Why We Won't Add Olive Garden's Bottled Light Italian Dressing To Our Cart

Here at The Takeout, we tested the best and worst Italian dressings you can buy at the grocery store, and the shocking result was that Olive Garden's light Italian dressing is among the worst. Yes, Olive Garden — the place where salad is known to be endless, and somehow, we are continually delighted by the experiences there. One would think that the "light" version wouldn't be too far off from the restaurant version, but as the reviewer noted, "This dressing seems like a sad symptom of toxic diet culture, and my beef with it is both culinary and philosophical." Now, that is really saying something.

Often times, when marketing plugs in diet buzz words like "light" or "low-fat," the product itself is completely unsatisfying. That's because brands often have to make up for the loss in flavor that occurs when you take away one main component by adding more of another. And more often than not, that added content is sugar. But as studies have shown, higher sugar content is actually more harmful to one's health than eating the full-fat version of a product. That's definitely the case with Olive Garden's light Italian dressing, and in fact, with all the light Italian dressings featured in our taste test!

While the reviewer did praise Olive Garden's light Italian dressing for its creamy consistency, they also declared its flavor as "empty." As a salad lover myself, I can attest to this sentiment. Although I haven't tried this particular Olive Garden dressing, I have sampled my fair share of low-fat dressings, and even attempted to make my own light dressings. And you just can't get the same level of flavor and satiety by foregoing that fat element that lettuce and veggies beg for in a dressing. 

That creamy quality in Olive Garden's dressing comes from thickening additives like starches or gums, which do nothing for the flavor. The fat content in dressings also helps your body absorb certain nutrients from the vegetables in salad. And that richness also gives a full-fat dressing more satisfying flavor, which in turn, usually won't make someone add more dressing — which is what often happens with the watered-down flavors of light dressings. 

If you dislike the mouthfeel of a dressing with heavy oil — like most Italian dressings — you're still better off going for a full fat dressing. Just half the portion you'd normally use, and dilute the rest with vinegar or lemon juice. If you want to make your own flavorful fat-free dressing, a balsamic glaze can be made with just two pantry ingredients, or you can simply control how much and what kind of fat or oil is used in a dressing.