Saturday, June 6, 2009

Olive Garden low fat entree - Venetian Apricot Chicken

Today a friend and I were out and stopped at Olive Garden for lunch. We had planned to just do the soup, salad and breadsticks, but since it was a weekend and around 3 the special wasn't going on so we ordered real food.

I will admit that I have a bit of a weakness for Italian sausage and I wanted to check out the Zuppa Toscana soup and asked my server if he knew how many calories it had. He came back with a sheet with the nutrition information guide which gave the calorie, fat, sodium and carb breakdown for pretty much their entire menu. Unfortunately there are not fiber listings on the sheet so I cannot accurately figure the weight watcher points for Olive Garden, but here are the calories and fat for the soup and salad offerings at Olive Garden:

  • Chicken and Gnocchi soup - 250 calories and 8 grams of fat
  • Pasta e Fagiiolo Soup - 130 calories and 2.5 grams of fat
  • Minestrone - 100 calories and 4 grams of fat (2 WW points)
  • Zuppa Toscana - 170 calories and 4 grams of fat
  • Salad without dressing - 120 calories and 3.5 grams of fat
  • Salad with dressing - 350 calories and 27 grams of fat
  • Grilled Chicken Caesar salad - 850 calories and 64 grams of fat!!!!
Yes, that was 64 grams of fat for a freaking salad. I love those and they don't love me. LOL.
btw - the breadsticks are 3 points each and so addicting.

I ordered one of the lowest calorie entrees on the menu, the Venetian Apricot Chicken. It was quite yummy and is listed as having 280 calories, 3 grams of fat and 32 carbs. Definitely worth a taste next time you go to Olive Garden. With most of the entrees hovering around four figures for the calories, I feel that I found gold. Just be careful to not be taken in by the breadsticks. Oh, and order water with a slice of lemon to drink (and maybe a free taste of wine too). All together I think I used up about 10 points at Olive garden, including a couple of breadsticks I couldn't resist. Not too bad for a meal out, though.

For more WW points for Olive Garden and other restaurants, visit Health Discovery.