What Olive Garden Microwaves Before It Hits Your Table According To Former Employees

With humble beginnings in Orlando, Florida, Olive Garden has built a reputation for offering a menu full of delicious signature dishes. However, along with Olive Garden's great success, the chain has plenty of secrets hidden within the unseen kitchens of every location. One trade secret is that not everything is made fresh and from scratch; in fact, according to some former employees, Olive Garden microwaves certain vegetables, dips, and desserts before they arrive at your table. While it may seem taboo for a restaurant to use microwaves, it's actually more common than one may think.

Clearing the worry from anyone's minds, Olive Garden maintains its commitment to provide freshly made food for a good portion of its offerings. Certainly, many dishes arrive premade and frozen, but they're still reheated by other means than the microwave. While the O.G. hasn't clarified its stance on microwave usage, a few Redditors who previously worked there took to Reddit to address it. In summary, there are approximately two to three microwaves per kitchen, depending on that location's business. When needed, they're mainly used to heat certain sauces, mushrooms, broccoli, the restaurant's macaroni and cheese entree, and warm desserts. 

The deeper details of Olive Garden's microwave usage get a little murky. However, according to former employees on both Reddit and Quora, it's minimal at best. The chain's line cooks prefer any of the other heat sources at their disposal, but aren't afraid to use microwaves. While soups are often made from scratch in the mornings, they are sometimes heated in a microwave for a short time before being served. Line cooks will also use the microwave to speed up the cooking process for their stuffed mushrooms before they go in the oven. Other restaurant-employed Redditors who have worked at other eateries confirm that microwave usage is not an uncommon practice. According to one Quora thread, fine dining establishments will even utilize microwaves to quickly heat or defrost a dish.

Without a doubt, the microwave likely isn't the first choice of a heat source for culinary professionals and enthusiasts. Many culinary workers on Quora even agree there's always a possibility that using it could alter the quality of the meal. With that in mind, everyone can agree that, while some things are best kept out of microwaves, they have a place in the realm of cooking. Culinary icon Alton Brown has openly stated on X that "microwaves aren't bad, they're just misunderstood." They're great for drying out fresh herbs for easier grinding, and can give you a head start on melting a traditional grilled cheese sandwich.