21 Best Olive Garden Secret Menu Items To Try in 2025

From Starbucks to In-N-Out, secret menus are all the rage — but where’s the love for the Olive Garden secret menu? Most of us don’t think about the giant that is Olive Garden when we think about a secret menu. But to those in the know, the many Olive Garden off-menu items are some of its finest.

And while the annual Never-Ending Pasta offer and iconic free breadsticks may be what drew you in initially (in fact, according to sources like Statista, the chain's breadsticks are a pillar of its success), it's innovative, custom orders like those on the secret menu that keep customers coming back for more.  

So next time you find yourself at Olive Garden, you needn’t stick with the Tour of Italy appetizer sampler like everybody else. Instead, go straight for these 21 best Olive Garden secret menu items. You’ll have more than a couple of friends jealous of your savvy ordering.

 Jump to Section

• Does Olive Garden Have a Secret Menu?
• How To Order From the Secret Menu at Olive Garden
• How We Created This Olive Garden Secret Menu Guide
• The 21 Best Olive Garden Menu Hacks To Try

Does Olive Garden Have a Secret Menu?

Although it certainly isn’t as well-known as the secret menus at some popular chains, Olive Garden does indeed have a secret menu. However, it’s not the kind of secret menu you might expect if you’re used to the likes of the Starbucks secret menu.

Rather than unique menu items, Olive Garden’s secret menu consists primarily of ways to modify existing dishes. So no, you won’t find all-new, off-menu pasta dishes — but you can switch out the sauce or customize the filling with these Olive Garden hacks. 

What’s unique is that having any type of secret menu is a feature not found at many Italian fast food chains, so for those who like to tweak, the Olive Garden secret menu is always a win.  

How To Order From the Secret Menu at Olive Garden 

Great news for all you introverted Olive Garden guests: requesting something from the Olive Garden secret menu doesn’t require any of those awkward pauses that secret menu orders often entail. There’s no need to name an off-menu dish and worry that your server won’t know what you’re talking about.

To order off the Olive Garden secret menu, all you need to do is clearly tell your server how you’d like your dish to be modified. To do this, it helps to read up on the menu before you arrive so you know exactly what you’d like. Reading up on the best food at Olive Garden, along with consulting this secret menu guide, is a great start.

But do keep in mind that Olive Garden's secret menu items can be confusing to the kitchen staff. Modifications are always a lot to remember when a restaurant’s staff is used to making dishes exactly the same way every time. So if you want to order Olive Garden’s off-menu items, you’ll need to have a little extra patience.

This is to say, don’t be too upset if your order doesn’t come out exactly right. While it helps to visit the restaurant at off-peak hours when the staff is less stressed, it’s always best to go in not expecting perfection when ordering from the Olive Garden secret menu. 

How We Created This Olive Garden Secret Menu Guide 

Rather than a guide to the best off-menu Olive Garden items, it might be more helpful to think of this list as a collection of creative lunch or dinner food ideas at Olive Garden that you might not get from the menu as-is.

It’s all about the customization here, so instead of specific dishes, we did our research to uncover the most helpful Olive Garden menu hacks. Relying on a combination of tried-and-true tips found on platforms like Reddit, TikTok and Instagram, along with our editorial staff’s culinary expertise, we discovered the best Olive Garden secret menu hacks to show you what’s possible. 

And while 21 is a whole lot of Olive Garden secret menu dishes, we hope that our advice inspires you to get creative. If this list makes you wonder whether a customization we didn’t list is possible, why not ask? Neither the Olive Garden secret menu nor this list would exist if customers like you hadn’t taken that chance.  

The 21 Best Olive Garden Menu Hacks To Try

1. Perform a Pasta-ectomy 

You’re not stuck with the sauce listed on the menu when you’re choosing a dish at Olive Garden. Why not get fettuccine with meat sauce, or penne with Alfredo?

Although you’ll have to communicate clearly with your server to prevent any mix-ups, you can order any sauce you want with any pasta dish to create a huge array of Olive Garden secret menu dishes.  

How To Order

Order the pasta dish base (pasta shape and protein) you want, then ask if you can swap out the sauce for whatever sounds better. Be very clear about what you want, or you may not get it. 

2. Order an Arnold Palmer 

This classic lemonade-iced tea blend is an Olive Garden secret menu item par excellence. Although it’s not on the menu, the franchise offers both lemonade and iced tea, making it easy for the staff to whip up this drink if somebody asks for it. 

How To Order

Most likely, your server will know what you mean when you ask for an Arnold Palmer, so simply ask if it’s possible to make one when you order drinks. On the off-chance there’s some confusion, ask for your cup to be half-filled with iced tea and half-filled with lemonade. 

3. Mix Up Your Breadstick Dips 

Marinara isn’t the only sauce you can dip those unlimited breadsticks in. With this Olive Garden secret menu tip, you can take full advantage of the many sauces on Olive Garden’s menu. Just ask for a side of your favorite sauce to dip your breadsticks in.  

How To Order

Simply ask for the sauces you’d like to dip the breadsticks in. As long as the sauce is on the menu with a dish, you shouldn’t encounter any issues. 

4. Veg Out Your Favorite Dish 

Did you know there’s a sneaky way to get extra vegetables thanks to the Olive Garden secret menu? Whether your dish comes with a side of broccoli or a bed of lettuce, you can ask to add extra vegetables to add some green to your dish. You may be charged extra, but this request is highly unlikely to ever be denied.  

How To Order

Ask for an extra portion of whatever vegetables come with your meal or pick a different vegetable from the sides menu.

5. Spike Your Drink  

This grown-up hack is another favorite from Olive Garden’s secret drink menu. Olive Garden has a long list of cocktails, but why limit yourself to that when you can add a shot of any liquor to any non-alcoholic beverage on the menu?

Thanks to Olive Garden’s secret menu of endless modifications, you can add a shot of your favorite booze to any drink of your choice. Soft drinks to spike include peach raspberry iced tea, strawberry-passion fruit limonata and raspberry lemonade. 

How To Order

Ask the server if you can get your favorite soft drink spiked with whatever alcohol takes your fancy. 

6. Don’t Settle for Chocolate With Your Zeppole 

Zeppole, or Italian donuts, are one of the most popular desserts at Olive Garden, and they usually come with a chocolate dipping sauce. But if you don’t love that combination, did you know the Olive Garden secret menu has a second sauce you can request?

Some locations will bring out a raspberry dipping sauce upon request. This allows you to avoid the chocolate sauce if you don’t like it or pair it with the chocolate for a choco-berry combo.

How To Order

Ask your server if there are any alternatives to the standard chocolate sauce when you order zeppole or request raspberry sauce and see if they have it. 

7. Make That Minestrone Creamy 

Soup is always a filling meal, but you can make one of Olive Garden’s best-loved soups even heartier by blending it with a creamier option. Order a creamy minestrone and you’ll get minestrone mixed with zuppa Toscana, a cream-based soup with sausage and potatoes. This Olive Garden secret menu dish is much richer and more filling than the broth-based original.  

How To Order

This Olive Garden secret menu dish is pretty well-known, but if your server doesn’t know what creamy minestrone is, ask for a bowl that’s half minestrone and half zuppa Toscana. 

8. Swap Carbs for Greens 

Olive Garden isn’t really known as one of the healthiest fast food chains, but many of the healthiest items at Olive Garden come from the secret menu. This is, of course, because you can so easily add good stuff and take off the things that clog your arteries.

So, if you’re looking to make your favorite Italian indulgence a little healthier, ask if you can switch the pasta out for vegetables. That could look like adding chicken Parm to your salad, swapping broccoli for fettuccine — anything your heart desires!  

How To Order

You could either request vegetables with the sauce or protein of your dish of choice, or order that dish and ask for vegetables instead of pasta. Both will get the point across. 

9. Sauce It Up 

Ever thought your pasta wasn’t saucy enough? Then this tip is for you. No matter what you order, you can request extra sauce to ensure your noodles are coated just how you like them. Just remember that this Olive Garden secret menu hack will likely result in your dish costing a little more. 

How To Order

Choose your pasta and sauce or already-created pasta dish from the menu, and ask if you can have extra sauce on that. How much extra you’ll get is up to chance, but it’s a fairly typical request that’ll usually amp up the sauciness of your dish no matter what. 

10. Ask About a Seasonal Favorite 

Okay, so this Olive Garden hack won’t always work, and it’s best to keep your expectations low. But if you fell in love with a seasonal menu item that isn’t available anymore, there’s always a chance that your local Olive Garden will still make it.

Granted, the Olive Garden secret menu isn’t hiding a bunch of ingredients that the store no longer keeps in stock. But if the kitchen still has the right ingredients to make a discontinued favorite, they’ll likely do their best to accommodate your request. 

How To Order

Ask your server if the restaurant can still make whatever seasonal dish you’ve been missing. Just know that the answer might well be “sorry, no,” and don’t get too stuck on it. 

11. Take Away a Kid-Sized Meal 

Olive Garden’s huge portions are legendary, and we can’t always finish them. And while it’s good to have leftovers, there’s an Olive Garden secret menu hack that’ll eliminate the need for them.

Usually, adults won’t be allowed to order off the Olive Garden kids’ menu in person. But if you’re taking food to go, it’s possible to order smaller portions of most favorite Olive Garden dishes for yourself. Since you’re taking it to go, no one will be the wiser about who’s actually going to be eating them!

Kids' menu options include pasta Alfredo with broccoli, mini pizza with fries, and cheese ravioli. 

How To Order

Order a kids’ portion of any dish you like to go. There aren’t any substitutions or customizations here — just a little bit of sneaking around the fact that you’re not really the target audience. 

12. Lighten Up the Cheese 

Olive Garden entreés are notorious for coming with a hefty coating of cheese. Too hefty, some would argue — and if you’re among them, know that it doesn’t have to be that way. The simplest hacks on the Olive Garden secret menu are often the most powerful, and this is one of them.

Instead of consenting to a lactose-induced stomachache, ask your server to lighten up on the cheese. You’d be surprised how much of a difference that simple request makes at a restaurant that famously douses most of its dishes in the stuff.  

How To Order

Ask for “light cheese” with whatever you’re ordering. While interpretations of “light” may vary, you’ll certainly get less than you otherwise would thanks to this Olive Garden secret menu hack. You can also ask for any cheese that’s used as a topping to be served on the side, allowing you to add as much or as little as you’d like. 

13. Try a Different Protein 

Sure, you could have grilled chicken with your fettuccine Alfredo — but how about shrimp? No matter what protein you fancy, you can create an Olive Garden secret menu dish by adding it to the pasta of your choice for a custom order that perfectly matches your taste.  

How To Order

Scan the menu for protein options on other dishes that sound good. Then, ask for your favorite option in place of the one that comes with the dish you’re ordering. 

14. Order Italian Soda 

Olive Garden’s secret drink menu is just as versatile as its food menu, and it isn’t all about the booze. Italian soda is a favorite for all ages, and it’s surprisingly easy to order off the Olive Garden secret menu.

Since Italian soda only consists of club soda and syrup, most Olive Garden locations will already have the ingredients to make this drink. You’ll just have to ask what flavors of fruit syrup are currently available, since this can vary seasonally and geographically.  

How To Order

Ask for an Italian soda, specifying that you’d like a club soda mixed with whatever available flavor syrup you choose. 

15. Swap Your Sampler Dishes 

You could take a Tour of Italy, sure. But the Olive Garden secret menu has an even better appetizer to offer: a fully customizable Sampler Italiano that allows you to choose any three starters to combine into one glorious platter.

Mix and match whatever strikes your fancy, whether that’s three separate starters or three orders of the same time-tested favorite. If you can’t decide, popular options include toasted ravioli, fried mozzarella and lasagna fritta.

How To Order

Pick out up to three appetizers (doubling or even tripling up is allowed), then order the Sampler Italiano with your selections. Since it’s an intentionally customizable menu item, you’re unlikely to run into trouble with kitchen mishaps mixing up your sampler order.

16. Nix the Gluten in Your Pasta 

Not many people know that Olive Garden actually has gluten-free pasta alternatives, but it does. So if, for any reason, you’re avoiding gluten, you don’t have to stick to a plain old salad or a pasta-less meat dish: simply hop over to the Olive Garden secret menu for this uber-helpful hack.

While your options are limited (the only available shape is rotini and the only available sauces are marinara and meat sauce), it’s better than nothing. And you can mix up those basic options with cheese, protein or even vegetables to make a substantial bowl of gluten-free pasta.  

How To Order

Easy: order gluten-free pasta with your preferred sauce of the two that are available, and any toppings you might want. 

17. Make It Vegetarian 

Vegetarians despairing of their lack of options at Olive Garden ought to get acquainted with this Olive Garden secret menu hack. If you don’t want to build-your-own pasta (or other dish), simply order one of the meat or seafood dishes and request that the meat be left off.

While it hurts the wallet to pay full price for an entrée that was meant to come with meat, this hack opens tons of doors for vegetarian diners. You can also add extra elements, such as more vegetables, to bulk the meal out. Some locations may lower the price of your meal due to the removal of meat or seafood, but don’t count on this. 

How To Order

This one is simple as can be: all you have to do is ask your server to leave off the protein that comes with your dish of choice. Because it’s a subtraction rather than an addition, this hack has a much higher rate of success than some others. 

18. Indulge in Chicken Fettuccine Florentine  

We mentioned earlier that ordering a seasonal item out of season is one of the best-known Olive Garden secret menu hacks. But if you don’t have a seasonal favorite, this persistently popular dish is easy to order even when it’s not available on the official menu. 

But why is this seasonal dish, in particular, so easy to order? Mostly because it’s almost identical to the usual fettuccine Alfredo available year-round. All you’ll really need to complete this Olive Garden secret menu dish is a handful of spinach.  

How To Order

If your waiter is an Olive Garden veteran, they’ll probably know what you’re talking about if you order the Chicken Fettuccine Florentine. But if they seem confused, just ask to add spinach to an order of fettuccine Alfredo. It’s pretty much the same dish. 

19. Opt for Chicken Parmesan Alfredo  

Nobody’s under the impression that Fettuccine Alfredo is a healthy dish, so why not go all-out and add something fried to the mix? This Olive Garden secret menu dish is a favorite of pasta fans who want to add a little bit of texture to their bowl.

It’s basically what the name suggests: Fettuccine Alfredo with a chicken Parmesan cutlet (without the sauce and cheese) instead of the usual grilled chicken. You could, technically, ask for the whole dish on top of your pasta, sauce and all…but that would be a bold decision, considering the richness of both of the dishes involved.  

How To Order

For clarity, it’s probably best to ask your server to sub the grilled chicken on your pasta for fried chicken breasts, only mentioning chicken Parmesan if the point isn’t getting across. If you must, clarify that you want “the chicken from the chicken Parmesan,” minus the sauce and cheese. 

20. Make Noodle Soup

Another of the Olive Garden secret menu hacks involving the soup menu, this one allows you to recreate a popular comfort food. It simply involves ordering zuppa Toscana alongside an order of plain pasta. Then simply combine the two, adding the amount of pasta you want.

The best pasta for this Olive Garden hack is rotini, but you may also be able to get the pastina from the minestrone soup added, which is an optimal soup pasta. If you don’t want to overdo it on the carbs, you could ask for the potatoes from the zuppa Toscana to be removed. There’s also the option to get the chicken gnocchi soup with the gnocchi replaced with another pasta. 

How To Order

Order a pasta-free soup like zuppa Toscana and ask for your pasta of choice to be added or served on the side for you to add yourself. 

21. Ravioli Your Way  

This famous Olive Garden secret menu item isn’t always available, so don’t get your hopes too high. At many Olive Garden locations, ravioli is pre-stuffed for easy prep, and those restaurants won’t be able to do this customization.

But if you happen to be at a restaurant where that isn’t the case, one of the most fun Olive Garden secret menu tips is to try customizing your ravioli fillings. While you’ll want to stick to ingredients you know your Olive Garden actually has (like sauces or proteins), anything goes. 

It may not be possible to order this way at your local branch, but it’s always worth a shot. 

How To Order

Figure out what you’d like to stuff your ravioli with, then ask your server if it’s possible to customize ravioli fillings at this location. If yes, go ahead and request the ravioli filling of your dreams.

The Olive Garden secret menu isn’t always flashy. There aren’t many secret dishes waiting for you to discover them, and you’re basically confined to the building blocks of the regular menu. 

But what pundits don’t realize is just how versatile those building blocks are. Swap out a sauce or a filling, and you’ve got a totally different dish! So next time you go to Olive Garden, don’t feel stuck with what’s printed on the menu — mixing and matching the components of favorite dishes can give you the dinner of your dreams. 

For even more ways to explore your favorite foods, check out other experiences happening on Cozymeal.