Italian Salad
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Toss together a restaurant-style Italian Salad at home in just 10 minutes with this easy recipe! Keep it simple and serve it as a side dish, or customize it with all of your favorite toppings to make an epic dinner salad. This traditional Italian salad is served with homemade Italian salad dressing, and topped with juicy tomatoes, crunchy croutons and plenty of parmesan cheese!
Table of contents
Take a trip to Olive Garden without ever leaving your kitchen! This Italian salad will remind you of the restaurant favorite because it has all of the same ingredients, but making it at home means that you can customize it to make it your own!
Love cheese? Pile on the parmesan! Looking for some extra juicy tomatoes on top? Slice them up and toss them in! Want to add more flavor with homemade croutons? I highly recommend it!
This easy green salad is the perfect side dish for pasta night or pizza night at home. You can also add protein from chicken, turkey, salami or chickpeas to make the salad into an entree for an easy meal.
This salad only takes 10 minutes to make, including the time it takes to whip up the homemade Italian salad dressing! It’s so easy and always a hit for lunch, dinner or a side dish at a dinner party!
Ingredients
For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Romaine lettuce – for this salad, you’ll need about 8 cups of chopped romaine lettuce. This will be about 2 large romaine hearts.
- Red onion – if you’re not a fan of onions, you can leave them off of the salad, but they do and an extra crunch and bright flavor that’s quite delicious!
- Tomatoes – I recommend sliced roma tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes for this recipe. They’re firm tomatoes with less pulp and a lower water content than other tomatoes, which means they’ll add a great, juicy flavor and texture to the salad without watering it down.
- Pepperoncinis – you can find these already sliced in a jar at the grocery store on the aisle with the pickles. You’ll want to remove them from the liquid in the jar before adding them to the salad. You can also add whole pepperoncinis to the salad, if you prefer.
- Black olives – I used already sliced olives, drained from a can, to make this recipe.
- Italian dressing – a simple combination of vinegar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, olive oil and seasonings makes a delicious homemade Italian vinaigrette dressing for this salad. Of course, you can also purchase your favorite store-bought Italian dressing. And if you really want a taste of Olive Garden at home, you can actually purchase Olive Garden Italian salad dressing in most major grocery stores.
- Parmesan cheese – I love fresh shaved parmesan cheese on this salad for a big burst of salty flavor on top of the salad. Feel free to use grated parmesan cheese, if you prefer, but fresh-grating it at home will always give you the best flavor.
- Croutons – click the link for my easy recipe for homemade croutons, or pick up your favorite bag of croutons at the grocery store.
- Dried oregano – a sprinkle on top adds the signature pizzeria flavor to finish the salad.
Instructions
- Prepare the homemade Italian dressing. In a small bowl, combine red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while whisking to combine all of the ingredients in the salad dressing.
- In a large bowl, combine chopped lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, pepperoncinis, black olives and Italian dressing.
- Top the salad with parmesan cheese, croutons and dried oregano. Serve immediately.
In just 3 simple steps, you have a delicious Italian salad for dinner or a side dish!
Optional additions
This salad is delicious on it’s own, or with any of these delicious additions. Adding protein, like turkey, chicken or garbanzo beans, can quickly and easily turn this simple salad into a meal.
- Turkey – add 2 cups of diced turkey to the salad. Head to the deli counter and ask for your favorite deli turkey to be thick sliced. Dice it up and add it on top of the salad for a tasty meal.
- Chicken – try out this balsamic grilled chicken recipe, slice it up and add it to this salad. The chicken can be served on the salad hot or cold, making it perfect to meal-prep and add to the salad later.
- Salami – add 4 ounces of sliced salami to the salad for extra protein and flavor.
- Garbanzo beans (or chickpeas) – for a plant-based protein addition, drain and rinse a 15 ounce can of garbanzo beans and toss them with the salad.
- Mozzarella cheese – if you can’t get enough cheese in your life (me either!) add mozzarella cheese to the salad. Add ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese, or small balls of mozzarella cheese, labeled either ciliegine, or pearls of mozzarella.
- Bell peppers or cucumbers – if you want more veggies in the salad, dice up 1 whole red bell pepper, or slice a cucumber and add it to the salad.
- Fresh basil – toss in a ¼ cup of chopped fresh basil to add a bright, peppery flavor to the salad.
Recipe notes
- This recipe will serve 2-4 people as an entree, depending on how much protein (if any) is added to the salad. The salad can also be served as a side dish or appetizer for 4-6 people.
- The salad dressing can be made up to 7 days in advance and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to make the salad. You can mix it up and store it easily by adding all of the ingredients to a mason jar. Place the lid on top, shake it up and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- I only recommend making as much salad as you plan to eat at that time. Once the salad has been tossed with the dressing, it can not be saved and eaten later, as the salad will become soggy.
- To make this recipe gluten free, simply omit the croutons on top of the salad, or use gluten-free croutons.
What to serve it with
This Italian salad recipe is perfect for pairing with any Italian meal. Whether you’re slow cooking a beef ragu, or making spaghetti and meatballs, this salad is both easy and delicious, making it the perfect pairing for any of your favorite Italian recipes!
- Manicotti
- Vegetable Lasagna
- Beef Ragu
- Bolognese Meat Sauce
- Pasta Boscaiola
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta
- Pan Pizza
- Lasagna Soup
- Pasta Fagioli Soup – to make the ultimate Olive Garden soup and salad combo!
- Italian Meatballs
- Caprese Pasta
More salad recipes
Try these other delicious, filling salads, perfect for a healthy meal!
Italian Salad
Ingredients
Italian Dressing
- 1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice, fresh-squeezed
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Italian Salad
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce, approximately 2 romaine hearts
- ½ cup red onion, finely diced
- 2 roma tomatoes, sliced (or 1 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
- ½ cup pepperoncinis, sliced
- ½ cup black olives, sliced
- ½ cup parmesan cheese, thinly shaved or grated
- 1 cup croutons, click link for homemade recipe
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
Italian Dressing
- Whisk the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper in a small mixing bowl.
- Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking the oil in with the other ingredients until combined.
Italian Salad
- Add the chopped romaine lettuce to a large bowl with the red onion, sliced tomatoes, pepperoncinis, black olives, and Italian dressing, toss to combine everything.
- Top the salad with parmesan cheese, croutons, and dried oregano, serve immediately.
Notes
- To add protein to the salad, like turkey, grilled chicken or chickpeas, refer to the blog post above for instructions and recommendations.
- This recipe will serve 2-4 people as an entree, depending on how much protein (if any) is added to the salad. The salad can also be served as a side dish or appetizer for 4-6 people.
- The salad dressing can be made up to 7 days in advance and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to make the salad. You can mix it up and store it easily by adding all of the ingredients to a mason jar. Place the lid on top, shake it up and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- I only recommend making as much salad as you plan to eat at that time. Once the salad has been tossed with the dressing, it can not be saved and eaten later, as the salad will become soggy.
- To make this recipe gluten free, simply omit the croutons on top of the salad, or use gluten-free croutons.
Nutrition Facts
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