Who is ordering the salad at Olive Garden aside from the people who get the Endless Soup, Salad & Breadsticks meal, and are therefor forced to get salad? Seriously, when the server asks “Would you like soup or salad?” with your order the answer is always soup. Always.
It’s an easy answer too because the Olive Garden salad leaves a lot to be desired (its best ingredient is cheese), I mean c’mon, iceberg lettuce? Why?!
But we aren’t here to roast the Olive Garden salad. That would be too easy. We’re here to talk about the soup, and considering each of the soups has something to offer, choosing between the four can be tough. Each soup is so different that it might take you longer to decide on which soup to order than it took to choose which pasta dish you want.
So we’re taking some of the guesswork out of the equation for you. We’re here to rank each of the Olive Garden soups and lay out why and when you should order each.
I won’t lie, ranking these soups was hard work because I think all four are delicious, but some soups are better as a side, and some are better as a meal (something Jerry Seinfeld would disagree with). Let’s soup!
4. Minestrone
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
This was a tough one for me because the Olive Garden Minestrone is my go-to. It’s light, healthy and the only soup on the menu that is vegan-friendly. The soup features fresh veggies like squash, carrots, onion, celery, and tomato with white and kidney beans, and pasta shells in a tomato-based broth.
The flavor is this wonderful mix of vegetal flavors with a blast of bright umami-forward tomato notes, some sweet onion savoriness and a whole lot of texture. Elevating this soup is pretty easy, add fresh cheese, and a few cracks of pepper and you’ve got a soup with a lot of depth and character.
So where does it fall short? It’s just not as indulgent as the three other soups. But sometimes you’re not looking for that out of your soup! So it’s a viable option.
When To Order It:
When you’re ordering a heavy dinner. This is the only soup that really works as an appetizer to your meal. If you’re ordering a heavy pasta dish, get the minestrone so you don’t get too full before the main course arrives.
3. Pasta e Fagioli
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The Pasta e Fagioli tastes very similar to the Minestrone, only, you know, fun. Rather than that tomato-based broth, this soup goes with a savory beef broth and packs a mix of ground beef, white and red beans, tomatoes, and a good handful of tubetti pasta. It has this wonderful beefy rich flavor. It’s hearty, almost stew-like, and with a bit more heat could come across like a straight-up chili. And you could push it more in that chili territory by asking for some crushed red peppers, which many don’t know Olive Garden has on hand.
Definitely add the red peppers and have the server pile the cheese on high for extra decadence.
When To Order It:
As an accompaniment to a fish or chicken dish, or anything with white sauce. This soup will work as a nice hearty counterbalance to your main dish.
2. Chicken & Gnocchi
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
The way this ranking is falling might make it seem like I have a preference for cream-based soups — that’s not really the case when it comes to soup in general, but at Olive Garden the creamy soups are the way to go! I’m a bit torn on the Chicken & Gnocchi though, because I think what works in this soup really works, but it has one fatal flaw: the chicken.
The chicken comes across as pretty low quality and under-seasoned. In fact, I think the best way to enjoy this soup is to actively avoid the chicken as much as you can. That’s a pretty big flaw, but the creamy broth, spinach, and potato dumplings? Perfection!
This soup is so rich and creamy and the spinach adds a nice touch of bitterness. But the clear highlight is the gnocchi. It’s soft and perfectly pillowy and soaks up the rich broth perfectly, causing an explosion of savory flavor in your mouth with each bite.
When To Order It:
During a round of Endless Soup, Salad & Breadsticks. This is Olive Garden’s heaviest soup, which means it’s an absolute meal killer if you’re also ordering a full-sized pasta dinner. That makes it a great option for Soul, Salad, & Breadsticks unless you’re cool with taking home a lot of leftovers.
1. Zuppa Toscana
Thoughts & Tasting Notes:
When I said this ranking was tough, what I meant was it was hard to place numbers 2-4. The Zuppa Toscana was always the obvious winner. It’s not only the best tasting soup at Olive Garden, it’s the most versatile and easy to pair with any main dish, from light to heavy.
The Zuppa Toscana features spicy, fennel-forward Italian sausage, kale, hearty potatoes, and a light but creamy broth. It’s not as heavy as the Chicken & Gnocchi, but just as rich. The sausage in this soup is perfect, it has this spicy and licorice-like depth to it, while the kale brings in some earthiness, counterbalanced by the buttery flavors of the stewed russet potato.
Every component of this soup works in perfect harmony here, and while I think cheese and black pepper help to elevate the dish a bit (and I wouldn’t turn down red pepper flakes either), this is the only soup you can eat without any alteration whatsoever. It’s that good.
When To Order It:
With anything. It’s rich enough that a couple of bowls could make a meal, but light enough that it won’t totally ruin your heavy pasta main course. The Zuppa Toscana pairs great with everything on Olive Garden’s menu. It’s the quintessential soup and one of Olive Garden’s best dishes, period.