If you are on a diet or are simply counting your calories, there may be a whole host of medical or personal reasons you might be doing this, but no matter what that choice is, it can often be made a lot easier by knowing specifically how many calories certain items have.
Counting your calories can be even harder when eating out at a restaurant like Olive Garden.
Unlike specific products it can be hard to get a good idea of how many calories are in these restaurant items, such as an Olive Garden breadstick, as the recipe can differ greatly from what you may expect.
We are here to make things easier so that you can count calories easily and without hesitation, allowing you to enjoy your day or night in confidence, rather than sitting worrying and calculating calories all night.
What Are Olive Garden Breadsticks?
Olive Garden has been dominating the larger chains of Italian restaurants quite strongly in the US for a while now.
For many the Olive Garden breadsticks are a hugely popular item that can be one of the main reasons people go – they have even made a breadstick sandwich!
People love to fill up on breadsticks before their meal, and often wonder how and why they taste such food.
An insider video from Olive Garden actually showed us how they were made and we were surprised to see how simple the recipe is. The breadstick dough is cooked, and then, while hot, the breadsticks are brushed with butter and topped with butter and garlic salt – a true winner.
How Many Calories Are In Olive Garden Breadsticks?
Maybe your date has suggested Olive Garden for a meal, or drinks, and you don;t want to seem fussy, or maybe you are going here for dinner and wonder if you can enjoy their specialty bread sticks in addition to whatever other meal you may be getting.
Well, at Olive Garden, and most other restaurants in the US now, they have to list the calorie content of each food item on their menu by law.
So, as stated on the menu by Oliver Garden, the breadsticks from Olive Garden are 140 calories. These laws mean that you can trust this number as it will have to be right to make it onto the menu.
This said, if you are just eating breadsticks, this number would suffice, but most people will enjoy them with the dips they are served with. If you get 8 breadsticks you get the larger 8oz serving or you get the 4oz serving with 4 breadsticks.
While the breadsticks are 140 calories, the prospective dips served with the side can add up. THe marinara dip is the lowest at only 70 calories for the small pot, or 150 calories in the large pot.
The five cheese marinara dip has 200 calories in the small pot and 400 in the large. The alfredo sauce is undoubtedly the most calorific with 440 calories in the small pot and 870 in the large pot.
It can be worth taking this into consideration when counting the calories in a single breadstick.
Can I Make Olive Garden Breadsticks Healthier At Home?
If you are really craving some Olive Garden breadsticks, but don’t want to make a trip to Olive Garden, or even leave the house, then don’t fear.
The recipe uses some easy and helpful ingredient swaps, most of which you can find in your grocery store easily.
The main swap here is that the recipe suggests finding the whole grain pizza dough, which you can get in most grocery stores, and using this as your dough. This is both easy and quick if you can find the ingredient.
With whole grain dough there will also be less sugar which is good news for those who suffer with diabetes, and ensure your blood sugars son;t spike unnecessarily either.
In the recipe they also swap half the butter out for olive oil for something a little less calorific. You could even alter the seasoning on the breadsticks as you would prefer as the seasonings itself won;t add much calories.
What’s more is that the recipe even includes marinara sauce for dipping, which will already be pretty low calorie.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there is a clear answer to how many calories there are in the breadsticks at Olive Garden – 140 calories.
We know this because this is listed as such on their menu, per the recent change in law that requires these things to be listed accurately on most menus in the restaurants around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are The Laws Concerning Menu Labeling Requirements?
Since 2018 if a restaurant chain in the US has 20 or more locations they must clearly and accurately display up to date information concerning calories and other nutritional factors, such as if the food is gluten free, vegetarian, etc.
The same business must also ensure that each business operating under the same name as the restaurant chain is offering substantially the same manu items with the same nutritional information in each chain location.
Restaurants must also, upon request, be able to provide the following information for any item on their menu: total calories; total fat; saturated fat; trans fat; cholesterol; sodium; total carbohydrates; sugars; fiber; and protein.
So, by law most chain restaurants have to declare their nutritional information, including calories, in a way that is clear and accurate.
This ensures that all the individual chains are serving the same food that has the same nutritional factors, so that there is consistency. WIthout this consistency someone could misjudge their dietary restrictions that day, which in certain medical situations can be fatal.
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