Olive Garden under 1,200 calories: 35 plates, ranked

Of the 43 dishes we track at Olive Garden, 35 come to 1,200 calories or less with the sides and choices they come with — 81%. The most protein in one plate under 1,200 is the Grilled Chicken Margherita, with chicken & gnocchi soup, 76 g for 880 calories, and it is the most filling of them by protein and fiber per calorie too. 8 dishes do not fit under 1,200.

Source: Olive Garden nutrition guide (official), August 31, 2026 edition · Data refreshed September 16, 2026

• 35 plates under 1,200
• 76g most protein in one plate
• 85g protein in a full meal
• 8 dishes over 1,200

As of October 2026, 35 of the 43 Olive Garden dishes we track come to 1,200 calories or less with the choices they come with, and the most protein in a complete Olive Garden meal under 1,200 is 85 g (A Grilled Chicken Margherita, with chicken & gnocchi soup, and a Cappuccino).

Three complete Olive Garden meals under 1,200 calories

Under 1,200, the most-protein meal is built on the Grilled Chicken Margherita (650 cal for the dish alone), which leaves 550 calories for the sides it comes with and a drink. One plate — a dish with a valid pick for each choice it comes with, never the same row twice — and at most one drink: the MinMax app's meal and the best under the cap, drink included. The lightest meal is unchanged from under 1,000; the others use the extra 200 calories.

Build your own Olive Garden plate under 1,200 calories → Swap a side or a sauce, add a dish, share the link.

Every Olive Garden plate under 1,200 calories, ranked by protein

One row per dish, counted once with the best choices that still fit under 1,200 — by grams of protein, then calories. The median plate under 1,200 is 1,090 calories. Figures as Olive Garden published them, rounded to whole numbers (how we check them).

What 1,200 calories buys at Olive Garden

Going from 1,000 to 1,200 calories adds 10 plates: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce & Sausage (2) (1,110), Spaghetti with Meat Sauce & Meatballs (3) (1,120), Calabrian Steak Bucatini (1,130), Chicken Parmigiana (1,170), Five Cheese Ziti al Forno (1,170), Stuffed Chicken Marsala (1,170), Eggplant Parmigiana (1,180) and Calabrian Shrimp Bucatini (1,190) and 2 more. The extra room also changes what 12 plates are counted with: Bucatini (Create Your Own Pasta) takes meat sauce and sautéed shrimp, with chicken & gnocchi soup instead of meat sauce and sautéed shrimp, with minestrone soup, Rigatoni (Create Your Own Pasta) takes meat sauce and sautéed shrimp, with chicken & gnocchi soup instead of marinara and sautéed shrimp, with chicken & gnocchi soup and Spaghetti (Create Your Own Pasta) takes meat sauce and sautéed shrimp, with chicken & gnocchi soup instead of meat sauce and sautéed shrimp, with pasta fagioli soup, and 9 more. Across the 35 plates on this page, the choices a dish comes with add as much as 700 calories. The heaviest plate that still fits is the Chicken Scampi, with pasta fagioli soup at 1,200 calories, exactly at the cap.

What doesn't fit under 1,200

8 of 43 Olive Garden dishes are over 1,200 calories even with their lightest choices; the lightest of them, the Calabrian Steak & Shrimp Bucatini, misses by 20 calories at 1,220. Tighter budget: Olive Garden under 1,000. Closest misses: Calabrian Steak & Shrimp Bucatini (from 1,220), Fettuccine Alfredo (from 1,220), Spicy Alfredo Fettuccine (from 1,330), Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara (from 1,370) and Seafood Alfredo (from 1,370).

More at Olive Garden

• Olive Garden calories & nutrition (167 items listed)
• Olive Garden under 600 calories (10 plates)
• Olive Garden under 800 calories (19 plates)
• Olive Garden under 1,000 calories (25 plates)
• High-protein Olive Garden plates (12 dishes)
• Olive Garden calorie calculator (build a plate under your cap)

Under 1,200 calories at other chains

The same cap at 3 other sit-down chains, where a dish is also counted with its sides. The counter chains are ranked on fast food under 500 calories.

• Outback Steakhouse under 1,200
• Red Lobster under 1,200
• TGI Fridays under 1,200