6 Salad Dressings
Yufei Labbe
Oh Nagi, you make my life so much easier. Thanks for explaining the basics of a dressing and how to make subtle changes if we wish to spice up our life a bit (lol)! Love the storage times, too. I came here as i have to make some mason jar lunches to take camping, and your instructions are priceless. Thank you so much!!!
I have been making my own salad dressing for years, but this recipe is next level! Very adaptable to what ingredients I have at the time, the ratios are spot on and I will never look for another recipe. Salads are never boring or the same now ?
I recommend storing your homemade dressing in a glass container in the refrigerator. I like to use mason jars! One thing to note: homemade dressings made with olive oil tend to harden and separate when stored in the fridge. This is completely normal! Take the dressing out of the fridge about 20 minutes before using so it can come to room temperature and then give it a quick shake to recombine the ingredients.
My go-to apple cider vinegar salad dressing recipe. If EBF has a house dressing, this would be it! Get all the health benefits of apple cider vinegar with this delicious dressing! Use it for this Brussels Sprout Chopped Salad or as a marinade for grilled chicken.
One of my favorite salad dressings growing up was honey mustard and I still love it to this day. This version is lighter than regular honey mustard but still just as flavorful! Try it as a dipping sauce for my Baked Paleo Chicken Tenders.
This recipe is part of my classic salad dressing collection, which includes go-to recipes for oil and vinegar based dressings, like vinaigrette and balsamic vinaigrette, as well as creamy dressings, such as buttermilk ranch dressing and blue cheese dressing, which are typically made with mayonnaise and dairy products.
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
I have tried a few different homemade Caesar dressings. This is by far the best. I did add a little more Worcestershire. I was not able to find the anchovy paste so I crushed some anchovies and added. So good!
Greek Salad Dressing
I almost always have this zingy vinaigrette on hand in the summertime. I love tossing it with summer picnic fare like my classic Greek salad, Italian chopped salad, and grilled vegetables.
Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing
I especially love this healthy salad dressing with fall and winter produce. Toss it with colorful roasted vegetables, caramelized winter squash, Brussels sprouts, or this Wheat Berry Salad.
Cilantro Lime Dressing
You can make this bright, zesty salad dressing three ways. Blend it into a vibrant vinaigrette, or make it creamy by adding avocado or Greek yogurt. All three versions are fantastic on taco salads (and tacos!) and as a dipping sauce for burritos and quesadillas.
Avocado Dressing
Thanks to the avocado, this dressing is smooth, creamy, and packed with healthy fats. I like to make it with dill for fresh, savory flavor, but basil or mint would work nicely here too.
The funny thing about having a food blog and sharing recipes is that sometimes the best recipes are inside another recipe! Case in point: all my salad dressings. I touched upon this in my post about my obsession with signature house salads, but dressings are my FAVORITE.
In fact, I have an entire portion of Everyday Dinners dedicated to my favorite dressings and sauces that you can make for the week to elevate your meals and add variety to your life. A good salad dressing is EVERYTHING.
Crunchy or creamy? Chocolate or vanilla? Life is filled with tough choices. Take salad, for example. Sometimes, I keep it simple with a vinaigrette dressing, while other times I whisk together an herb-packed Green Goddess riff. They're both delicious, so sometimes it's hard to choose which one to make. Until I realized I didn't need to.
It all became clear when I tasted Associate Food Editor Anna Stockwell's recent quinoa and grilled vegetable salad. A mixture of quinoa and lentils are mixed with a quick red wine vinegar-honey vinaigrette, then spread into a thin layer on a platter and topped with tons of delicious grilled vegetables and steak. A second creamy and tangy yogurt-tahini dressing is drizzled over the whole thing. One salad. Two dressings. Why not?
Sure, you can certainly get away with just one, but when you want to pack in flavor, a two-pronged salad attack is a great way to do it. In this salad, the first vinaigrette helps seal flavor into the grains, while the tahini cream sauce brightens up the hearty notes in the grilled ingredients.
And this approach can work in any salad bowl: tossing vegetables and lettuces in a vinaigrette can help brighten and flavor them, while drizzling a spice-infused oil, chunky herb oil, or a creamy sauce over grilled or roasted meats can help finish and round out the dish. Plus double the sauce is double the points for presentation. Your salads just look prettier.
Combine the vinegar, salt, and pepper in a small bottle or jar; screw on the lid and shake briskly until the salt dissolves. Add the oil, reseal, and shake again until the ingredients combine. Drizzle immediately over your salad, or set the dressing aside and shake again just before serving. Makes about 1/4 cup.
If you have been following Green Healthy Cooking for a while, you know I absolutely love salads! They are so incredibly versatile and flavorful. Combining flavors and textures is what makes a salad special.
You can also, substitute the maple syrup with honey and the Balsamic vinegar with either apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or lemon juice and swoop di swoop you just made a Honey Mustard Dressing.
This Greek Yogurt Herb Dressing is a super versatile dressing when you have some herbs going sad in the fridge. A nice tangy-flavored dressing made for all the yogurt lovers out there.
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Or choose a light, flavorless oil like grapeseed oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil. Avocado oil can be delicious, too. For some extra flavor, you can even swap in a touch of nut oil like walnut oil or hazelnut oil; or a bit of sesame oil adds a nutty vibe that complements Asian foods nicely. Just use a light touch with the more potent oils.
Ahhh, so many lovely varieties of vinegar. Most wine vinegars will yield a lighter vinaigrette. Rice vinegar is also a nice, light choice. Apple cider vinegar lends a nice little bite (I like using it in salads with apple). Balsamic vinegar is a bolder choice, but lends a wonderful sweet/tart flavor to the mix. Sherry vinegar is also nice, but can be bold, so tread lightly.
As I referenced in the formula above, aside from oil and vinegar, the only other thing you really need for a superb and super-simple vinaigrette is a bit of salt (I like kosher salt or sea salt) and pepper (I prefer freshly ground black pepper).
Add fresh or frozen raspberries along with the other salad dressing ingredients to a blender and puree. Also works with strawberries or blueberries! Go with about 1/2 cup berries per 1 cup of dressing. A bit of shallot and a drizzle of honey go nicely too.
I put all ingredients in mason jar and shook until well blended. Put it in fridge overnight and the oil is chunky looking and not very appetizing. Did I do something wrong? Can I use the same vinegarette to take to the bbq today?
This dressing is a perfect example of that. We eat salads often and love vinaigrettes. So, just by choosing ingredients thoughtfully and adding a few to jack things up can turn an ordinary salad dressing into a superfood party!
This Greek salad dressing is as simple as can be and tastes better than anything you can buy in the store. Whip up a fresh batch and store it in your fridge to use throughout the week!
Lisa is a bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, and YouTuber (with over 2.5 million subscribers) living in sunny Southern California. She started Downshiftology in 2014, and is passionate about making healthy food with fresh, simple and seasonal ingredients.
This was a big hit last night at an impromptu meal with company. For my variations, I doubled the Dijon mustard and the oregano, and finely shredded the garlic to equal a packed 1/2 tsp. Also, I added a pinch of thyme, which rounded out the herbal flavor. We served a basic Greek horiatiki salad with a crunchy chicken cutlet cubed over top. Everyone loved it. Thank you.
Very good recipe. My only variation was to use 4 tsp of fresh thyme from the garden, instead of 2 tsp dried. Served it up with turmeric rice garnished with toasted pine nuts, along with steamed peas & Greek salad. A company-worthy meal.
This is a bit too acidic for my throat and I only used a small lemon. I would need to experiment next time and maybe, add more olive oil or lessen the vinegar. Overall, i would still use this as an alternative to other dressing flavours I use because I like the simplicity, pantry-friendly, and healthy recipe!
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