Dressing

ThatGirl_1968

I learned a trick when I went to Weight Watchers back in the day and it totally works (more so for creamier dressings). Put the dressing on the side, dip the fork tines into the dressing first then into the salad for each bite. You get the flavor of the dressing every time and use far less dressing than if you pour it directly onto the salad. I typically only use 1 Tbs rather than 2 -although guess that depends on the size of the salad.

lemurcat12

Balsamic vinegar with or without a little olive oil.

Red wine vinegar with a spicy mustard or dijon, with or without a little olive oil.

For the appropriate salad, low sodium soy sauce plus lime juice plus sriracha, with a tiny bit of fish sauce.

cbelc2

Balsamic vinegar. It tastes amazing with a few blue cheese crumbles on a salad. Mouth watering.....

emmycantbemeeko

There are tons of good low-cal suggestions here, and after eating homemade lower cal options for a while you'll probably find commercial dressings taste gross, like sickly sweet. But in situations where you have no control over the dressing options, try just dipping your fork in the dressing before you take a bite. You get the same flavor, with a fraction of the actual dressing. Also keeps the greens from getting soggy.

chandanista

ThatGirl_1968 wrote: »

I learned a trick when I went to Weight Watchers back in the day and it totally works (more so for creamier dressings). Put the dressing on the side, dip the fork tines into the dressing first then into the salad for each bite. You get the flavor of the dressing every time and use far less dressing than if you pour it directly onto the salad. I typically only use 1 Tbs rather than 2 -although guess that depends on the size of the salad.

This is exactly what I was going to suggest.

daw0518

I love OPA greek yogurt ranch for dipping veggies in or using on baked potatoes, but I love raspberry vinaigrette for my salads.

I also agree with others who have recommended dipping the fork in the dressing before each bite rather than pouring it over - this is what I do at restaurants so I can better control how much dressing is on my salad.

skbrodie

I just had a "taco salad" at McAlister's Deli that had vegetarian chili on top. It was prettttty delicious.

kshama2001

Cottage cheese as a base. Might add 1 t of olive oil, some vinegar - depends on what else is going in the salad. No salads this time of year. Brrrr.

BABetter1

I do "the fork trick" and eat whatever kind I want. I heard about this from a co-worker who heard it from their MIL who heard it from her dietician. If you like creamy dressings, but are trying to cut calories, get your dressing on the side. Dip the tines of your fork about half way (dip, don't scoop) in the creamy dressing before you stab up a bite of your salad.

The way it works is: as you take your bite, the dressing is at the front of your mouth and lips where the taste buds attuned to that sort of thing reside. It tastes like you got a lot of dressing, when you actually haven't had that much. I have done this many times, and it does work. I usually end up with most of the dressing still in the little dressing cup after I've finished my entire salad. It does work best with creamy dressings, although I have used it with other types. The runnier types just don't cling to the tines enough.

halfninja2

I think it really depends on how much dressing you want/need on your salad. If you need a lot, then by all means search for low calorie ones you like. Most of the time I can use any salad dressing, I just limit it. My favorite is honey mustard dressing, and the ones I use are less than 100 cal per 2 tablespoon serving. Ranch was my old favorite but since losing weight I've found it just has too many calories and too much fat for me. Rather eat more stuff in my salad than get all the calories from the dressing!

sherbear702

Ranch Dressing: 1 cup light mayonnaise, 1 cup fat free milk & 1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Mix.

1 cup light mayonnaise = 560 calories (16 Tbsp) 1 cup skim milk = 90ish calories (16 Tbsp) 1 packet ranch mix = 80 calories

Total calories = 730

730/32 Tbsp (1 serving) = 23 calories per serving.

biggsterjackster

low cal mayonnaise, mustard, lime juice, salt and pepper.

kmg3614

Bolthouse farms Avocado Cilantro 45 Cal in 2 T.... Or Ortega taco sauce on taco salad.

smcrimmon84

Light Olive Garden Italian and Bolthouse Greek Caeser are my fav right now! I also just use salsa sometimes!

janiceclark08

I like Kraft fat free Thousand Island or lite, the same with the Ranch, and 3 Cheese Ranch lite are low in calories. There are several out there that are good. Kroger has a lite Southwest Ranch dressing that is also good. I have used salsa on a taco salad.

SoulOfRusalka

lemon juice with salt and pepper, soy sauce, vinaigrettes

CaitlinW19

dmcb24 wrote: »

Bolthouse farms dressings are delicious and low calorie! 45 caps for 2 tbs serving. In the veggie section with the Marie's dressings.

Agree! I love bolthouse dressings. They are super creamy and don't taste healthy at all!

peaceout_aly

Mandi98U wrote: »

What do you guys put on salad for dressing that isn't very high calories?

Avocado, tomato and salt/pepper!

callsitlikeiseeit

i use the bolthouse farms dressings LOT (yogurt based) and also just got a couple of the amys light dressings to try.... i think a raspberry vinaigrette and poppyseed

I_Will_End_You

My favorite dressing ever just happens to be zero calorie. It's a red wine vinaigrette made by a local company.

thunderthighsandlightning

I just dip my lettuce into a bit of ranch. I honestly maybe use half a teaspoon of ranch max.

ZeroDelta

Ken's Steakhouse Greek Dressing 100 calories per 30g serving. I usually take a bag of salad mix plop it in a bowl with 28g of feta cheese and 30g of dressing. Sometimes I add chicken or shrimp for protein.