Short Cuts & Variations

Whether you want to go quicker, easier or change it up – I’ve got you covered!

• Marinara – I love my copycat Olive Garden marinara – but you can use a store-bought marinara sauce if you like. I typically have a jar of Rao’s on hand. Or swap it with the five cheese marinara for more cheese!!!
  • You can also make the marinara ahead of time – you only need 1/2 the recipe for this dish – use the other half for spaghetti on another night for two family dinners in one!
• Cut the Cheese – Haha…I’m funny. What I mean is you could just use mozzarella and ricotta and it would fine. Or buy a pizza blend to go with the ricotta.
• Sausage – add cooked Italian sausage to the ricotta mixture for some amazing meaty manicotti!
• Spinach & Mushrooms – add some veggies!!! Lightly sauteed mushrooms and spinach (or frozen spinach that has been thawed and drained) in the ricotta mixture is good as well!
• White Manicotti – add grilled chicken to the manicotti and use alfredo instead of marinara!

How to make Copycat Olive Garden Manicotti Recipe

1. MAKE THE MARINARA – If you’re going to make it from scratch for the familiar flavors of the Olive Garden – do that first! It takes longer so that way it’s ready for when you are going to put this in the oven.
2. PREHEAT the oven to 400º. Spray a large 9×13 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add about 1 cup of marinara to the bottom of the dish.
3. PREPARE your noodles – if you’re using manicotti – you’ll need to boil them to al dente (no more!!!). These noodles will tear as you’re filling them if they’re too done – so a little more firm is what you want.
4. MIX your filling! In a large bowl – mix together all those cheeses, egg and seasonings. (Full instructions and amounts in recipe card below.)
5. GET YOUR PIPING BAG – I tried doing this with a ziploc and just snipping off a corner but the filling is really thick. It works best with some type of bag – either a piping bag or a thicker large ziploc bag and a PIPING TIP. Use a tip with a large opening vs. a fancy decorative one. This works well for either bag or noodle. Fill the bag with the cheese mixture.
6. DRAIN & RINSE noodles with cool water to stop the cooking.
7. FILL the noodles with the ricotta filling. Lay each filled noodle into the prepared baking dish.
8. TOP with more marinara and mozzarella. Be sure to cover all pasta with marinara to prevent it from drying out – especially if using no-bake cannelloni.
9. BAKE for 20-25 minutes covered with foil.

What to Serve With Olive Garden Manicotti

Turn this cheesy pasta into a full Italian dinner with a few classic sides:

• Garlic bread or breadsticks
• Caesar salad
• Olive Garden copycat salad with Italian Dressing
• Steakhouse broccoli or green beans
• Italian sausage or grilled chicken

Tips Tricks & FAQs

More Olive Garden Recipes

• Olive Garden Five Cheese Marinara
• Olive Garden Fettuccini Alfredo
• Olive Garden Giant Stuffed Shells

More Ricotta Recipes

• Ricotta Egg Bites
• Salmon Stuffed Shells
• Olive Garden Stuffed Ziti Fritta

How to make Individual Mini Cobblers

I love making mini desserts – it just seems so much more manageable than a whole cake or pie! I’ve made a few mini recipes (donut bread pudding, peach bread pudding, pound cakes & lava cakes) – but this was my first mini blackberry cobbler recipe! It’s a little different than my magic cobbler but just as good! Here’s how to make them:

1. TOSS fresh berries, sugar, lemon juice and cornstarch in a bowl, then divide among four 8-oz. ramekins. (spray with nonstick coating)
2. WHISK together flour, brown sugar, oats and salt in a medium bowl. Incorporate stick of butter using a pastry blender, fork or fingers until mixture appears sandy and crumbles with a few pea-size clumps. Distribute crumbly topping evenly over blackberries.
3. MELT 2 tbsp butter and drizzle over top of cobbler topping.
4. BAKE in 375º oven until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven, top each ramekin with a small scoop of ice cream and serve immediately.

Tips Tricks & FAQs

More Mini Dessert Recipes

• Air Fryer Peach Cobbler
• Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding
• White Chocolate Pound Cake

More Berry Recipes

• Triple Berry Cobbler
• Blueberry Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls
• Strawberry Chocolate Bark

How to make Longhorn Spinach Dip

Please don’t ever BUY Alfredo sauce – it’s awful!!! You can make a fresh, homemade alfredo that has far superior flavors in the same time as heating up that slop! And for this cheesy dip – we’re just adding cream cheese & spinach! So easy!

1. SAUTE butter and garlic over medium heat in a deep dish skillet. Cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
2. WHISK in flour and quickly add milk, cream and cream cheese to pan. Stir until the cream cheese is melted into the liquid. 
3. ADD in mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, Romano cheese and spinach. Stir until spinach is wilted and mixture is thickened. 
4. POUR mixture into an even layer in a small baking dish (8×8-ish) with nonstick spray.
5. STIR together 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, panko, melted butter, garlic, Italian seasoning and salt in a small bowl.
6. SPRINKLE parmesan topping over top of the dip and place in 400º oven for 10 minutes. Change oven to Broil High and bake 2 min longer until top turns golden brown. Watch closely!
7. DIG into that warm spinach dip and crispy parmesan crust with pita chips

Tips Tricks & FAQs

More Longhorn Recipes

• Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken
• Longhorn Spicy Chicken Bites
• Longhorn Stuffed Mushrooms

More Dip Recipes

• Hooter’s Buffalo Chicken Dip
• Skyline Chili Cheese Dip
• Street Corn Dip

Cheaper Options for the Truffles

You may not want to shell out the money for actual black truffles – so here are some ideas to making them without the actual truffles:

• Truffle Oil – DO NOT use truffle OIL as a replacement! Anthony Bourdain famously said “Truffle Oil is not a food.” and I agree. It’s just stinky!
• Porcini Mushrooms – these have a strong flavor – especially if you buy them dried and rehydrate them in the recipe
• Truffle Salt – this is a little more readily available and gives some of that flavor – although some of the truffle salts are not made with real truffle.
• Skip ’em – You can just go without the truffle and use more mushrooms – you’ll miss that truffle flavor – but if mushroom & brie is pretty great together on their own!

How to make Starbucks Egg Bites

Egg bites are easy to make – especially with a good blender or food processor. Don’t skip the water bath step – it really makes a big difference in giving you that creamy richness!

1. PREHEAT oven to 325º and set a rimmed baking sheet in the oven with enough water to go halfway up the sides of the pan. Spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray.
2. BLEND cottage cheese, 1 egg, Monterey Jack cheese, truffle slices, hot sauce, parsley, salt & pepper.
3. WHISK remaining eggs with cottage cheese mixture.
4. SAUTE mushroom in a small skillet and finely dice brie.
5. SPLIT mushroom and brie pieces among the 12 muffin cups.
6. LADLE egg mixture into muffin cups.
7. PLACE muffin tin into the baking sheet with water and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Tips Tricks & FAQs

More Starbucks Recipes

• Kale & Mushroom Egg Bites
• Starbucks Egg White Wrap
• Cinnamon Pull Aparts

Best House Salad Ingredients

It’s like the Chicken and the Egg – I’m not sure which came first – Texas Roadhouse or the House Salad? This house salad is a classic side dish and it’s typically how I make my salads at home! Did I do it because of TR? Maybe! hahaha! Here are the keys:

• Greens – start with Romaine & Iceberg – but use what you have! The flavor profile isn’t going to change that much if you use all Romaine or even if you swap over to Spinach! Make sure you’re chopping your lettuce in bite-sized pieces – I call it a “rough chop” vs. shredded.
• Cheese – Cheddar Cheese is a staple but you could easily swap out to Colby Jack (my favorite) or even mix it up with Sharp Cheddar or spice it up with Pepper Jack!
• Eggs – ok – hard boiled eggs might seem like the easiest thing – but there’s nothing worse than impossible to peel eggs! I use this America’s Test Kitchen hard boiled eggs technique and it’s FOOL-PROOF! I literally open the YouTube every time I make hard boiled eggs!
• Tomatoes – at the time of writing, we’re still in perfect tomato season – but that will soon go away. If I can’t get locally-grown tomatoes – I’ll switch to those juicy cherry tomatoes and slice them.
• Croutons – Texas Roadhouse uses the big ones – the biggest ones I could find were the New York Bakery Texas Toast brand.
• Dressing – the key to Texas Roadhouse Steak House ranch is using mayonnaise, buttermilk and EXTRA ranch seasoning! You can use sour cream instead of buttermilk but it’s not the same taste.
  • Texas Roadhouse also offers Blue Cheese, Caesar, Honey Mustard, Honey French, Italian, Oil & Vinegar and Thousand Island – but come on – we all know it’s all about the ranch!

Optional Toppings!

This is my favorite steakhouse salad – but you can jazz it up too with a variety of toppings and vegetables! Let’s talk about the options & substitutions:

• Bacon – you can add bacon bits to your Texas Roadhouse salad at the restaurant!
• Blue Cheese – you can add this to your Texas Roadhouse salad at the restaurant!
• Cucumbers
• Red Onions
• Shredded Carrots
• Olives
• Cheese – feta cheese or even mozzarella would be good!

More Copycat Signature Salad Recipes

• Olive Garden House Salad
• Maggiano’s Chopped Salad
• Cheesecake Factory Chopped Salad

More Texas Roadhouse Recipes

• Texas Roadhouse Ranch Dressing
• Texas Roadhouse Rice
• Texas Roadhouse Green Beans

Make it Quicker & Easier

This really doesn’t take long – you can make the alfredo while the marinara simmers – but if you’re wanting to make it a little quicker – here are a few ideas:

• Super Easy – just mix a jar of marinara and a jar of alfredo – boom done.
• One Jar – use a jar of marinara but make the alfredo – it’s easy and tastes much better than jarred
• Jazz Up the Jars – if using jars, add fresh herbs (basil and garlic) and grated cheeses (Parmesan) to freshen up the flavor from a jarred sauce
• Cheese Blend – instead of buying all the cheeses just find an Italian cheese blend that has most of them to save money and time

How to make Olive Garden Five-Cheese Marinara Sauce

This is an easy recipe to make and I think it’s really great to know how to make these from scratch! No preservatives and you know everything that’s going in it! Plus it’s on the table in 40 minutes!

1. SAUTE – Heat olive oil and add onions and garlic. Be sure to use a large pot but not cast iron because the tomatoes will react with it and make the sauce taste acidic.
2. TOMATOES – add all your tomatoes and marinara seasonings and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. PASTA – boil your pasta while marinara is simmering
4. BUTTER – in a saucepan or skillet, melt butter and add garlic. Whisk in flour.
5. DAIRY TIME – add in half and half and all cheeses – whisk until the sauce thickens and remove from heat.
6. COMBINE – Pour your alfredo sauce into your marinara! Stir to combine and spoon onto pasta!

More Olive Garden Sauce Recipes

• Marinara Sauce
• Meat Sauce
• Mushroom Sauce
• Spicy 3 Meat Sauce

Side Dish Recipes for Pasta

• Olive Garden House Salad
• Little Caesars Italian Cheese Bread
• Dominos Parmesan Bread Bites

Make it Quicker & Easier

These copycat Starbucks spinach feta wraps are an easy breakfast wrap recipe – but they do have a few steps. I like to bake the eggs so I have time to make the other components without having to babysit the eggs. It’s all about EASY!

1. Bake your eggs – I like to bake the eggs because it gives me time to get the spinach sauteed and the cream cheese mixed together.
2. Mix cream cheese with chopped sun dried tomatoes. I used my mini food processor so I didn’t have to chop them. But I had to chop some later…haha
3. Saute Spinach – spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray (less calories) and fill it with spinach. Use more than you think you’ll need!
4. Stir together spinach, feta cheese and more sun dried tomatoes.
5. Lay out lavash bread for your wrap. I don’t like all the bread so I trimmed mine to more of a square.
6. Layer on cream cheese spread, spinach mixture and your baked egg whites. Fold bottom of wrap up over filling and roll tightly.
7. Reheat frying pan and spray with non-stick spray. Lay in wraps seam side down and heat for 1 minute on each side until sealed and lavash bread is golden brown.

Reheating your Leftover Egg White Wraps

More Starbucks Recipes

• Kale & Mushroom Egg Bites
• Bacon & Gruyere Egg Bites
• Egg White Bites
• Jalapeno Chicken Pockets

More Hand-Held Breakfast Recipes

• McDonalds Sausage Burrito
• Starbucks Potato Chive Bakes
• Panera Bacon Spinach Souffle
• Dunkin Donuts Wake Up Wrap

Recipe Variations

While we all love Olive Garden, it’s fun to put your own spin on things – here are ideas to make this pasta sauce your own.

• Vegetables – add sauteed mushrooms to your sauce
• Meat – well it’s not a marinara anymore – but you could definitely add cooked beef, meatballs or sausage to your sauce (you can also do the OG Meat Sauce)
• Fresh Herbs – I used a combination of fresh & dried herbs – but if its summer – use fresh all around. Be sure to add fresh herbs at the end of cooking so it doesn’t overpower the flavor.
• Cream – if the acidity bothers you, add a little cream to mellow the flavors

How to make Copycat Olive Garden Marinara Sauce

This is such an easy, one-pan dish! Make your pasta while these robust Italian flavors are simmering and dinner is ready! Let’s make this great Italian pasta sauce:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven (do not use cast iron, as the acidity of the tomatoes may make the sauce taste metallic) over medium heat.
2. When the oil is hot, add onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic. Cook until the garlic becomes translucent and very fragrant.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, dried basil (if using fresh – wait until the end), vinegar, salt and ground black pepper to the pot and stir to combine.
4. Lower the heat and place a lid on the pot. Simmer (not boil) for 25 to 30 minutes.
5. If using fresh basil, add now and stir. Take a taste and add a little sugar if you feel it needs more sweetness..

Tips, Tricks & FAQs

More Olive Garden Sauce Recipes

• Olive Garden Meat Sauce
• Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo
• Olive Garden Mushroom Sauce
• Olive Garden Garlic Herb Sauce

More Olive Garden Recipes

• Olive Garden Stuffed Shells
• Olive Garden House Salad & Italian Dressing
• Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli
• Olive Garden Stuffed Ziti Fritta