Olive Garden's Worst Pasta Sauce On The Menu Isn't Bad, It's Just Boring

When foodies splurge on a sit-down meal — even at a relatively cost-effective chain like Olive Garden — it's nice when the meal is a little more involved than what epicures can whip up at home. To that end, we recommend that you skip Olive Garden's basic marinara sauce. In our ranking of all six Olive Garden sauces, we gave the traditional marinara the lowest marks. It's overall inoffensive, an effective example of the Italian cucina povera culinary tradition, and not as heavy as the cream sauces in the O.G. oeuvre. Still, it ultimately wouldn't be our first (or second, or third, or even fourth) choice.

The simple sauce delivers truly flavorful tomato tones, but that's about it. As our reviewer described, "It's a solid sauce, but I found it a little boring and slightly acidic for my personal taste ... With no other elements to divert the flavor, the acidity really comes to the forefront and takes the stage." Also worth mentioning is that the traditional marinara sauce features prominently in the chain's Chicken Parmigiana and Eggplant Parmigiana — the two lowest performers in our ranking of non-pasta Olive Garden entrees.

While the restaurant's exact recipe remains a mystery, foodies seem to agree that its traditional marinara comprises some combination of crushed tomatoes, herbs, fresh garlic, black pepper, sugar, olive oil, and cheese. Perhaps just as important as the ingredients list, Olive Garden makes its marinara sauce in-house every single day — at least, technically.

When a Reddit user asked Olive Garden cooks about how the restaurant makes its marinara and inquired if it's homemade, the top commenter replied, "Homemade? No, lol. The battuto is premade and comes in bags. You heat up oil and the marinara battuto, then add the marinara base and heat up to 185 [degrees Fahrenheit]." For the uninitiated, battuto refers to a mince of veggies like onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Other self-proclaimed employees chimed in, with one writing, "It's made in house technically, but not really." They echoed that the battuto and base are "both sent via supply truck 1/week. The battuto comes frozen." Another Reddit post, this one from a customer, agreed with our sentiment: "Wish I could cultivate the taste for OG marinara sauce. Always too bitter for me."

For diehard marinara fans (as we noted in our review), a generous topping of Olive Garden's iconic tableside-grated cheese can lend a little creaminess to help cut the sauce's acidity. That said, the Five-Cheese Marinara sauce (which placed third in our ranking) delivers plenty of built-in cheese, no upgrades required. For further (and arguably necessary) counterbalance, our reviewer recommended pairing any traditional marinara pasta with a creamy soup, such as Zuppa Toscana or Chicken Gnocchi. Pro tip: There's nothing in the rulebook that says you can't order a dish of the traditional marinara for dipping your breadsticks, then spring for another sauce to coat your pasta entree.