Need low cal salad dressing ideas

Heliconia
Heliconia Posts: 166 Member
edited September 21 in Recipes
Hi, I went through about 10 pages of old posts but couldn't find any low cal salad dressing recipes. I prefer the house type dressings like Olive Garden dressing. I went online and found some Olive Garden type dressings but they all had about a million ingredients and weren't low cal. Any easy recipes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Trying to eat more salads.

Replies

  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,064 Member
    Hi, I went through about 10 pages of old posts but couldn't find any low cal salad dressing recipes. I prefer the house type dressings like Olive Garden dressing. I went online and found some Olive Garden type dressings but they all had about a million ingredients and weren't low cal. Any easy recipes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Trying to eat more salads.

    My go to dressing is balsamic vinegar and olive oil (ratio of 2 oil: 1 vinegar). So if I use a tsp of oil, then I use 0.5 tsp of vinegar. I pick up a prepurchased salad spice mix, but you could use your own stuff - oregano, salt, pepper, parsley, dill, etc. I make about 3 Tbsp of vinegar at a time and store it in an old baby food jar in the fridge. I take it out about 10 minutes before I'm ready to use it and shake for about 30 seconds (yep, I get my exercise in first) and then measure it out onto my salad. I know what went into it. It's really basic though. You can mix up the oils you use and the vinegars too.

    I also found this in my recipe box for an orange vinaigrette:
    1/4 cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon-style prepared mustard, 2 teaspoons honey, 1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper
  • dksmith400
    dksmith400 Posts: 5
    HI...This is for Heleconia or anyone else who may be interested....I have developed several low fat salad dressing recipes. The secret is to replace almost all the oil in the recipe with a cornstarch slurry. The slurry consists of 1 tablespoon of cornstarch whisked into 1 1/4 cup of water. Heat in microwave until thickened and clear. Let this slurry cool, and now you can begin creating your dressings.

    For Italian Vinaigrette: 1 recipe of cooled slurry, 1/4 cup choice of red wine vinegar or white balasmic, 2 tablespoons splenda sweetener, 2 teaspoons minced garlic (or more to your taste), 3 tablespoons quality extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard and 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning. (sometimes I throw in a tablespoon or two of grated parmesan) Whisk well and then adjust seasoning (kosher salt and black pepper to taste) If dressing becomes a bit thick after sitting in the refirgerator thin with a bit of vegetable stock or more vinegar then adjust seasoning (never thin with water as it will taste like...water)

    If your dressing tastes a bit dull or flat...add more vinegar and sweetener, if is two tangy or sharp, add a pinch more salt.
    You can create many great dressings from this one simple step (cornstarch slurry) but be sure to write down your creations!

    Have fun creating!
  • Becky011
    Becky011 Posts: 384
    i just like good ole' hidden valley light ranch (not nonfat, light - I believe the nonfat has more calories.)
  • mskrissytina74
    mskrissytina74 Posts: 42
    I like to use fat free sourcream and a packet of hidden valley..low calories. When you make a batch of it you also can use it on vegtables.
    I have also bought "light" wishbone balsamic vinagrette and squeezed out the oil before using it! Not sure of the calories by doing it that way!
  • Heliconia
    Heliconia Posts: 166 Member
    Thanks everybody. I really appreciate it. I'm going to try them all. I plan to eat a lot of salads, especially for lunch.
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