Chicken tortelloni Alfredo may be our favorite Olive Garden pasta dish, but the dimensionality of the Italian-American chain’s creamy mushroom sauce just might have us rethinking our order. In Tasting Table’s definitive ranking of all six sauces at Olive Garden, creamy mushroom sauce swept the competition. We based our taste-test on “overall flavor, preferring the more interesting sauces,” and as far as palate-intrigue goes, O.G.’s creamy mushroom sauce ticked off all the boxes. As we mentioned in our review, “[I]t’s savory, salty, and earthy thanks to the mushrooms, and a touch oily. Plus, you get the sautéed mushroom pieces, which give an almost meaty texture to your bite and an earthy profile to the pasta.” The rich, velvety texture coats every bite of pasta with fresh mushroom flavor, cream, and a variety of seasonings.
Notably, creamy mushroom sauce is also a key element of the Chicken Marsala — the non-pasta Olive Garden entrée that Tasting Table ranks as our favorite. As we’ve previously raved about this standout, multi-note sauce, “There’s a richness and complexity here that transforms a basic chicken breast into a meal that feels really special.” The same is true when it comes to the sauce’s pasta application. That heaviness and overall mild flavor profile accompany structurally thicker, toothier pasta shapes especially well; we recommend opting for the rigatoni under the “create your own pasta” menu option. At an Olive Garden location in Chicago, the meal runs for $14.99 (including choice of soup or salad and two breadsticks).
Creamy mushroom sauce puts the O.G. in Olive Garden
Carmen Varner/Tasting Table
In many ways, Olive Garden’s creamy mushroom sauce resembles a lighter, earthier version of its classic Alfredo. The lusciously-creamy texture and mushroom-forward offers an umami-tinged take on the rich cheese sauce foodies know. Even foodies who don’t like mushrooms will likely find much to love here — the sauce’s umami-fungi flavor shines through even if you leave the sliced mushroom chunks sitting in the bowl. On social media, ambitious home cooks with fierce cravings echo our praise, raving “I need to make the creamy mushroom sauce at home” in a Reddit post, and “I recently tried the creamy mushroom sauce at Olive Garden and have been trying to recreate it ever since” in another thread.
One Reddit thread inquires, “How is the creamy mushroom sauce made? Is it just Alfredo sauce with mushrooms and added things to reduce the thickness or is it a completely different recipe?” The top comment (from an apparent employee) answers, “It’s basically Alfredo with mushrooms and a mushroom base (condensed shrooms). The sauce is mixed cold and reheated in a pan per order.” Others contribute that porcini powder is added. It wouldn’t be the first time that the restaurant used one sauce to make another, either. Olive Garden’s made-fresh-daily marinara serves as the base of its meat sauce. Whatever the case, while we cannot confirm exactly how the creamy mushroom sauce is made, one thing is for sure: It belongs on your radar.
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