Looking for some low-cal salad dressing recipes/ideas

tash313

I hate salad, but I must force myself to eat it! Any good low-cal dressing recipes out there? Any ideas how I can make my salads more appetizing without ruining my diet? Please help!

talie

I use plain red vinegar (no oil) and choose wisely with the salad toppings to go with. This is easy to do at restaurants, too. Add a a litte feta or goat cheese and a ton of veggies (fresh broc, mush) should do the trick. Also, salad is always better when it's all chopped up! Try it!

jdramage

I mix some balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, cracked black pepper, and dried oregano. It's great for you and goes with any salad

EKarma

red wine vinegar is a good one.. I really love Lighthouse Sesame Ginger dressing.. Mmmm.. it's delicious, and only 40 cals per 2 tbsp.. Another idea is to buy a ranch packet and put it into 16 oz of Fat Free sour cream... it's about 25 cals per 2 tbsp and it's RANCH! To make it a lil more runny I put a lil bit of Fat Free Milk in it.. (if you don't like it too thick)

expressbug

Ken's makes a spray dressing and you get 10 sprays for 10 calories. 4 or 5 differant flavors too.

MommaPaz

I make my own honey mustard dressing (goes great with chicken).
1/4 cup mayo (I use Fat Free)
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Mustard (I use spicy brown)
1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice

I think its delicious! Using FF mayo makes it pretty darn low cal/low fat. Probably not as good as vinegar based dressings, but those just don't do it for me...

I also find that if you make some taco meat with Lean ground beef or turkey, Salsa and fat free sour cream take the place of dressing... Yum!

cdavis1126

If you are lazy like I am when it comes to salad dressing, check out Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard. It's usually in the refrigerated section where they keep the bag salads. It's very low in calories and sodium (for 2 tbps) but very high in flavor. I cook a full meal for dinner every night and just can't be bothered with tending to a dressing as well. I've bought low calorie dressing and tried them once and threw them out. This one is packed with flavor though. Absolutely compare the sodium levels when you are there because the caesar one is very high in sodium. Good luck!

Cassaaaaandra

Dressing: 1 tbs red wine vinegar, 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp sugar, 1/8 tsp cayan pepper. Add sugar to warm vinegar so it dissolves, once it cools add the olive oil - this will not ruin the nutritional properties of the olive oil

Goes great with this salad recipe:

2 cups spinach (or other greens)
1/4 cup feta cheese (athenos crumbled feta cheese with basil and tomatoe)
1/4 cup blueberries
1/4 cup strawberry halves
1/4 cup walnuts (or for a sweet treat pecan praline) - if you go over your calories you can omit this item.
3oz shrimp
red onion

This is my favorite salad! Hope you like it.

QuakerMom

Glad to see this thread. I am always looking for ways to spice up my salads.
Here's my latest salad dressing that I am in love with.

It's not as low-cal as the vinegar based ones, but is rich and creamy w/about half the calories of some prepared dressings. It also requires the use of a mini-food processor or blender, but it's really not that time consuming. If you left out the avocado you could just stir/shake, but it wouldn't be as yummy.

2 T Mayo
2 T Trader Joe's Eggplant Hummus (could substitute other hummus, if it has same calorie count -- 35 per 2T)
1/4 c Lowfat Kefir
1/4 c mashed avocado

Blend together in a food processor/blender.

This recipe makes about 10 Tbsp I think, and 2 Tbsp = about 70 calories.

I added it to the shared food database under Kefir avocado hummus dressing with mayo (or something like that).

I've used it as a salad dressing this past week, and love it as is, but have thought of a number of possible variations.

1) Substitute low-fat mayo if you want fewer calories.
2) Add vinegar (balsamic, probably?) or lemon juice to thin it out if you prefer a more pourable salad dressing.
3) Add a clove or two of garlic to the blender
4) Some possible herbs: tarragon, dill; salt/pepper if you like.
5) Curry powder
6) This also makes a great dip for veggies. Fancy enough for a party!

If you haven't discovered kefir yet, try some! It's great in smoothies too, and a great way to get in some calcium. I like it better than lowfat yogurt at the moment. You could use yogurt in this dressing too, but it will be a bit thicker.

Enjoy!
Would love to hear if anyone tries this out.

--QM

sofaking6

I love a vinaigrette; I mix the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and then let it sit for 20-30 min with a couple of whole garlic cloves (this is how my mom always did it). Take the cloves out for serving of course

To make my salad tastier, I add: fat-free feta from Trader Joe's, Craisins, and some crushed nuts (I buy them in bulk then food processor them and store in the freezer and just toss some in the salad).

tash313

There are some great ideas here...thanks, everyone!