What Type Of Meat Is Featured In Olive Garden's Lasagna Sauce?

Being in business since 1982, Olive Garden's menu has undergone several changes through the years. At one point, you could even order pizza there, and something called spaghetti pie used to be on the menu too. A few classics, however, have been available since the restaurant's early days, including breadsticks, tiramisu, and fettuccine alfredo. Lasagna is a long-time Olive Garden staple, too. However, the dish hasn't always been made the same way.

Back in the 1990s, for example, Olive Garden had a three-meat lasagna. Another version made with chicken and Portobello mushrooms was also an option. In 2008, the chain introduced a four-cheese lasagna rollatini, made with Alfredo sauce and chicken. Today, neither of these options are on the menu, and in its place is the lasagna classico. A more traditional lasagna, this entrée is made with parmesan, mozzarella, pecorino Romano cheese, and a homemade meat sauce featuring beef and Italian sausage.

Assuming the meat sauce used in the lasagna is the same as Olive Garden's Bolognese, in addition to the "pan-seared beef" and Italian sausage, it also contains tomatoes, onion, celery, garlic, olive oil, and red wine and is seasoned with rosemary, sage, salt, and pepper. This meat sauce forms the bottom layer of the lasagna, Olive Garden chef Willie Bradley shared on a local news show. Most recipes call for adding the pasta first, but Bradley explained that Olive Garden starts with the meat sauce to prevent the lasagna from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

After the layer of meat sauce comes the lasagna noodles, followed by cheese. Unlike traditional lasagna, which calls for béchamel sauce, Olive Garden's Americanized version uses ricotta mixed with parmesan and pecorino Romano. For the final layer, shredded mozzarella is sprinkled on top. This may seem like a lengthy process for a restaurant that doesn't typically make all of its food fresh, but according to Olive Garden's website, the lasagna really is made from scratch every day.

There may be three size options listed on the menu — family style, large family style, and individual — but you can also customize the lasagna in another way. While you can't ask for extra meat sauce, you can ask for extra cheese for a small surcharge. You can also request your lasagna be topped with three meatballs, two Italian sausages, or a combination of both.

The vegetarian option is no longer available, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's out of the question because Olive Garden is known to accommodate customers' requests for discontinued items, provided that the kitchen has the ingredients on hand. Considering the lasagna is actually made fresh, you may be able to request the meat sauce be swapped out for marinara if you're a vegetarian, and the same goes if you're instead craving one of the discontinued varieties, like the chicken and Portobello or spinach and mushroom lasagna.