Olive Garden Keto Dinner Idea Italian Sausage Alfredo With No Noodles :
- Italian Sausage Links : 470 calories | 39g fat | 2g carbs | < 1g fiber | 2g sugar | 27g protein | 2g net carbs
- Steamed Broccoli: 35 calories | 0g fat | 7g carbs | 4g fiber | 3g sugar | 4g protein | 3g net carbs
- Alfredo Sauce: 440 calories | 43g fat | 5g carbs | 0g fiber | 1g sugar | 8g protein | 5g net carbs
Total Nutrition: 945 calories | 82g fat | 14g carbs | 4g fiber | 6g sugar | 39g protein | 10g net carbs
My Least Favorite Pasta Was The Chain’s Lasagna Classico Which Contains 940 Calories And Costs $1799
According to the Olive Garden website, the Lasagna Classico is made with “layers of pasta, Parmesan, mozzarella, pecorino Romano and our homemade meat sauce.” The meat sauce contains sausage and beef.
In my opinion, the dish I got was a pretty mediocre lasagna. It seemed like a small portion, it wasn’t very flavorful, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the meat sauce, which I felt like it was drowning in.
Sorry Olive Garden, but lasagna is still best when it’s homemade.
Heres How You Make It
Dont be put off by the multiple steps to this recipe, it comes together very quickly!
Preparing the Chicken:
Preparing the Sauce:
To serve:
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Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo Allergens
Contains
Allergy Information: a Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo contains gluten, milk, soy and wheat. a Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo does not contain egg, fish, peanuts, sesame, shellfish or tree nuts.*
* Please keep in mind that most fast food restaurants cannot guarantee that any product is free of allergens as they use shared equipment for prepping foods.
Here Are A Few Basic Tips For Successful Keto Dining At Olive Garden:

- Avoid bread, pasta, croutons, breading, breadsticks, soups, and desserts.
- When in doubt, leave condiments or sauces out.
- For drinks, stick with water, unsweetened iced tea, or Diet Coke products.
- Refer to the nutrition guide.
- Download the free app for locations, menus, and to order: iPhone or Android
Heres how to order keto at this more-than-pasta place:
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Minestrone Soup Famous House Salad And A Breadstick
Since I’m a vegetarian, I’d have the Minestrone Soup because it has a ton of vegetables as well as northern beans to provide some plant-based protein, says Rachel Meltzer Warren, RDN, a New York-area nutrition writer, educator, and counselor, and the author of The Smart Girl’s Guide to Going Vegetarian. The low-calorie soup leaves room for a salad and a breadstick, too. If you stick with one serving of salad, one breadstick, and the soup, you can get out of there for just under 400 calories pretty impressive for a restaurant meal, she adds.
Thinking about dessert? There are ways to indulge without going overboard. I really like the Dolcini, suggests Warren. Theyre small dessert cups. Some are higher in calories than others my choice would be the Amaretto Tiramisu at 220 calories. We tend to finish what’s in front of us, so a petite portion of a real dessert is the perfect solution.
May Be High In Calories
Mayonnaise is often the chosen binder for chicken salad. Though it provides a creamy, rich texture, it may also add a significant number of calories.
Though many of the nuts and dried fruits added to chicken salad are plenty nutritious rich in fiber, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals they also tend to be higher in calories than other fruits and vegetables.
In addition to the ingredients in the chicken salad itself, what you serve your chicken salad with will affect the calorie content of the dish.
Serving a chicken salad sandwich on a buttery croissant or another refined grain product, such as white bread, adds more calories without a lot of nutrition. Serving your chicken with nutrient-rich vegetables might be a better option.
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Risk Of Foodborne Illness
Chicken salad recipes tend to contain a few foods in particular cooked chicken, fresh vegetables, and the dairy- or egg-based binders that hold the salad together that may cause food poisoning if contaminated with certain types of bacteria .
In fact, there have been multiple instances in which chicken salad in particular has been deemed the culprit in outbreaks of Listeria and Salmonella (
Thus, its important to use caution when preparing, storing, and serving chicken salad.
Ready-to-eat prepared salads should always be stored in the refrigerator at 40°F or below and eaten within 34 days of opening .
Also, to prevent food poisoning, chicken salad should not be kept outside of refrigeration temperatures for longer than 2 hours, or for longer than 1 hour if the temperature outside is 90°F or higher which might be the case at a picnic or potluck event.
SUMMARY
The main downside of chicken salad for health is its high calorie content. Otherwise, the greatest risk of eating chicken salad is the potential to get sick with a foodborne illness if the dish is not handled and stored properly.
Chicken salad is a food that has both pros and cons when it comes to weight loss.
Chicken salad might help some people lose weight, while it could hinder the process for others.
The protein content of chicken salad may help keep you feeling full longer. It might also assist in regulating your appetite and food cravings each of which can help with weight loss (
27 ).
My Least Favorite Of The Five Alfredos I Tried Was The Classic Fettuccine Alfredo But That’s Only Because It Didn’t Have The Extra Oomph That The Other Ones Did
Olive Garden has a whole section on its menu of “Amazing Alfredos,” and this is their most basic offering, which is just fettuccine and Alfredo sauce, which the establishment makes in house with “Parmesan cheese, heavy cream, and garlic.”
It’s a whopping 1,310 calories and costs $15.79.
As the website points out, this is a staple for any picky eater. That was me as a kid, so I have eaten a lot of fettuccine Alfredo in my life. Olive Garden’s is perfectly adequate, but it’s hard to mess up cheese, cream, and pasta.
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Olive Garden Chicken Marsala
At a whopping 1,080 calories and 56 grams of fat, this one is a doozy. Made with those lightly-floured chicken breasts, topped with mushrooms and a marsala wine-based sauce, and complete with a side of fettucine alfredo pasta, this dish has everything you could ever dream of. No really, this high-sodium, saturated in fat dish is truly the stuff of nightmares. It contains 500 calories from fat, 56 grams of fat, 31 grams of saturated fat, 2,690 milligrams of sodium, 68 grams of carbs, 8 grams of sugar and 69 grams of protein.
If youre following a low-fat diet, this dish alone contains more than your entire days worth of fat . The previous version had heavy cream and was stuffed with cheesebut shaving 300 calories off the meal by removing them hardly made a dent on its nutritional rating from health experts.
They originally pulled the Stuffed Chicken Marsala from menus, but then Reddit users started noting that they had returned to select locations about 10 months ago. We think they might want to consider keeping them off!
How To Make Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo
Brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Grill the chicken on each side until cooked through.
In the meantime, prepare the pasta according to the directions.
In a skillet, combine the heavy cream and butter. Heat until small bubbles form but do not let it boil. Whisk in the parmesan cheese and the garlic powder. The sauce will begin to thicken up. Remove from the heat and add the pasta. Serve with the chicken on top.
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What Is Chicken Salad
The first thing that may come to mind when you hear chicken salad is the classic creamy American-style dish that dates back to the mid-1800s.
This version of chicken salad often uses a standard set of ingredients like boiled eggs, celery, apples, grapes, and almonds or pecans. These staples are combined with cooked chicken and typically held together with mayonnaise.
Chicken salad can have many different flavor profiles and ingredients mixed in. Its typically served cold and made with cooked chicken, a dressing, and sometimes extra vegetables, nuts, seeds, or fruit for flavor and crunch.
For example, chicken salad can be Thai-inspired, combining chopped chicken and cucumber with the flavors of peanut, ginger, garlic, chili oil, and rice vinegar.
A traditional Mexican chicken salad, known as ensalada de pollo, uses sour cream and mayo to bind together chicken and mixed vegetables such as beans, corn, and potatoes.
You can find chicken salad at delis and restaurants, buy it premade at the grocery store, or make your own chicken salad at home.
SUMMARY
Chicken salad uses a binder like mayonnaise, yogurt, or salad dressing to combine cooked chicken with various other fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices.
Ideas For Customizing This Recipe

- Olive Gardens Fettuccine Alfredo is traditionally made with: flour, garlic, milk, cream, butter as well as parmesan and Romano cheeses. If you dont have Romano cheese on hand you can exclude it or substitute for parmesan, Grano Pradano, Piave, Asiago, or Spanish Manchego cheese.
- It may not be entirely authentic, but I like adding a bit of cream cheese to my pasta sauce sometimes to give it the perfect richness.
- If youd like a lighter version of alfredo sauce, try this one made with Greek yogurt.
- Add a veggie to your Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo, like broccoli. Broccoli works so well with alfredo sauce, chicken, and pasta.
- No fettuccini? Thats okay, any cooked pasta will work well with this chicken and sauce!
- Chicken tenderloins work great in this recipe too. Be careful to watch when you are cooking them though as they will cook up faster than chicken breasts.
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Zoodles Primavera Plus A Breadstick Or Two
My favorite selection at Olive Garden is the Zoodles Primavera, at 570 calories for a dinner portion, says New Jerseybased dietitian Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, author of 2 Day Diabetes Diet. Typically, it can be hard to eat many vegetables when dining out, she warns, but this meal delivers a whopping five servings. With spiralized zucchini in a light cream sauce as a pasta replacement, I can enjoy a bowl of ‘pasta’ while also packing in an array of colorful veggies, she says, noting that the high fiber content of the meal along with the volume of the veggies leaves her feeling satisfied without the excessive calories and carbs that a traditional pasta meal in a restaurant would pile on.
The best part? After all those veggies, if I want to splurge and have a breadstick or two with my meal, I can do it without any guilt, she adds.
Olive Garden A La Carte Keto Options:
- Grilled Chicken: 150 calories | 5g fat | < 1g carbs | < 1g fiber | 0g sugar | 27g protein | < 1g net carbs
- Italian Sausage Links : 470 calories | 39g fat | 2g carbs | < 1g fiber | 2g sugar | 27g protein | 2g net carbs
- Shrimp: 60 calories | 0g fat | 2g carbs | 0g fiber | 0g sugar | 14g protein | 0g net carbs
- Herb-Grilled Salmon: 460 calories | 29g fat | 8g carbs | 5g fiber | 3g sugar | 45g protein | 3g net carbs
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Olive Garden Keto Dinner Or Lunch Idea Ill Have The Chicken Margherita Please With A Side Of Broccoli
When all else fails, its hard to go wrong with a chicken breast, some cheese, and basil pesto. Note the lunch portion is slightly smaller than the dinner size. A tip? DONT rely on the menu solely. Compare the nutritional guide to the menu to stay within your keto macros.
- Chicken Margherita : 350 calories | 18g fat | 13g carbs | 5g fiber | 5g sugar | 36g protein | 8g net carbs
- Chicken Margherita : 520 calories | 24g fat | 15g carbs | 7g fiber | 4g sugar | 64g protein | 8g net carbs
- Steamed Broccoli : 35 calories | 0g fat | 7g carbs | 4g fiber | 3g sugar | 4g protein | 3g net carbs
Chicken Salad Is High In Protein
Protein is one of the primary nutrients your body needs to build and maintain bone, muscle, cartilage, and more .
Most adults need to eat 4565 grams of protein each day, though factors like age, sex, physical activity, and general health status could further increase or decrease those requirements .
Thus, just one portion of chicken salad could account for nearly one-third of your entire protein requirements for the day.
In addition to being essential for bone health and muscle strength, protein:
- regulates appetite (
- vitamin B6: 16% of the DV
Therefore, eating chicken salad could help you meet the daily recommendations for many nutrients.
SUMMARY
Chicken salad is an affordable and nutrient-dense source of lean protein that is easy to make at home.
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What Is Chicken Alfredo
Chicken Alfredo is a dish filled with creamy, cheesy goodness mixed with fettuccine and topped with chicken and parsley. If you’re looking to make Italian Alfredo sauce, the recipe calls for a mixture of butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese, Matador Network reports. The creamy, rich, Americanized version of Alfredo sauce that we know and love to devour is a bit of an alteration to the Italian version with the addition of cream or milk. According to CBS, Olive Garden makes their Alfredo sauce with the creamy Americanized version.
Olive Garden’s website describes their Chicken Alfredo as consisting of a sauce made from butter, cream, and parmesan cheese poured over fettuccine pasta, topped with sliced chicken, and garnished with parsley. The chain claims the sauce is made fresh from scratch daily, and, according to the restaurant’s spokesperson who spoke with PopSugar, also contains about three to four cloves of minced garlic as well as Romano cheese, in addition to the ingredients Olive Garden lists on its website.
According to PopSugar, the dish has been a customer favorite since the restaurant opened in 1982 and is a permanent staple on the menu. In fact, the item has been so successful, the recipe has remained unchanged since it appeared on menus and is considered the most popular dish at the restaurant chain.
Lunch Favorite Spaghetti With Meat Sauce
I would order the Lunch Favorite Spaghetti With Meat Sauce , says Kelly Kennedy, RD, who manages and oversees nutrition content, meal planning, and diet and nutrition coaching at Everyday Health. I love Italian food, and this really satisfies me while keeping my portion size in check.
For an appetizer, Kennedy would order a Famous House Salad with olive oil and vinegar on the side. While its challenging to forgo the breadsticks, I know Ill have plenty of delicious carbs when my pasta arrives, she says.
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In A Day How Many Calories Should I Consume
Age, size, height, relationship, lifestyle, and general general health are all factors that influence recommended calorie intake. In the United States, men should consume around 2,500 calories per day and women should consume around 2,000.
Eating a large breakfast can help with weight loss and maintenance.
My Second Least Favorite Was The Cheese Ravioli Olive Garden Describes It As Indulgent But That Wasn’t My Experience

The chain describes the cheese ravioli as being “filled with a blend of indulgent Italian cheeses.” It comes with a choice of meat sauce or marinara sauce personally, I don’t like marinara sauce, so I went for the meat sauce again.
It’ll set you back $15.79 and anywhere between 780 and 860 calories.
The cheese inside the ravioli is what sets this above the lasagna as well as the lower price for more food as I could barely taste any cheese in the lasagna due to the amount of meat sauce included. The ravioli had less sauce, which might be negative for some people, but I was able to taste the pasta more.
But even the best pasta with not much seasoning and a solidly average sauce can’t top anyone’s list of best pastas.
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