Are Olive Garden's Soups Made Fresh Every Day?

When it comes to authentic Italian cuisine, perhaps Olive Garden is not the pinnacle. But that doesn't mean you won't have a rootin' tootin' good time when you're there. Plus, the food is pretty tasty and, wouldn't you know it, much fresher than you might have thought. Nay-sayers may pooh-pooh the restaurant chain. Some even throw accusations around about the food coming in plastic bags rather than being prepared fresh. However, Olive Garden has remained firm that its soups and sauces are made fresh daily.

While it isn't always positive when restaurant employees get the chance to speak out about the food at their place of employment, an Olive Garden employee spilled the fagioli on the restaurant's cooking practices, and honestly –- we're pleasantly surprised. They unequivocally confirmed that the restaurant's signature soups are made each morning. Not only that, but they clarified that whole ingredients, like fresh vegetables, are most certainly included in the process. (If that's the case and there aren't any weird additives, then our copycat Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana recipe should taste like the real thing.)

If the soup is made fresh each morning, the stakes are pretty high for an Olive Garden soup-maker when you consider that the unlimited soup or salad and breadsticks offer runs daily for lunch and dinner. How is a human meant to keep up? Well, that's where the plastic bags come in, as one TikToker who worked at the chain explained. Each day, big batches of each soup are made in the back of the kitchen where prep takes place. They are then portioned into gallon-sized plastic bags and reheated as needed.

Though some folks in the TikTok comment section refused to believe it, others defended Olive Garden and its soup. "I was a line cook for almost two years and, yes, it's made fresh every day," one person wrote. "They also freeze and donate their lasagna instead of reheating and serving the next day."

If you're wondering why a restaurant might want to use the plastic bags, think of it as a matter of food safety. Unless you can guarantee that the temperature will remain above 140 degrees Fahrenheit (or below 40 degrees), microbes can proliferate. That means keeping the food in a warming pot all day could allow the growth of bacteria that can cause illness. The safest option is to let the soup cool in plastic bags before storing it in the fridge. Later it can be reheated to serve.