Easily Turn Olive Garden's Signature Salad Into A Heartier Meal With This One Request

Olive Garden has a number of affordable Italian-American options for diners to get a decent meal at an even better price. It's how it's remained one of the most popular casual dining chains in the United States. If you know a few tricks, you can customize different meals any way you want — as long as that location is willing to honor your request. While there are some dishes to avoid ordering, you can't go wrong with a signature salad. Next time you're craving the salad, though, turn it into a heartier, more filling meal by adding a protein that's packed with flavor, such as chicken Parmesan or shrimp tossed in Alfredo sauce.

While you can add the standard grilled shrimp or chicken to an Olive Garden signature salad without issue, chat with your server about other potential add-ons if you want more flavor. You can expect to pay extra for something like this, but as long as the restaurant isn't too busy, they may agree to top the salad with just about anything you want (for an additional charge). Adding chicken Parmesan to salad, for example, gives it a much bigger flavor profile while still sticking to the salad base (as opposed to a heaping portion of pasta).

Chicken Parmesan is one of Olive Garden's best dishes, so it's worth asking for it over a salad. Otherwise, Olive Garden's house salad doesn't come with too much flavor on its own, though the chain's signature Italian dressing can be served on the side. The dish already comes with two breadsticks, but add an extra order of them to build a much bigger meal. Plus, an extra side of dressing is perfect for dipping.

Beyond the chicken and shrimp, try asking for a 6-ounce sirloin over your salad. Olive Garden offers the dish with herb butter and a side of fettuccine Alfredo, but if you just want sliced sirloin over the salad, they can likely make it happen and adjust the price accordingly. Of course, if you're looking for the best bang for your buck with the salad, it's best to go with the soup, salad, and breadsticks combo meal; this offers all three items for only $1 more at lunch time than if you'd just ordered the salad on its own. If you want this combo at dinner, the price increases to $12, which still feels like a solid deal.