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Olive Garden Gluten-Free: Complete Menu Guide For 2025

As we dive deeper into our Olive Garden gluten-free guide, let’s navigate through its gluten-unfriendly menu to find those delectable celiac-safe gems.

Eating out with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity isn’t as easy as it might seem at times, and some restaurants and eateries don’t really make this easy, either. 🍝🥗🥖

Just one wrong bite… And you’re in deep trouble! On the bright side, with the right technique, even the most gluten-unfriendly and celiac-unsafe restaurants can still be manageable. 👏

Beloved for their comforting Italian classics, Olive Garden’s menu admittedly isn’t designed to be strictly 100% gluten-free, but you do have some options here and there. ✅

From its hearty selection of starter salads to classic soups and select entrées and sides, there’s a handful of gluten-free offerings, so let’s see what is and isn’t safe at Olive Garden! 🧀

As we go through our Olive Garden gluten-free guide, I’ll also walk you through how you could minimize cross-contamination risks and enjoy a bowl of pasta-adjacent comfort without the worry.

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Disclaimer

It should be noted, though, that Olive Garden doesn’t operate a dedicated ‘gluten-free’ kitchen. All dishes are prepped on shared grills, in common fryers, and on the same prep surfaces.

Since it is not a certified ‘gluten-free’ kitchen, for the purposes of our Olive Garden gluten-free guide, we’ll be treating their menu items more like ‘gluten-friendly’, instead. 🌾⚠️

• Also, while some of their menu items are made without gluten or wheat ingredients, they are not tested to meet the FDA’s <20 ppm gluten threshold, which is why Olive Garden’s menu doesn’t carry an official ‘gluten-free’ certification. At best, they’re gluten-friendly, which might be a bit of a problem for more sensitive celiacs like me.
• Moreover, you should be careful with cross-contamination, as it remains a huge risk! Even the dishes that list no wheat ingredients or gluten allergens can pick up gluten in the cooking or prepping process. If you’re a super-sensitive celiac or have a severe gluten allergy, proceed with extreme caution, and let your server know!
• Last but not least, another personal top tip from me is to always double-check the menu! The menu items and ingredient sources may change at any time, and Olive Garden is no different. So, before you dine in at Olive Garden, remember to check their nutrition and allergens chart to best understand what you can or can’t eat.

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Olive Garden Allergen Policy (Gluten-Free)

Oh, and speaking of, I LOVE that Olive Garden has a massive list of resources where you can check out each dish’s list of ingredients, their nutrition, and the allergens. ✍📝

I’d suggest that you check out Olive Garden’s Nutrition page right here, as well as their Food Allergies page here, for a start.

Both of those pages on Olive Garden’s official website have a ton of information that you may find handy, such as how nutrition is calculated, what procedures they have in place to reduce cross-contamination exposure in the kitchen, and more.

Of course, you could also check out their Vegan & Vegetarian page right here, where you can learn more about whether or not Olive Garden has vegan and vegetarian-specific dishes, and how they’re prepared.

Naturally, the most important page for us that we’ll be referencing in our Olive Garden gluten-free guide here is the Gluten Sensitive Diet page. Here, they explain how gluten-free pasta is made, how food is prepped to reduce cross-contamination, and more.

If you need to read up even more, Olive Garden has not one, now two, but three PDF files that explain things in more depth:

• The Nutrition Information PDF file has a detailed and comprehensive breakdown of each menu item and dish’s nutritional info, such as calories, fat, cholesterol, carbs, protein, and more.
• Meanwhile, for celiacs like me, their Allergen Information PDF file is priceless, with a giant list of all their menu items and what specific allergens each dish contains. For celiacs, you’d have to be mindful of which menu items do and don’t contain wheat and gluten, so filter those out of your Olive Garden order!
• Last but not least, there’s a more in-depth Vegetarian and Vegan Information PDF file, where you can find a complete and up-to-date menu that qualifies as either vegetarian or vegan.

With all these disclaimers and gotchas out of the way, let’s take a closer look at our new Olive Garden gluten-free guide, where we’ll go through what is and isn’t safe for celiacs! 🌾

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Appetizers

Starting, rather fittingly, our Olive Garden gluten-free guide with the tasty appetizers, I do have some bad news for you… They’re not wheat-free or gluten-free! 💔🥖🍤

Olive Garden’s warm, shareable appetizers are notoriously heavy on wheat, either battered or breaded, as well as being served with flour-based dippers, making it off-limits for celiacs. 🧀

❌ Fried Mozzarella
❌ Stuffed Ziti Fritta
❌ Dipping Sauces (Includes Breadsticks)
❌ Calamari
❌ Meatballs Parmigiana
❌ Spinach-Artichoke Dip
❌ Lasagna Fritta
❌ Shrimp Fritto Misto
❌ Toasted Ravioli
❌ Breadsticks

So, let’s take a closer look at why these appetizers didn’t make it into our Olive Garden gluten-free shortlist, and why you should avoid them:

Fried Mozzarella: Lightly breaded and fried, then served with marinara. The coating contains wheat flour and isn’t gluten-free.

Stuffed Ziti Fritta: Crispy fried pasta filled with cheese, but they’re battered with wheat flour and then deep-fried in shared fryers.

Dipping Sauces (Includes Breadsticks): Breadsticks themselves are made from wheat flour, and all three sauces (marinara, Alfredo, Five Cheese Marinara) are served with them.

Calamari: Lightly breaded squid, fried and paired with marinara and spicy ranch. Both sauces and the breading itself include wheat.

Meatballs Parmigiana: Meatballs are seasoned and often bound with breadcrumbs. Plus, the dish is topped with Parmesan and marinara, served over even more of that breaded base.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip: Served with flatbread crisps made from wheat dough. However, the dip itself may use wheat-based thickeners, so you should probably avoid this one, too.

Lasagna Fritta: Breaded lasagna squares, fried and served with Alfredo and meat sauces. Both the breadings and the sauces contain wheat.

Shrimp Fritto Misto: Breaded and fried shrimp tossed in scampi sauce. Alas, both these steps involve wheat flour and roux-based sauces.

Toasted Ravioli: Beef-filled ravioli lightly fried in wheat dough, with marinara on the side. As it contains wheat, it’s not safe for celiacs.

Breadsticks: Homemade daily and brushed with garlic butter, made from 100% wheat flour, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Overall, it is a disappointing start to our Olive Garden gluten-free guide, with not a single one of their legendary appetizers making it into our celiac-friendly shortlist, as they contain massive traces of wheat in each dish and ingredient. 🚫🍞🌾

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Classic Entrées

Now, it’s time to check out the gigantic bulk of our Olive Garden gluten-free menu, their Classic Entrées! Sadly, a huge portion of their entrées are mostly off-limits for celiacs. 🍝🥩🍤

Nearly all their pasta, sauced dishes, or breaded entrées here contain either wheat or gluten-based thickeners, leaving only a handful of dishes that are safe for celiacs like us. 🍗🍅🧀

❌ Chicken Alfredo
❌ Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara
❌ Shrimp Carbonara
❌ Chicken Parmigiana
❌ Tour of Italy
❌ Shrimp Alfredo
❌ Ravioli Carbonara
❌ Lasagna Classico
❌ Family-Style Lasagna Bundle
❌ Spaghetti & Meatballs
❌ Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
❌ Spaghetti with Marinara
❌ Fettuccine Alfredo
❌ Chicken Tortelloni Alfredo
❌ Stuffed Chicken Marsala
❌ Steak Gorgonzola Alfredo
❌ Shrimp Scampi
❌ Seafood Alfredo
❌ Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
❌ Cheese Ravioli
❌ Chicken Scampi
❌ Eggplant Parmigiana
✅ Herb-Grilled Salmon
⚠️ 6 oz. Sirloin
⚠️ Create Your Own Pasta – Cucina Mia!

That said, let’s break down this huge chunk of our Olive Garden gluten-free menu and see how they stack up for celiacs like you and me:

Chicken Alfredo: Classic fettuccine in a cream-based Alfredo sauce. But both the pasta and any roux-thickened additions contain wheat and aren’t celiac-safe.

Chicken and Shrimp Carbonara / Shrimp Carbonara: Traditional carbonara uses eggy cream sauces over wheat pasta, with added roux or thickening agents.

Chicken Parmigiana: Breaded chicken cutlet topped with marinara and cheese, served over pasta. The breading and pasta are both wheat-based.

Tour of Italy: A sampler of chicken parmigiana, lasagna, and fettucine Alfredo. All of them contain wheat in the pasta, breading, or sauces.

Shrimp Alfredo, Seafood Alfredo: Alfredo sauces at Olive Garden are traditionally cream-based but served over wheat noodles, so it’s not safe for celiacs.

Ravioli Carbonara, Cheese Ravioli, Lasagna Classico, Five Cheese Ziti al Forno, Fettuccine Alfredo: All of them use wheat-flour-based pasta or bread layering, naturally making it unsafe for celiacs.

Spaghetti & Meatballs, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Spaghetti with Marinara: Classic spaghetti dishes, but they’re made from 100% wheat pasta and sauces thickened with wheat.

Chicken Tortelloni Alfredo, Ravioli Carbonara, Chicken Scampi: Filled or shaped pasta in wheat dough, served with sauces containing wheat thickeners.

Stuffed Chicken Marsala, Shrimp Scampi: While the proteins themselves are gluten-free, the marsala sauce and the scampi butter often include flour-based thickeners, and the dishes are plated over wheat pasta.

Eggplant Parmigiana: Breaded and fried eggplant slices layered like Parmigiana. They’re then breaded with wheat flour.

Herb-Grilled Salmon: Simply seasoned and grilled salmon filet without any wheat ingredients. This is one of the only entrées that are gluten-free, so it gets the go-ahead for celiacs.

6 oz. Sirloin: Grilled sirloin steak with garlic herb butter and no wheat ingredients, which is another gluten-free choice. Nevertheless, I’ve marked this as a ‘warning’, as Olive Garden offers it as both a gluten-friendly and non-gluten-friendly option, so be careful when you’re ordering.

Create Your Own Pasta – Cucina Mia!: You can choose a Gluten-Free Rotini (it contains egg) and pair that with either Marinara or Meat Sauce, both of which are listed as gluten-free by the recipe. These custom modifications should make it safe for celiacs.

So, as you can see, Olive Garden’s heart and soul entrées, their rich, saucy pasta, and a hearty meat dish, as well as their classic Italian recipes, are overwhelmingly built or cooked with wheat flour or include sauces thickened with wheat. For celiacs, then, avoid at all costs! 🚫

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Amazing Alfredos

Ah, we then have the heart of our Olive Garden gluten-free menu and the source of their pasta prestige – their Amazing Alfredos! All of which, sadly, isn’t safe for celiacs, either! 🍝🧀🍤

Creamy, dreamy, and utterly indulgent, each of these entrées relies on wheat-flour pasta and rich, roux-thickened Alfredo sauces. In other words, they’re totally not gluten-free. 🙁

❌ Chicken Alfredo
❌ Shrimp Alfredo
❌ Fettuccine Alfredo
❌ Chicken Tortelloni Alfredo
❌ Seafood Alfredo

So, let us break these Alfredo dishes down bit by bit to see why they aren’t making it into our Olive Garden gluten-free shortlist:

Chicken Alfredo: Tender grilled chicken atop fettuccine tossed in a Parmesan cream sauce that’s then thickened with a flour-based roux. Both the pasta and the sauce contain wheat.

Shrimp Alfredo: Succulent shrimp swimming in the same wheat-thickened Alfredo sauce over fettuccine noodles, making it another unsafe choice at Olive Garden for celiacs.

Fettuccine Alfredo: The purest expression of creamy Alfredo… Just fettuccine noodles in that rich, flour-thickened sauce. All of them contain wheat, and all of them contain gluten.

Chicken Tortelloni Alfredo: Cheese-filled Tortelloni (wheat dough) smothered in Alfredo sauce and topped with grilled chicken, so it’s basically double wheat trouble.

Seafood Alfredo: A medley of scallops, shrimp, and mussels nestled in Alfredo sauce over some fettuccine. Yet again, the pasta and the sauce base bring home the gluten.

Moreover, remember that even if Olive Garden were to offer gluten-free pasta, all their Alfredo sauces, prep surfaces, and shared utensils in their kitchens handle wheat-based dishes. There is a whole lot of cross-contamination risk that you need to be worried about, so be careful! ⚠️

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Soups, Salad & Breadsticks

The Soups, Salad & Breadsticks menu is a core part of our Olive Garden gluten-free guide, as it is the essence of the Italian-ness of their brand. 🥗🍞🥖

You get unlimited soup bowls, crisp Italian salad, and those famous garlic-buttery breadsticks. Unfortunately, if you’re a celiac, not a single one here is safe, with one slight exception. ❗

❌ Soup AND Salad AND Breadsticks
❌ Homemade Soups
⚠️ Our Famous House Salad
❌ Dipping Sauces (Includes Breadsticks)
❌ Breadsticks

That said, let’s break these soups, salads, and breadsticks down one by one to see why they’re not included in my personal Olive Garden gluten-free list:

Soup Selection (Minestrone, Zuppa Toscana, Pasta e Fagioli, Chicken & Gnocchi): All four soups here use a wheat-flour and pasta component (pastina, gnocchi, or small pasta shapes), or they are thickened with a roux (flour-based), making them unsafe for gluten-free diets.

Our Famous House Salad: While the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and peppers are naturally gluten-free, the Italian dressing is emulsified and then thickened with wheat-derived starches, and they also come with wheat-based croutons. Granted, they do have a gluten-free version, but more on that later.

Breadsticks: Made fresh daily with 100% enriched wheat flour and brushed with garlic butter, these are fundamentally off-limits to celiacs.

Dipping Sauces (Marinara, Alfredo, Five Cheese Marinara): All three sauces are then served alongside, or drizzled over, breadsticks and rely on flour-thickened bases (Alfredo) or include small pasta bits, rendering them glutenous.

Alas, not a single soup, salad, or breadstick in our Olive Garden gluten-free menu is celiac-safe. You could modify their Famous House Salad to not include croutons and make it gluten-free, at least! It’ll be something that I’ll cover later, but for now, avoid these if you’re a celiac! 🥗🥖

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Lunch-Sized Favorites

If you are dropping by until 3:00 PM, Monday to Friday, you could sample a slice of the Lunch-Sized Favorites in our Olive Garden gluten-free menu. 🍝🧀🍅

These are basically smaller portions of their classic entrées, perfect for a lighter midday meal. Sadly, though, most of these still rely on wheat-based pasta, breading, or sauces. 🍤🍆🥖

❌ Lasagna Classico
❌ Chicken Parmigiana
❌ Fettuccine Alfredo
❌ Shrimp Scampi
❌ Spaghetti
❌ Eggplant Parmigiana
❌ Spaghetti & Meatballs
❌ Cheese Ravioli
❌ Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
❌ Soup, Salad & Breadsticks (Lunch)

With that out of the way, let’s look at why these didn’t make it into our Olive Garden gluten-free shortlist, and why celiacs ought to avoid them:

Lasagna Classico: Layers of pasta, ricotta, meat sauce, and mozzarella. They’re all made with traditional wheat lasagna sheets and a béchamel-like layering sauce.

Chicken Parmigiana: Breaded chicken breast topped with marinara and mozzarella, served over a bed of spaghetti. Both the chicken coating and the pasta contain gluten.

Fettuccine Alfredo: Wide wheat noodles tossed in a butter-cream Parmesan sauce thickened with flour, making it another celiac-unsafe choice.

Shrimp Scampi: Sautéed shrimp in a garlic-butter sauce, but served over some wheat linguine, making it unsafe for celiacs, once again.

Spaghetti (with Marinara or Meat Sauce): Classic wheat spaghetti noodles tossed in tomato-based sauce (plain or with meat), both containing gluten.

Eggplant Parmigiana: Breaded and fried eggplant slices layered with marinara and cheese, plus a side of spaghetti, with double gluten exposure.

Spaghetti & Meatballs: Traditional meatballs contain breadcrumbs, and the spaghetti is also wheat-based.

Cheese Ravioli: Pillows of wheat-flour pasta filled with cheese, poached and served in sauce, which is entirely gluten-free.

Five Cheese Ziti al Forno: Baked ziti tossed in a five-cheese blend and baked, all on wheat-based pasta, making this another one to avoid for celiacs.

Soup, Salad & Breadsticks (Lunch): This is the same soup and salad offerings with breadsticks, and just like what I covered earlier, it contains traces of wheat and gluten.

Suffice it to say, if you’re a celiac or if you have severe gluten allergies, it’s best to avoid these entirely if you’re dropping by for lunch! There are, thankfully, some dishes in our Olive Garden gluten-free menu that are safe for celiacs, but we’re not there yet. 🥗🥖🧀🍅

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Desserts

If you want to close out our Olive Garden gluten-free guide on a sweet note, I have some bad news for you: all their signature desserts rely on wheat-based cakes, doughs, or ladyfingers.

❌ Chocolate Lasagna
❌ Black Tie Mousse Cake
❌ Tiramisu
❌ Strawberry Cream Cake
❌ Warm Italian Doughnuts
❌ Sicilian Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping

For context, let’s take a deeper dive into why these sweet, savory desserts didn’t make it into my Olive Garden gluten-free shortlist:

Chocolate Lasagna: Layers of chocolate cake, mascarpone filling, and cream, all of which are built on a celiac-unsafe wheat-flour cake base and ladyfinger crumbs.

Black Tie Mousse Cake: Rich layers of chocolate and mascarpone mousse atop a chocolate cake layer. The cake itself contains wheat flour, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Tiramisu: Classic espresso-soaked ladyfingers layered with mascarpone cream and cocoa. The ladyfingers are made from wheat flour and eggs.

Strawberry Cream Cake: Soft strawberry-flavoured sponge cake layered with whipped cream and fresh berries. The sponge cake is 100% wheat-based.

Warm Italian Doughnuts: Sugar-coated fried dough pieces served with chocolate or vanilla dipping sauces. The doughnuts are made from enriched wheat dough.

Sicilian Cheesecake with Strawberry Topping: Dense ricotta and cream cheese filling on a graham-style wheat crust topped with strawberry sauce. The crust contains wheat flour.

With wheat and gluten aplenty, you are going to have to skip dessert when dining out at Olive Garden, which is a shame. I’d love to try out some of their tiramisu, but I’m definitely not going to deal with the consequences of a trip to the hospital just for a bite! 🎂🍰☕🍩

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Sides & Sauces

To complement your mouth-watering meal, our Olive Garden gluten-free menu has some nice side dishes and sauces, and most of them are also safe for celiacs! 🧆🥔🥗

Thankfully, then, given that most of our Olive Garden gluten-free menu thus far is out of reach for celiacs, these side dishes and sauces might very well be your best friends! 🧀🍖🍗

❌ Side of Meatballs
⚠️ Side of Grilled Chicken
⚠️ Side of Italian Sausage
✅ Side of Asparagus
✅ Side of Mixed Vegetables
✅ Side of Mashed Potatoes
✅ Side of Broccoli
❌ Side of Alfredo Sauce (Large)
✅ Side of Marinara Sauce (Large)
✅ Side of Meat Sauce (Large)
❌ Side of Five Cheese Marinara Sauce (Large)

With a complicated minefield to walk through, let’s break down each one to see why some of them did and didn’t make it into our Olive Garden gluten-free menu:

Side of Meatballs: These traditional Italian-style meatballs are made with breadcrumbs, and the seasoned fillers contain wheat flour. They’re then simmered in meat sauce, but the breadcrumb binder makes them unsafe for celiacs.

Side of Grilled Chicken: Simply seasoned and wood-fired grilled chicken breast. No breading or flour in the recipe, but they’re usually cooked on shared grills. So, remember to ask for a fresh, clean cooking surface to minimize cross-contact and contamination.

Side of Italian Sausage: Mild Italian sausage links are lightly grilled. The sausage recipe is typically free of wheat, but confirm with your server (and ask for separate handling) since some recipes use wheat as a binder. With cross-contamination risks in mind, be cautious!

Side of Asparagus: Fresh asparagus spears steamed and seasoned with garlic and herb blend. No wheat-containing ingredients, making this a reliably gluten-free veggie side.

Side of Mixed Vegetables: A medley of broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots, simply seasoned and steamed. It’s naturally gluten-free by ingredient and the prep, too.

Side of Mashed Potatoes: Creamy Yukon Gold mashed potatoes with butter, cream, and garlic. No flour or starch thickeners – just dairy and potatoes – so they’re gluten-free, but note possible cross-contact and contamination in the steam table.

Side of Broccoli: Steamed broccoli florets with olive oil and garlic. Like the asparagus, no wheat ingredients are present, making it a really safe choice for celiacs.

Side of Alfredo Sauce (Large): Rich cream, butter, Parmesan, and Romano cheese blend. Use it as a dip or to doctor up other sides, but sadly, according to Olive Garden’s allergen guide, you will find traces of wheat and gluten inside the sauce, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Side of Marinara Sauce (Large): Tomato-garlic sauce with basil and oregano, thickened with tomato paste rather than flour. It’s naturally gluten-free and perfect for dipping or mixing. It can be found in the official Olive Garden gluten-free menu, too!

Side of Meat Sauce (Large): Hearty beef and pork Bolognese-style sauce. Contains no added flour, then thickened by the slow reduction of tomatoes and meat juices. Like that Marinara Sauce, this is also mentioned in the Olive Garden gluten-free menu.

Side of Five Cheese Marinara Sauce (Large): Marinara sauce enriched with Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, fontina, and mozzarella. It’s a shame that Olive Garden’s allergen guide mentions that it contains traces of wheat and gluten, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Do remember that even those sides and sauces that are technically gluten-free, remember to request fresh gloves, clean utensils, and separate prep areas, as there is always a risk of cross-contamination with ladles or steam pans that are shared with breaded items. 🥖🍞🍅🥦

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Gluten Sensitive

This should be pretty straightforward, but if you are a celiac, you should be able to safely order from the Gluten Sensitive section of our Olive Garden gluten-free menu. 🥗🥖🍖🍗

However, do remember that they’re marked as ‘gluten-sensitive’, meaning that there’s a small risk of cross-contact, so be extra cautious. 🍝

✅ Zuppa Toscana
✅ Famous House Salad (without croutons)
✅ Grilled Chicken Parmigiana
✅ Herb-Grilled Salmon
✅ 6 oz. Sirloin
✅ Rotini Pasta with Marinara
✅ Rotini Pasta with Meat Sauce
✅ Grilled Chicken with Rotini Pasta & Marinara (Kids)
✅ Rotini with Marinara (Kids)
✅ Rotini with Meat Sauce (Kids)

As safe as they are, let’s break them down even further to see what they’re made of and why they’re a safe choice in our Olive Garden gluten-free menu:

Zuppa Toscana: A creamy broth with potatoes, kale, and Italian sausage. Olive Garden’s own allergen chart lists it as gluten-sensitive (with no wheat ingredients included).

Famous House Salad (without croutons): Mixed greens, Roma tomatoes, red onions, olives, and pepperoncini with gluten-free dressing. However, just remember to ask for no croutons.

Grilled Chicken Parmigiana: Herb-grilled chicken breast topped with marinara and melted cheese, served with broccoli. Again, there’s no wheat or gluten in the ingredients.

Herb-Grilled Salmon: Grilled salmon fillet seasoned with Italian herbs, paired with broccoli. It’s also naturally wheat-free by recipe and ingredients, making it safe for celiacs.

6 oz. Sirloin: Seasoned and grilled sirloin steak served with your choice of gluten-sensitive sides, with no wheat ingredients listed, too!

Rotini Pasta with Marinara: You get some gluten-free rotini tossed in classic marinara sauce. Olive Garden also offers a dedicated gluten-free rotini, as well.

Rotini Pasta with Meat Sauce: Gluten-free rotini in Olive Garden’s homemade meat sauce (pan-seared beef & Italian sausage), which is listed as gluten-sensitive.

Grilled Chicken with Rotini Pasta & Marinara (Kids): Grilled chicken breast on gluten-free rotini with marinara, and it’s marked as gluten-sensitive on their allergen chart.

Rotini with Marinara (Kids): Gluten-free rotini served simply with marinara sauce, which is also available as a kids’ option for the young ones.

Rotini with Meat Sauce (Kids): Gluten-free rotini in meat sauce, offered on the kids’ menu and marked gluten-sensitive.

Even though these items don’t contain wheat ingredients, Olive Garden prepares everything in the same kitchen, with shared fryers, ovens, prep stations, and utensils. Be sure to ask for fresh gloves, clean tools, and a dedicated prep area if you want to reduce cross-contact! ✅

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Kids Meals

On that note, speaking of kids, our Olive Garden gluten-free menu doesn’t just have child-sized meals, but some of them are also pretty safe for celiac kids! 🍝🍕🧀🍅

Your choices are still quite limited, since most of them are wheat-heavy, between battered chicken, pizza crusts, and flour-based pasta, among others. 🍗🐔🌾

❌ Kids Alfredo Sauce with Choice of Pasta
❌ Kids Pizza
❌ Kids Chicken Fingers
❌ Kids Macaroni & Cheese
⚠️ Kids Meat Sauce with Choice of Pasta (unless served on gluten-free rotini)
⚠️ Kids Tomato Sauce with Choice of Pasta (unless served on gluten-free rotini)
⚠️ Kids Five Cheese Marinara with Choice of Pasta (unless served on gluten-free rotini)
❌ Kids Cheese Ravioli
✅ Kids Grilled Chicken with Rotini Pasta & Marinara
✅ Kids Rotini with Marinara
✅ Kids Rotini with Meat Sauce

So, let’s break down these kids’ meals to figure out precisely why some of these didn’t make it into our Olive Garden gluten-free menu:

Kids Alfredo Sauce with Choice of Pasta: Comes with classic fettuccine Alfredo or penne, all of them made from enriched wheat flour, making it unsafe for celiacs.

Kids Pizza: Personal cheese or pepperoni pizza on traditional dough, and that crust contains wheat, making it another unsafe choice for celiacs.

Kids Chicken Fingers: Hand-breaded chicken strips fried in shared fryers (posing a huge risk of cross-contamination), and the coating contains wheat flour.

Kids Macaroni & Cheese: Elbow macaroni in a cheese sauce, and the pasta and any thickeners are all wheat-based.

Kids Meat Sauce with Choice of Pasta: The meat sauce itself could be thickened with wheat flour. When served on regular pasta, it’s unsafe, and it’s only safe if it’s explicitly paired with the gluten-free rotini.

Kids Tomato Sauce with Choice of Pasta: Basic marinara is usually gluten-sensitive, but only when tossed with the dedicated gluten-free rotini, not the other wheat-based pasta choices.

Kids Five Cheese Marinara with Choice of Pasta: Four-cheese blend plus marinara. Again, it’s safe only when paired with the gluten-free rotini.

Kids Cheese Ravioli: Pillows of pasta dough filled with cheese, made from wheat flour, making it off-limits for celiacs.

Kids Grilled Chicken with Rotini Pasta & Marinara: Grilled chicken breast atop Olive Garden’s gluten-free rotini and marinara. There are no wheat ingredients, but with shared prep areas, you’re going to have to be cautious with cross-contamination.

Kids Rotini with Marinara: Gluten-free rotini tossed in classic marinara. It is naturally made without any wheat but beware of cross-contact with items that do contain wheat or gluten.

Kids Rotini with Meat Sauce: Gluten-free rotini with meat sauce (pan-seared beef & Italian sausage in tomato sauce). It is listed as gluten-sensitive when ordered with the gluten-free rotini.

This is a good reminder that if given the choice of different pasta options, to make your dishes celiac-safe and gluten-free, remember to pick the wheat-free rotini. It is not technically gluten-free, but rather, it’s ‘gluten-sensitive’, so super-sensitive celiacs, be warned! 🍝🍅🧀

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Beverages

On the bright side, if you are thinking of quenching your thirst, the beverages here in our Olive Garden gluten-free menu are largely celiac-friendly! ☕🍷🍸

Their drinks are free of gluten, but bear in mind that bar tools, pitchers, and glassware may be shared with other drinks that can include gluten‐containing garnishes or syrups. 🍹🥛🧉

✅ Gallon Iced Teas & Raspberry Lemonade
✅ 2-Liter Soda
✅ To-Go Fountain Drinks
✅ Raspberry Lemonade
✅ Classic Lemonade
✅ Strawberry-Passion Fruit Limonata
✅ Mango-Strawberry Iced Tea
✅ Bellini Peach-Raspberry Iced Tea
✅ Fresh Brewed Sweet Iced Tea
✅ Fresh Brewed Iced Tea
✅ Cappuccino
✅ Lavazza Espresso

Just to make doubly sure, here’s what these drinks are made of, just so we’re certain that they fit nicely and safely into our Olive Garden gluten-free menu:

Gallon Iced Teas & Raspberry Lemonade: House-made iced tea or lemonade brewed in large batches, with no gluten ingredients. Just make sure that the pitchers are clean.

2-Litre Soda / To-Go Fountain Drinks: Bottled or fountain-dispensed sodas contain no gluten (cola, diet, citrus, etc.). Remember to opt for bottled when possible to avoid cross-contact.

Raspberry Lemonade / Classic Lemonade: Fresh-squeezed lemon bases and raspberry purée, and it’s naturally gluten-free. Just make sure that the flavored syrups are pure fruit & sugar.

Strawberry-Passion Fruit Limonata: Sparkling lemonade with real fruit purée, with no wheat and malt in the base recipe, making it gluten-free.

Mango-Strawberry Iced Tea / Bellini Peach-Raspberry Iced Tea: Tea bases blended with fruit purées. As long as the syrups are fruit-based, they are safe for celiacs.

Fresh Brewed Sweet & Unsweetened Iced Tea: Premium loose-leaf teas and simple sugar (for extra sweetness), with no gluten. Remember to ask for fresh glassware to prevent any cross-contamination.

Cappuccino / Lavazza Espresso: 100% Arabica espresso and steamed milk, with no flavorings and thickeners, making it safe for celiacs.

Remember that the bar tools at Olive Garden (shakers, spoons, blenders) may also be used for dessert cocktails or specialty drinks with gluten-containing garnishes (e.g., cookie crumbs). So, it’s worth being extra careful when it comes to cross-contamination. 🍪🍫

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To Sum Up

Overall, if I had to give our Olive Garden gluten-free menu a rating, it’d be a mixed bag out of 10, given how much of their menu is relatively unsafe for celiacs alike. 🤚🚫

Yet, on the other hand, they do have a very special gluten-sensitive menu, making it easier for celiacs to know which parts of their menu to avoid, and which ones to go straight for! ✅❌

And, besides those gluten-sensitive dishes that are specifically made for celiacs in mind, you’re also able to pick between celiac-safe sides and kids meals, too! 🍝🧀🍅

Granted, a huge chunk of Olive Garden’s menu remains totally unsafe for celiacs, and between that and cross-contamination, remember to be careful when you dine at Olive Garden!

In the meantime, though, make sure to stay tuned to us here at Great Without Gluten for even more celiac-friendly and gluten-free eating-out guides! ✍📝

And hey, we’ve covered plenty of other casual dining eateries and fast food chains that actually have bucketloads of gluten-free and celiac-safe options, with perhaps a bit more options than our Olive Garden gluten-free menu! 🥗🥪🥩

And, while you’re here, you might also want to check out my other eating-out guides and some tasty gluten‑free recipes!

If you’re craving other fast-food or casual dining chains and gourmet meals, do check out my celiac-friendly, gluten-free eating guides to Waffle House, Outback Steakhouse, Red Robin, The Cheesecake Factory, Chick-fil-A, IHOP, Applebee’s, Krispy Kreme, Panda Express, Taco Bell, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera Bread, Denny’s, Sonic, Popeyes, Dunkin Donuts, Texas Roadhouse, Five Guys, Chipotle, Starbucks and more! 🍔🍟

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Frequently Asked Questions

While doing some research for our Olive Garden gluten-free guide here, I’ve found a few pretty interesting questions that remain unanswered, so here’s what I think of them:

Does Olive Garden offer any gluten-free appetizers?

No. None of Olive Garden’s appetizers are certified gluten-free. All of their shareable starters (fried mozzarella, calamari, toasted ravioli, breadsticks, etc.) all use wheat-based batters, breading, or dippers, and are therefore unsafe for celiacs.

Which Olive Garden entrées are truly gluten-free?

Olive Garden doesn’t label any classic entrées (pasta, chicken, seafood, or meat dishes) as 100% gluten-free, because they’re prepared on shared equipment and most sauces contain wheat-based thickeners. The only reliably gluten-free entrées are those specifically on their ‘Gluten Sensitive’ menu, such as their Zuppa Toscana, House Salad without croutons, Herb-Grilled Salmon, Grilled Chicken Parmigiana (no breading), and more.

Can I customize a pasta dish at Olive Garden to be gluten-free?

Olive Garden offers a dedicated gluten-sensitive pasta – rotini with marinara or meat sauce – made with rice flour pasta and gluten-free sauces. You can order this under their Cucina Mia ‘Create Your Own Pasta’ option by choosing rotini and a gluten-free sauce. However, due to shared prep surfaces and utensils, you should still be careful when it comes to cross-contact.

Are Olive Garden’s salads and soups safe for celiacs?

Only a few of their salads and soups are safe. Their House Salad (without croutons) comes with a choice of gluten-free dressing. Meanwhile, the Zuppa Toscana is also made with gluten-free broths and no wheat-based ingredients in sight. On the other hand, all of Olive Garden’s other soups and dressings contain flour-based thickeners or croutons, and that should be avoided.

Which sides can I have at Olive Garden if I’m gluten-free?

Steamed broccoli, asparagus, mixed vegetables, and mashed potatoes are all naturally gluten-free, but make sure that you request a fresh plate and serving utensils to reduce cross-contact with wheat and gluten-containing items.

Photo credit

General Mills Restaurants, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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