Olive Oil Substitute (in salad dressings)

moosiemom

Day 3. (Very new to this, sorry for the basic question) Last night, I was preparing my lunch salad for today putting in all kinds of good stuff --- arugula, carrots, apples, chicken, broccoli; and managed to keep it at 339 calories. Amazing! Then the salad dressing... balsamic vinegar (13 cal), honey (30 cal)... and then extra virgin olive oil... BOOM! 120 calories per tbsp! I was disappointed. I thought I might not be able to keep this up, unless I figure out a better alternative. I like vinaigrette dressings... I'd greatly appreciate your suggestions for a lower calorie oil. What do you usually use? Thanks in advance.

lishie_rebooted

All oils are 120 cals per tablespoon

PeachyCarol

I usually dress my salads with just a teaspoon of oil. It's enough.

PeachyPlum

There aren't really many options for lower calorie oils, but if you can't afford the calories, maybe go with a half tablespoon of oil and add a bit more balsamic, or fruit juice, or something.

I've actually gotten to the point where I just throw balsamic or red wine vinegar on my salads and skip the oil altogether (more out of laziness than anything else).

moosiemom

Thanks for your replies. I guess I need to divert from the classic 3:1 ratio of oil to vinegar. That was the worst part. For the recipe, I needed not just 1 tbsp, but 3! (I reduced it to 2, though.)
I'm assuming pre-made salad dressings are even higher in calories (plus the other stuff?)

Francl27

Honestly? I started just using vinegar and I can't even tell the difference without oil. I like adding some Dijon mustard too.

jgnatca

Oils are wonderful in moderation. EVOO is even nicer. Lots of lovely fat-soluble vitamins in there. The commercial low-fat salad dressings use different sorts of thickeners (I'm suspecting cornstarch) to achieve a similar consistency. I suggest fiddling with how much dressing you need. A Weight Watchers tip is to put the dressing on the side and dip your fork tines in the dressing with each bite.

But I've discovered since that a little vinaigrette tossed in to the salad helps it keep so much better.

Another option is an oil spray pump.

lemurcat12

mamapeach910 wrote: »

I usually dress my salads with just a teaspoon of oil. It's enough.

I've found this to be true also.

I can actually make a good dressing with just mustard and red wine vinegar or the like, but having a bit of olive oil generally makes it better and doesn't add many calories. The classic ratio isn't needed.

Need2Exerc1se

moosiemom wrote: »

Day 3. (Very new to this, sorry for the basic question) Last night, I was preparing my lunch salad for today putting in all kinds of good stuff --- arugula, carrots, apples, chicken, broccoli; and managed to keep it at 339 calories. Amazing! Then the salad dressing... balsamic vinegar (13 cal), honey (30 cal)... and then extra virgin olive oil... BOOM! 120 calories per tbsp! I was disappointed. I thought I might not be able to keep this up, unless I figure out a better alternative. I like vinaigrette dressings... I'd greatly appreciate your suggestions for a lower calorie oil. What do you usually use? Thanks in advance.

Oil and vinegar is vinaigrette. But, as others have suggested you could either not use any oil, or simply use less oil. Fat is a necessary nutrient. You'll absorb more nutrients if you leave a little in.

PeachyCarol

jgnatca wrote: »

Oils are wonderful in moderation. EVOO is even nicer. Lots of lovely fat-soluble vitamins in there. The commercial low-fat salad dressings use different sorts of thickeners (I'm suspecting cornstarch) to achieve a similar consistency. I suggest fiddling with how much dressing you need. A Weight Watchers tip is to put the dressing on the side and dip your fork tines in the dressing with each bite.

But I've discovered since that a little vinaigrette tossed in to the salad helps it keep so much better.

Another option is an oil spray pump.

Most of the commercial dressings are thickened with a vegetable gum like xanthan gum.

ElizabethKalmbach

I often dress my salads with tzatziki sauce instead of dressing. Lower fat, but still nice and tart, yet also creamy and 35 calories. Or I just skip the oil and go strait to fun flavors of vinegar. Mango vinegar on a salad is the bomb.

bbontheb

I make a salad dressing that total is about 200 cals, and then for gigantic salad meals I divide it in two or smaller ones divide in 4. tbs Brown sugar, 2 tbs soy sauce, tbs rice vinegar and 5mls sesame oil and 10 mls peanut oil. It's very good!

moosiemom

Awesome suggestions. I'll definitely try all these. Remove oil all together. If I miss it, just reduce it. Thanks much!

farfromthetree

jgnatca wrote: »

Oils are wonderful in moderation. EVOO is even nicer. Lots of lovely fat-soluble vitamins in there. The commercial low-fat salad dressings use different sorts of thickeners (I'm suspecting cornstarch) to achieve a similar consistency. I suggest fiddling with how much dressing you need. A Weight Watchers tip is to put the dressing on the side and dip your fork tines in the dressing with each bite.

But I've discovered since that a little vinaigrette tossed in to the salad helps it keep so much better.

Another option is an oil spray pump.

you beat me to it..I love my misto!!

Another option would be to just leave the oil off, I can just go with balsalmic or ingredients which flavor the lettuce such as a couple green olives, roasted peppers, salsa...

kwtilbury

I usually suck it up and absorb the TBSP as part of my daily fat intake. However, if I want to cut back, salsa usually does the trick.

PeachyCarol

ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »

I often dress my salads with tzatziki sauce instead of dressing. Lower fat, but still nice and tart, yet also creamy and 35 calories. Or I just skip the oil and go strait to fun flavors of vinegar. Mango vinegar on a salad is the bomb.

Tzatiki. I love it. I must do this the next time I have salad. Genius!

M30834134

Olive oil is good fats, so I plan for it and always use a tablespoon for my salads

lulucitron

I make my dressing with greek yogurt, chives, salt & Pepper and a little bit of Dijon and it's tasty. If you want to thin it out, add a bit of almond milk.

kellycasey5

OK...don't totally go off the board on how I bastardized my salad dressing. But I make an oil free vinegar dressing that is quite good.

Here's what I do: I mix 50/50 or half and half balsamic vinegar and plain rice vinegar. I mince up a clove or two of fresh garlic. I add some mustard (I like dijon but that yellow squeeze stuff will work too), and about half a packet of splenda. I put it all in a shaker bottle and shake it up, then adjust seasoning to taste. THEN I sprinkle plain psyllium powder (just a teensy bit at a time) in and wait for it to thicken a few minutes. I add a little more until it is the consistency I prefer. Tastes great, VERY low calorie, and not a splashy mess. It will thicken a bit more over time, so if you mix more than one or two servings start slow as it will glob up a bit overnight. If this happens, you can add a bit of water and shake it up and that fixes it easy peasy. I usually just mix a day or two at a time. This is really good with salads and sliced cucumbers.

If you don't have a sugar restriction, it is really quite good with honey. The sweetness cuts the vinegar a bit similar to how oil mellows it out. But, made with just the vinegar and splenda and psyllium and such it is low calorie and pretty darn tasty. I don't miss the oil at all, and then can add in avocado LOVE avocado in my salads!