Olive Garden Soups Ranked From Worst To Best

Whether you're looking for a warm, comforting one-dish meal or want to start your feast with a delicious cup of soup, Olive Garden has you covered. The popular eatery is known for its hearty fare, which includes traditional Italian favorites like pasta (sometimes as a never-ending bowl), lasagna, salads, and assorted appetizers. But the soups, which are typically served as a starter before the main courses, are the unsung heroes on the menu. Not only are they super versatile, working for both lunch or dinner (or breakfast, we wouldn't blame you), but they are also loaded with nutrients and amazing flavor.

You can enjoy a bowl of soup with your bread or add a salad to turn it into a lunch or dinner meal. Each cup costs just over $8 and comes with Olive Garden's famous unlimited breadsticks. The lunch deal is only available during the week from 11:00 to 2:30, but you can order the dinner option anytime after that. To compare soups, we stuck with a traditional bowl for our trials. Taste and texture were top considerations, but we also looked at how well each option paired with other menu items. Of course, they had to work with the breadsticks for dipping, which is a delicious way to enjoy these four soups.

The chicken and gnocchi is the creamiest of Olive Garden's soups, making it quite rich, so prepare to go into a food coma after just a few bites. The broth has a strong buttery flavor, which some people may like, but tasted overpowering when we tried it. This was the only one of Olive Garden's soups that we wouldn't order again. 

There was not as much chicken as we expected and not many gnocchi in our bowl either. We were really looking forward to the plump potato-based dumplings but there were only a few. This might be luck of the ladle, but the lack of actual ingredients beyond the thick, super rich broth made it hard to get through even half a bowl. While the tender gnocchi and roasted chicken are the headliners, the inclusion of spinach added some greenery, which was a nice touch. There were also a few shredded carrots in the mix, which provided a bit more texture to each bite. But overall, two veggies and a handful of protein wasn't enough to carry the buttery soup.

The chicken and gnocchi soup was the best for dipping breadsticks because it was so thick and hearty. When we approached it as a dip rather than a soup, it became much more enjoyable.

The Olive Garden minestrone is the only vegetarian or vegan soup option available, so if that's a factor, we're happy to report that this soup is delicious. While it is loaded with vegetables, this is the least original of the soups on the restaurant's menu. Don't let that prevent you from ordering it, especially if you want something a bit milder. It's just not as rich as the other dishes available from the Italian kitchen. 

Our favorite aspect of this soup was its earthiness. It was loaded with carrots, large slices of zucchini, white beans, kidney beans, and greens. The diced tomatoes were on the large side, but were well stewed and worked with the overall flavor. The shell pasta was especially great, since it held broth and small veggies, making each bite literally burst with flavor. The shredded carrots paired especially well with the acidic tomatoes in the broth and added some texture as well.

This was one of the least dippable soups from Olive Garden, mainly due to the thinner broth consistency. It didn't cling to the breadsticks like some of the other options. The great flavor was more important though, and it still made a delicious lunch that didn't have us feeling weighed down in the end.

Pasta e fagioli translates to pasta with beans, which is a great description of this soup from Olive Garden. It had a lot of beans, which gave it extra nutrients and protein. It also featured ground beef, which offered a much heartier consistency than the minestrone. That extra protein gave it a slight edge, since the addition of the meat also introduced more depth of flavor. There were shredded carrots in the mix as well, which was not something we expected but were happy to see. They also added a little bit of sweetness and gave it an extra nutritional boost.

We expected this soup to have more pasta, since it is featured in the name, but it was noticeably lacking compared to the shells in the minestrone. The pasta was hollow, which we liked since it could hold extra broth and even some of the smaller pieces of veggies or meat. Like in the minestrone, the diced tomatoes were large, but they weren't as noticeable in this option because the heartier soup could handle larger chunks. Of all of the Olive Garden soups, this one is the most like chili, so if you want something that will stick to your ribs, this is a good bet.

Originally from Tuscany, per its name, zuppa Toscana achieved fame among take-out patrons thanks to Olive Garden's version. The broth was a little bit thinner than the rich chicken and gnocchi recipe and considerably less buttery. It had the consistency of soup, rather than chowder, but a similar rich flavor. The zuppa Toscana had plenty of large potato chunks to give it some extra heft, making it our recommendation if you're ordering soup as a standalone meal. Additionally, the spicy Italian sausage in the zuppa Toscana soup gave it a little extra kick.

What makes this soup so special among the lineup are the balanced flavors. The inclusion of the Italian sausage set it apart from the other options because it was by far the spiciest. If you're not a fan of the heat, don't worry. The creamy broth prevented the spice from being overpowering — just enough to wake up your taste buds. This soup featured kale, whereas the chicken and gnocchi had spinach, but both were very similar when it came to added veggies.

It's a tough job, but someone had to try all of the Olive Garden soups side by side to compare. That's just what we did, assessing each spoonful for taste and texture. Once we had a good idea of the flavor profile of each soup, we dipped the breadsticks to see how they stood up and which worked for a heartier meal option. Olive Garden provides complimentary Parmesan cheese, which we sprinkled on top to create a slightly different flavor profile.

There were two options that stood out and they each had a very distinct taste. With a creamy broth, the zuppa Toscana was nicely balanced with a little extra zing from the spicy Italian sausage. Of the tomato-based soups, the hearty pasta e fagioli slightly edged out the delicious minestrone, but both were great choices. The chicken and gnocchi soup was the only one that we didn't enjoy, although once we added breadsticks to the mix, it was transformed into a buttery rich dip.