?
I’d guess nearly 4 cups. It’s a ton, for real.
There is anchovy paste in Olive Garden’s dressing and without it you won’t get the right flavor.
Use 1/2-1tsp. paste and whisk in with the other ingredients. If you hadn’t put it in, you wouldn’t know it was in there but the taste would be just like the Olive Garden’s dressing you are trying to make.
Oh, excellent tip, thanks!
Tried this with Cobb Salad for supper tonight and it was excellent. Thank you!
I am so glad you liked it!