The Olive Garden restaurant chain offers a wide variety of choices on its menu, and the nutritional content of these choices varies accordingly. By using the nutritional information provided by the Olive Garden and choosing your meal wisely, you can enjoy a meal here while still sticking to your nutritional and diet goals.
Appetizers
For starters, low-calorie, low-fat options include the garden-fresh salad (350 calories and 26 grams of fat with dressing; 120 calories and 3.5 grams of fat without dressing), minestrone soup (100 calories and 1 gram of fat), and mussels di Napoli (180 calories and 8 grams of fat). If you're watching your sodium, the salad without dressing has the lowest sodium content of these choices (550 mg). The highest calorie, fat and sodium content are found in the lasagna fritta (1,030 calories, 63 grams of fat, and 1590 mg of sodium) and the chicken Alfredo pizza (1180 calories, 40 grams of fat, and 3,330 mg of sodium).
Pastas
The calorie, fat and sodium content of the pasta dishes depends on the sauce and toppings ordered, and ranges from 430 calories, 6 grams of fat and 900 mg of sodium in the linguine alla marinara to 1,450 calories, 74 grams of fat and 3,830 mg of sodium in the "Tour of Italy" pasta selection. Cheese ravioli with marinara sauce is another lower calorie option (660 calories and 22 grams of fat), while spaghetti with Italian sausage has 1,270 calories and 67 grams of fat.
Meat and Fish Entrees
There are a number of lower fat and calorie choices among the fish and chicken entrees, including herb-grilled salmon (510 calories and 26 grams of fat) and the Venetian apricot chicken, which has only 380 calories and 4 grams of fat. Pork Milanese, on the other hand, has 1,510 calories and 87 grams of fat, and also has a high sodium count (3,100 mg).
Desserts
As would be expected, the fat content of desserts is high, ranging from 25 grams of total fat and 20 grams of saturated fat in the chocolate gelato to 62 grams of total fat and 36 grams of saturated fat in the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.
Healthy Choices
For people watching their diets or on restricted diets, Olive Garden offers "Garden Fare Options." These include low-fat items, gluten-free items and a sugar-free dessert, warm double chocolate cake served with vanilla cream sauce and fresh strawberries. Low-fat items are marked on the menu with an olive branch, and include capellini pomodoro, shrimp primavera and a mixed grill that includes marinated grilled steak and chicken. Gluten-free options include pennine rigate with marinara and grilled steak Toscano.
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