The Ultimate Ranking Of Applebee's Sides

As of 2024, Applebee’s was the fourth most popular casual chain restaurant, falling in line behind Chili’s Grill and Bar, Olive Garden, and Texas Roadhouse. It’s no wonder that the chain holds a rightful place in the top 10 national casual chain restaurants. Its menu has something to offer everyone, from the Blackened Shrimp Caesar Salad to the Classic Chicken Parmesan and everything in between. Of course, what most of these entrees have in common is that they come with your choice of two complementary sides. Choosing the best sides can easily elevate your overall dining experience, while choosing poorly made sides can leave you feeling distinctly unfulfilled. But how can you tell which sides fall into which category?

Thankfully, you don’t have to guess and hope you get it right. I was given the opportunity to rank nine of Applebee’s popular side dishes from worst to best, based on their taste, texture, and serving size. To do this, I primarily relied upon more than fifteen years of experience in the food industry. You can find my full methodology at the end of this article. Now, ready to discover your new favorite Applebee’s sides? Let’s get into it.

The 4-Cheese Mac and Cheese from Applebee’s came in a decent portion size. My to-go cup was filled to the brim with cheesy pasta and generously topped with bacon bits. It also smelled really nice, which gave me great hope that the tasting itself would go well. Since this take on macaroni and cheese ranked lowest on this list, you can probably guess it ended up being a let-down.

When I took my first bite, I got quite a bit of crispy bacon, which was nice. However, it was just a bit too crispy for my liking, and some of the sharper parts stabbed my gums and palate, which I obviously didn’t enjoy. The pasta itself was a little too soft, but it wasn’t so much that it felt or tasted like mush, so I could have moved past that. What I couldn’t move past was how weird the cheese tasted. There were very chemical-like artificial tones overlaying the sauce that lingered in my mouth long after I swallowed, which prompted me to leave my serving unfinished.

I won’t be choosing the 4-Cheese Mac and Cheese as a side again, and wouldn’t eat this even if it were served to me by someone else. I recommend skipping it in favor of better-ranked options.

The Caesar Side Salad could have been truly great. The lettuce looked fresh and crisp, while the croutons appeared to be nicely firm to provide textural contrast. There was also a good amount of cheese sprinkled on top, and I was provided a good amount of Caesar dressing. This last part is excellent because I often find that salad dressing serving sizes provided to me by restaurants are insubstantial at best. And, while this side salad was more appealing than the mac and cheese, I wouldn’t call it “great” by any stretch of the imagination.

The biggest problem here was the dressing. It had such an overpowering flavor profile that it drowned out the taste of the salad itself, making the whole dish feel very unbalanced. In fact, it essentially tasted like I was just eating salad dressing, which I’m not in the habit of doing. The second (and much smaller) problem was that the croutons lacked any real seasoning of their own. While they were admittedly an excellent texture, they predominantly tasted like pure starch, which I don’t imagine most people enjoy.

I won’t be ordering this Caesar Side Salad on future trips to Applebee’s, and likely wouldn’t eat it even if served to me by someone else. Even if you’re a big salad fan, I suggest skipping this.

I’m a big fan of green beans and have done a few previous rankings revolving around them (like this one ranking canned green bean brands). But, as much as I love this vegetable, I can be quite picky when it comes to it. However, I can say with nearly absolute certainty that Applebee’s Garlicky Green Beans didn’t rank low because I’m picky, but rather, because of poor execution of this relatively simple dish.

The serving size was good for being a side dish, but from the very moment I opened my to-go container, I noticed that they looked a little odd. Unfortunately, this odd appearance directly translated to the texture, which was much too hard and a bit shriveled. It was so hard that I struggled to chew the green beans into swallow-sized pieces. Despite being called garlicky, these green beans didn’t feature much of a garlic taste or any real seasoning at all. If there were salt, pepper, or any other seasonings included here, I couldn’t taste them. Overall, these green beans were very dull and unappealing.

I won’t order these Garlicky Green Beans again, and wouldn’t likely eat them if served to me by someone else. If you want a traditional vegetable with your meal, there’s a better-ranked option I suggest you try instead.

The Tomato Basil Soup is a smooth, medium-consistency soup that’s topped with croutons and shredded Parmesan cheese. Tomato soup is one of my favorite cool-weather meals (which I almost always eat alongside homemade grilled cheese, of course). Unfortunately, I didn’t end up being a fan of Applebee’s version, which I found really disappointing.

I’ll start on a good note and say that the consistency and texture of the soup itself was really nice, offering a smooth, medium-weight mouthfeel that’s enjoyable on its own. The croutons were crispy and did offer some small seasoning, although the taste wasn’t super defined. But the cheese had a weird texture that was grainier and somewhat stickier than what I was expecting. There was also a weird smell to the soup that I can’t quite describe, which was a big disappointment as I heavily value the scent of my food. The taste of the soup, overall, was okay and more or less what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t groundbreaking.

I won’t be choosing this soup as my side on future Applebee’s visits, although I may consider eating this again if it were served to me by someone else. But, if you’re a soup fan, there’s a much better-tasting soup on this list I recommend you opt for instead.

Applebee’s Basket Fries are your standard French fries, similar to what you can get at almost any other chain or fast food restaurant across the nation. That being said, these didn’t turn out to be a bad option, but they weren’t particularly memorable, either.

The appearance of these fries was nice — they were golden brown, a decent length, and the cuts were fairly uniform. Eating them, I noticed these fries were a little crunchy and maybe even a little crunchier than I would have preferred, albeit not by much. They were also well-seasoned with plain salt, which is fine. Truthfully, I was happy they were seasoned at all because unseasoned fries are an issue I commonly run into when dining out. I don’t have any major complaints here, but the fries also don’t really offer any significant highlights.

I might order these again if I’m specifically craving French fries, but otherwise, I’ll mostly be sticking to the top three options on this list. If you want to order fries, these are a fine choice, but don’t expect anything groundbreaking.

The Loaded Garlic Mashed Potatoes start with Applebee’s standard Garlic Mashed Potatoes. This is then topped with shredded cheese (which I believe to be cheddar) and bacon bites. Upon opening my to-go container, I immediately noticed the mashed potatoes were generously loaded, and the dish offered a deep savory scent accented by light starchy notes and buttery undertones. We were definitely off to a good start.

The texture of the mashed potatoes was smooth and creamy, with a medium thickness to it. The cheese was nicely melted, and the bacon was okay. My singular complaint here is that the bacon was a bit too crispy, but it was an issue that I was able to mostly overlook. The dish as a whole had an excellent taste to it, featuring a predominant starchiness punctuated with buttery streaks, a deep savoriness, and balanced cheesy notes.

Despite the bacon being a little too done for my personal preferences, I would likely order these Loaded Garlic Mashed Potatoes again. If you’re looking for a potato dish to pair with your meal, these are your best option.

The serving size of these onion rings is okay, although I would have liked to see just a bit more. That being said, they looked delicious when I opened my to-go container and had a beautiful golden brown coloring. They also had a delicious fried food smell that made my mouth water. I was excited to taste these and, thankfully, they didn’t let me down.

As I took my first bite, I was greeted by a satisfying crunch, which was quickly followed by a heavy starchiness punctuated by sweet notes from the onion. The breading was well-seasoned and offered a slight oiliness that I look for in onion rings — not too much, but just enough to let me know I was eating something deep fried. Truthfully, I don’t have any major complaints about these onion rings, and the only reason they didn’t rank higher was personal preference. All three of the top choices are very closely matched in taste and quality.

I will definitely be purchasing these onion rings again and highly recommend you give them a try yourself. I suggest pairing them with barbecue sauce, which I find is a surprisingly perfect pairing for onion rings.

Like the onion rings, my one and only complaint about the Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash is that I would have liked the serving size to be a little bit larger. However, I still strongly believe this vegetable deserves second place in this ranking because of how amazing it tastes. In fact, I may be as bold as to say this was the best vegetable dish I’ve ever had at any restaurant — and that’s really saying something.

The texture here was just amazing, with the squash being a little softer than the zucchini and creating textural interest. Both were soft enough to be easily chewed without straying too far and turning to mush. There was a fresh earthiness with faint sweet notes offered by the produce itself, which was heavily (and perfectly) seasoned with salt, Parmesan, and ample butter. If I could eat an entire meal of just this dish, I would.

I will definitely be choosing this Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash on my future trips to Applebee’s, and in fact, this will be my new go-to vegetable side. I highly recommend you try it for yourself so you can understand the hype.

It was a close call choosing the first spot between the top two ranked sides. However, I settled on the Chicken Tortilla Soup as the top Applebee’s side because it offered a much larger serving than the Sauteed Zucchini and Yellow Squash. Since I thought it was a delicious, well-made soup, I certainly appreciated the generous serving size.

The broth had a silky smooth texture interspersed with chunks of chicken, vegetables, and spices. This was garnished by a generous amount of thin, crispy tortilla strips. Together, these created a predominantly savory flavor profile with mild earthy tones and a moderate richness, over which lies a medium amount of spice. The starchiness of the tortilla strips punctuated the primary profile, offering a nice balance. Truly, I had zero complaints about this amazing soup.

I will definitely order the Chicken Tortilla Soup on future Applebee’s visits and highly recommend you try a cup for yourself. Once you do, you’ll have zero doubts as to why it ranked as the top Applebee’s side.

I chose Applebee’s sides for inclusion in this ranking based on what was available to me. Using my personal judgement, I selected nine of the 14 available sides at my local venue in Vineland, New Jersey. Each side was eaten exactly as-is and as offered, with zero alterations. This includes forgoing any salt or pepper before tasting each dish.

To make my judgments, I relied primarily on more than fifteen years of experience in the food industry, during which time I routinely made sides similar to those offered by Applebee’s. Previous personal experience dining at Applebee’s and experience creating chain restaurant articles for Daily Meal (including this one ranking Texas Roadhouse sides) also contributed. Although personal preference played a role in this ranking, I aimed to be as unbiased about dish quality as possible.