Low-Carb and Delicious – Olive Garden Ordering Guide

As a fast food restaurant, Olive Garden may offer a nicer dining experience than most. They classify themselves as an Italian restaurant, but their menu items and recipes are not traditionally Italian. The food is delicious, overall, and the prices are fair. Ordering low-carb from Olive Garden can be easy if you know what to avoid and what to get. 

Low-Carb Olive Garden Options

Create Your Own Pasta: Meatball & Half Serving of Creamy Pesto, with Sub Garden Veggies for Noodles

• What you’ll get: 3 meatballs, Olive Garden’s garden veggies, creamy pesto. Even for the Create Your Own Pasta, this order is out of the ordinary and you’ll have to be specific. The garden veggies will be substituted for the regular pasta, and request that they only put half the amount of creamy pesto sauce than they usually use per serving. This is low-carb but still indulgent; it will certainly give you that Olive Garden experience.  
• Estimated Macros: 920 calories, 81g fat, 18g carbs, 13g net carbs, 5g fiber, 4g sugar, 32g protein

Chicken Margherita

• What you’ll get: grilled chicken breast, tomatoes, basil pesto, lemon-garlic sauce, and mozzarella cheese. It also comes with a side of parmesan-crusted zucchini. The entire meal is already low-carb as is, and is surprisingly good. 
• Estimated Macros: 370 calories, 22g fat, 8g carbs, 6g net carbs, 2g fiber, 3g sugar, 37g protein

Stuffed Chicken Marsala, with a Side of Broccoli

• What you’ll get: grilled chicken breasts stuffed with Italian cheeses and sun-dried tomatoes in creamy marsala sauce with mushrooms. Request for a side of broccoli instead of the mashed potatoes. 
• Estimated Macros: 835 calories, 50g fat, 23g carbs, 17g net carbs, 6g fiber, 8g sugar, 75g protein

Fettuccine Alfredo, with Garden Veggies and 3 Italian Sausages

• What you’ll get: Fettuccine Alfredo, but with garden veggies as pasta substitute, topped with 3 Italian sausages. As a milk-based dish, this is rich and scrumptious, even with the pasta replaced with veggies. The Italian sausage should be a great match. 
• Estimated Macros: 1180 calories, 102g fat, 14g carbs 12g net carbs, 3g fiber, 7g sugar, 51g protein

Chicken Piccata

• This is already low-carb on its own, and is a tasty option, just like most of Olive Garden’s other chicken entrees; you can add a side of butter as it’s low on fat and calories. It comes with grilled chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and lemon-garlic-butter sauce, plus a side of parmesan-crusted zucchini. 
• Estimated Macros: 350 calories, 21g fat, 11g carbs, 9g net carbs, 2g fiber, 3g sugar, 33g protein

Additional Recommendations 

• You can also try Olive Garden’s Salmon Piccata, as it’s already a low-carb option. It has 590 calories, 40g fat, 12g carbs, 10g net carbs, 2g fiber, 3g sugar, 45g protein. 

What You Should Not Order

Some menu items may seem low-carb, because of their name, but are actually packing. Here are the items you should avoid:

• Appetizers
  • Calamari  – 34g carbs
  • Five Italian Cheese Fonduta (with bread) – 41g carbs
  • Fried Mozzarella – 20g carbs
  • Shrimp Scampi Fritta –  36g carbs
  • Spinach Artichoke Dip – 50g carbs
• Create Your Own Pasta Ingredients
  • Five Cheese Marinara Sauce – 22g carbs
  • Traditional Marinara – 22g carbs
  • Traditional Meat Sauce – 19g carbs
  • Crispy Chicken Fritta – 14g carbs