DIY salad dressing tastes good, not like Olive Garden dressing

I am not a fan of eating at chain restaurants because I prefer to support local businesses, but sometimes the convenience or prices make a stop at a local franchise worthwhile. Now, when it comes to fast food restaurants there are some that are better than others, and I would say Olive Garden is near the top of my list. But whenever I go, I always only get the soup, salad and bread stick offer.

The best part of the soup, salad and bread stick deal is the salad dressing. It is tangy and savory. I love Olive Garden’s Italian dressing so much that I have purchased it from them to bring home…multiple times.

A couple times I have tried to recreate the yummy dressing, but none of the recipes have come close. I tried another recipe this weekend that came closer, but is still not right.

Ingredients

1 packet Good Seasonings Italian Dressing (plus oil, water, vinegar per packet)
½ tsp. dried Italian Seasoning ½ tsp. table salt ¼ tsp. black pepper ½ tsp. sugar ¼ tsp. garlic powder ½ tbsp. mayonnaise
¼ cup olive oil 2 tbsp. white vinegar 1 ½ tbsp. water

After mixing the packet of Good Seasonings Italian dressing (which you find right next to the regular bottles of dressing at the grocery store) I had high hopes for the end product, but the rest of the ingredients were a bit confusing…mayo? The ingredients mixed up well and the dressing is actually pretty tasty, but it wasn’t the same as Olive Garden’s.

DIY do or don’t? If you’re looking for a good Italian dressing recipe, this is a good choice but it isn’t a replacement for Olive Garden’s yummy dressing. I’m not sure what the mayo adds to the recipe, so I might try it without the mayo next time, but it is pretty tasty.

— Hannah