Dressing alternatives

Salad dressings are super easy once you start making them. and they taste sooooo much better than what you buy in a bottle. Start with a good quality fresh olive oil.....then add an acid....that can be fresh squeezed citrus (and I sometimes add some wine if there's some in the fridge).....or a balsamic.

If I want to creamy it up...I use a small amount of some creamy cheese like soft feta or a bit of mascarpone or Boursin....or you can use some avocado or some Dijon mustard and honey. sometimes I also use some mashed fruit purée. Mango is wonderful. Then add some freshly ground pepper and salt . The flavour you choose depends on what is in your salad. Salads with fruit go well with cheese and wine.

Then the key after you make some delicious homemade dressing is don't use too much! make a quality delicious dressing and use it sparingly.....don't drown your salad. It literally just takes a few minutes to make a great dressing and once you get into the habit you'll find that you will begin experimenting.

How apportioned amounts? I like to use Kewpie Deep-Roasted Sesame dressing, which is 43 kcal for 10 ml... it's a lot, but a tablespoon goes a long way. Is there are particularly strong flavoured dressing you could use a little of?

... Sometimes I end up drinking the dressing because it's delicious, but normally it works.

The Ken's light dressings are pretty good -- I absolutely love their light Caesar.

I make my own Ranch by mixing one container of light Daisy sour cream (I have tried the greek yogurt but the flavor is weird to me for some reason) and a packet of the Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix -- it makes a thick, dip-like consistency, so when I put it on my salad, I thin it down with some water before I pour it on my salad. It comes out to be ~45 cals for 2 tablespoons

I really like tomato sauce on my salads. No added sugar, though!

I like dill, so I take a thick greek yogurt and add some dill to it. It is tasty. You can also add other spices to it too. That is for a creamier dressing. I also have used apple cider vinegar with some lime juice, salt and pepper. Red wine vinegar with some puree'd strawberries is really good too- especially if you put chopped up chicken and strawberries on your salad. I also add hemp hearts. Yummy!

I use straight up Balsamic Vinegar, low calorie.

I played around with salad dressing until I figured out a combo that I liked: balsamic vinegar, lime juice, fresh chopped garlic and ginger, cilantro. It's full of strong flavors, so you won't need to use much!

^^^ Now that sounds good!!

Also, many good ideas in this thread. Never thought to use sour cream as a base, but I can see how that could work! Yogurt too. I see how both would work towards making something like a Ranch style dressing.

Speaking of Ranch, I use that to replace Mayonnaise in things like sandwiches and tuna. Works good and half the calories.

For salads, if I am making my own dressing, I keep it basic. A little olive oil, along with some basil, garlic, and vinegar, with some Romano cheese. Shake in a bottle. My kids like it too.

If worried about calories, such as in a restaurant, I've just been using a splash of vinegar and salt & pepper and no oil.

I try to make my own sometimes, but my favorite store-bought light dressings are:

Trader Joe's fat free balsamic vinaigrette (super good and only 25 cals per 2 tbsp! my go-to - I buy 3 bottles at a time.)
Bolthouse Farms yogurt honey mustard
Marie's yogurt caesar
ken's light caesar

and for mexican-style or taco salads I use salsa mixed with a little light sour cream. my absolute favorite salsa is trader joe's smoky peach salsa - amazing and adds a nice light sweetness to the salad.

I don't like ranch on salads, but for a veggie dip I mix plain greek yogurt and ranch dressing powdered mix. I never use the whole ranch packet, I just add a little to taste.

Nonfat plain kefir is my favorite!