Olive Garden is a restaurant that represents American and Italian cuisine; It represents American casual dining at its finest! The restaurant is spread out in many international locations and ranks as one of the best ethnic restaurants.
This article will present the most popular vegan options at Olive Garden!
Olive Garden: A Quick Overview
Olive Garden is a restaurant in America that has more than 900 locations all over the world. Their official slogan is “We are all family here,” and they promote the idea that together is better.
The restaurant has a program that donates food to local non-profit organizations. Olive Garden has donated more than 40 million pounds of food!
They also partnered up with Feeding America with a single goal of helping families that are struggling with hunger.
Their parent company is Darden Restaurants, and Olive Garden is responsible for more than 50% of their revenue.
6 Vegan-Friendly Options At Olive Garden
Besides being one of the most renowned restaurants in America and worldwide, Olive Garden is famous for its delicious vegan-friendly options!
Let’s present the six most popular vegan options at Olive Garden!
Appetizers
In the appetizers and classic entree sections, we must honor the infamous vegan breadsticks and vegan soups and salads.
Breadsticks
Olive Garden’s breadsticks are made with garlic topping that doesn’t contain any butter or animal ingredients. The breadsticks are soy-based and vegan-friendly. They are always fresh, and you can choose to eat a breadsticks combo with parmesan cheese breading or garlic topping! Once you try them with vegan marinara dipping sauce or tomato sauce, your belly will be grateful!
Fun fact: Olive Garden restaurants bake more than 700 million breadsticks yearly!
Soup
Another combination that works well with Olive Garden’s breadsticks other than marinara or tomato sauce is the Minestrone Soup.
The Olive Garden’s Minestrone soup is the only vegan soup on the menu. It is delicious and has a lot of fresh vegetables, pasta, and beans, all of which are put together with a tasty tomato broth.
Salad
A few years ago, Olive Garden re-invented its cold signature salad and presented a vegan-friendly version. They removed the croutons and replaced the classic Italian dressing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
For People Who Love Pasta
Olive Garden loves to please people who love pasta!
Olive Garden has the most exciting offers when it comes to pasta. They introduced the “Never Ending Pasta Pass” pass, which allows you to eat as much in two months for $100. The key applies only to pasta dishes, of course. The “Never Ending Pasta Pass” is very popular among people; since they offer it only once a year, it sells out immediately.
Keep reading about the vegan-friendly options at Olive Garden, and think about buying that extra pasta pass!
Spaghetti With Marinara Sauce
Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce is the only pasta meal that is vegan at Olive Garden. This tasty pasta goes very well with the vegan salad and the delicious breadsticks!
Create Your Own Pasta
If you want to try something more interesting than spaghetti with marinara sauce, then Olive Garden offers you the option to create your pasta!
They have eight different types of pasta (all of which are vegan, of course) from which you can choose. After deciding whether you prefer gluten-free rotini or angel hair, you can determine if you would like marinara or tomato sauce with your pasta.
Also, you can add some creamy mushroom sauce to go with the Olive Garden breadsticks. Finally, you can add garden veggies to complete your custom-made pasta dish.
Here are the eight vegan pasta choices from which you get to create your vegan pasta:
- Fettucine;
- Rigatoni/Rotini;
- Spaghetti;
- Zoodles;
- Angel Hair;
- Small Shells;
- Whole Grain Linguine;
- Cavatappi;
Side Dish
Side dishes give variety to our meals, and while there are many options on the Olive Garden’s menu, only one of them is vegan – Steamed Broccoli.
Steamed Broccoli
Steamed Broccoli is the only vegan-friendly option in the side dishes section of the Olive Garden’s menu. They do not have any parmesan or garlic seasoning. While Broccoli is not the most exciting dish for most people, they add an exciting flavor to the meal. Besides, they are very nutritious and healthy!
How To Order Vegan At Olive Garden?
Every vegan must check and double-check that all meal ingredients are plant-based. Therefore, learning to emphasize and give an explicit order is essential when you find yourself in an Olive Garden restaurant.
First, you should visit the restaurant’s website before making any orders. Look at the vegan options at Olive Garden’s restaurants – there can be a new thing on the menu daily! Then, download the Nutrition guide for vegans to find out about vegan food offered in all Olive Garden locations.
The good thing is that their guides and PDFs are updated consistently, so you don’t need to worry that the data is truthful.
When ordering online, specify loud and clear if you like substitutions for any ingredient.
Conclusion
Olive Garden is a world-class restaurant that offers a few delicious vegan-friendly options on its menu. Everything from the breadsticks to the Minestrone soup to creating your version of vegan pasta is worth trying.
Sadly, there isn’t a vegan-friendly dessert option on the Olive Garden menu. However, Olive Garden’s restaurants make one sweet vegetarian-friendly option: the raspberry sauce. But keep checking Olive Garden’s menu frequently because they might be at it soon!
FAQs
Do Olive Garden’s Breadsticks Have Dairy?
No, the breadsticks do not contain any dairy ingredients; Olive Garden uses margarine instead of butter, so the breadsticks are dairy-free.
Are Olive Garden’s Breadsticks Vegan?
Yes, the breadsticks at Olive Garden are 100% vegan.
Is Olive Garden’s Salad Vegan?
Yes, their house salad can be transformed into a vegan-friendly option. The salad has tomatoes, red onion, olives, pepperoncini, and lettuce. However, you need to order the salad without croutons and ask for oil and balsamic vinegar instead of the traditional Italian dressing.
Is The Dressing Vegan At Olive Garden?
No, the dressing is not vegan-friendly. While almost all of their pasta options are vegan and gluten-free, the sauce that goes with salads is not vegan. However, it can be replaced with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Does Olive Garden Have Vegan Soup?
Yes, the Minestrone is the only vegan soup on the menu. Combined with the delicious breadsticks and the vinegar dressing, it creates the perfect vegan meal!
Through Addicted To Veggies, I want to share with you my favorite raw recipes. From brownie recipes, to recipes containing pumpkin, my site is full of delicious and wonderful options to consider.
- Can You Eat Sunflower Seeds And Pumpkin Seeds Together? - December 19, 2022
- Vegan Traeger Recipes for Beginners - November 22, 2022
- Is Caviar Vegetarian? - November 3, 2022
