One of the best bottled salad dressings on the market is Olive Garden’s Signature Italian Salad Dressing. It’s hands-down the best way to get the endless salad experience right in your own kitchen. However, it costs, at a minimum, $4 a pop (I’ve even seen it cost as much as $6 or $7). I love this dressing, but not for that price.
Fortunately, Aldi has a perfect dupe: Tuscan Garden Restaurant Style Italian Salad Dressing. At my local Aldi, it’s $2.15 for a 16-ounce a bottle, which means it costs less than half or even a third of the name-brand version.
This tasty salad dressing took me back to the first Olive Garden I ever went to, giving me visceral memories of warm breadsticks that left my fingers greasy (in the best way!) and endless refreshing salads. It has the same thick texture as the original, as well as the delicious garlicky, Italian herb flavor. Close your eyes, hide the label, and it’s basically the same dressing.
Tuscan Garden Restaurant Style Italian Salad Dressing
- Price: $2.15 for a 16-ounce bottle
- Why I Love It: For a fraction of the price of Olive Garden’s Italian dressing, you can enjoy delicious salads at home. This versatile dressing is great as a marinade and dip, too.
Endless Ways I Like To Use This Aldi Italian Dressing
You could mimic the Olive Garden salad with black olives, iceberg lettuce, peperoncini peppers, shredded cabbage and carrots, tomatoes, and lots of Parmesan cheese and croutons. This is always a good idea.
I prefer to make a stepped-up version using romaine instead of iceberg lettuce, pitted kalamatas instead of black olives, and red bell peppers as a stand-in for the spicy-ish peperoncini, which my family picks out.
I also love tossing this dressing with baby spinach, blue cheese, dried cranberries, and pecans for a fun twist on a spinach salad.
Simply Recipes / Aldi
While I’m at it, l’m thinking beyond green salads.
Aldi’s Tuscan dressing is delicious drizzled on feta, tomatoes, and watermelon—it is so, so good. This combination would also probably taste even better with a touch of sliced prosciutto. I think if you wrapped cut-up melon in prosciutto, you could drizzle this dressing on top for a pop of flavor.
What about pasta salads like a traditional Italian pasta salad with a mix of olives, cold meats, and tiny chunks of mozzarella? While you’re at it, use it to dress a broccoli and cauliflower pasta salad, too. Recently, I tossed the dressing with some mayo while making tuna salad. It was delicious. (Add a little bit of chopped red bell peppers and olives to it. Trust me!)
The dressing makes a perfect marinade for chicken breasts or thighs, and while they taste great baked, they are even better grilled. I’ve also used a combination of this dressing and red wine to marinate steaks—so, so good!
My son likes dipping the ends of his stuffed-crust pizza into this dressing, which means it would probably taste pretty good as a bread dip, too. Mostly, though, I use it for salads.
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