Making your own salad dressing

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  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
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    I use fruits high in water content as my "dressing." The juicy fruit balances out the dryness of the lettuce or spinach leaves. No dressing really needed. I like navel oranges, ripe black plums and sweet cherry tomatoes the most. Fruit taste awesome with almost any cheese and nuts too!

    That or equal parts lemon and honey.
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
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    I just had some great homemade salad dressing without oil!

    3/8c half-and-half
    1/8c vinegar
    1T sugar
    garlic powder
    salt
    pepper

    As made it's 180 calories which if my math is correct is only 25 calories per Tbsp!
  • 78105234a
    78105234a Posts: 41 Member
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    bump
  • elisabeisme
    elisabeisme Posts: 308 Member
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    I use my regular favorite salad dressings, but just cut in half with other appropriate liquids. Depending on the dressing flavor, that might be:

    - tomato juice (V8 juice works really well)
    - lemon juice
    - orange juice
    - milk
    - balsamic vinegar

    Also, to be satisfied with less dressing, it really helps to flavor the salad itself first with stuff like:

    - chopped up green onion or chives
    - diced parsley or Italian seasoning
    - pepper
    - diced red or vidalia onion
    - cilantro or dill
  • heatherwidger
    heatherwidger Posts: 11 Member
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    I make salsa vinaigrette. No real measurements. Just mix salsa with vinegar. A little olive oil. It's delicious on salads. Especially with grilled chicken and black beans. My all time favorite.
  • littlefoot612
    littlefoot612 Posts: 156 Member
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    I had a friend who used to put some pickle juice in the empty mayo jar instead of scraping the jar then give it a really good shake. Only problem is trying to measure or figure out cals. but it tasted ok
  • JennetteMac
    JennetteMac Posts: 763 Member
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    I have recently got in to growing herbs, and after seeing something similar to this thought I'd experiment.
    It has to be easy, or I would never bother!

    A spoon of zero fat yogurt
    A spoon of white wine vinegar
    As much chopped basil as I feel like.
    As much chopped mint as I feel like.
    A little lemon juice

    Stir
    Drizzle

    Yum.

    Told you it was easy!
  • alyssamaryw
    alyssamaryw Posts: 84
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    I use dijon mustard on salads! It's delicious and has very few calories.
  • bliss149
    bliss149 Posts: 2
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    For years I would read "squeeze a little lemon juice over your salad instead of dressing" and I would think YUK I would never like that. But you know what? I tried it and it's much better than I thought it would be.

    Lime is better in some cases. (Love it for thinning out and freshening up bottled salsa.)

    But like someone else said already, if you bump up the flavors in the salad (or if it has a little fat or savory element in it like a boiled egg or a little feta), you can often get away with very minimal dressing like fresh lemon or lime.

    The other thing I find helpful when I do make homemade dressing is a jar. Like a peanut butter jar...I just dump the vinegar, oil. Garlic, and seasonings in the jar and shake. What's left goes in the fridge in the jar.
  • Cerakoala
    Cerakoala Posts: 2,547 Member
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    Thanks for sharing a lot of these sounds great :)
  • Tuala42
    Tuala42 Posts: 274 Member
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    bumping because these sound amazing!
  • janatarnhem
    janatarnhem Posts: 669 Member
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    Bumping for later! Ta for this!
  • SeptemberLondon
    SeptemberLondon Posts: 151 Member
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    Juice of 1 lemon
    Juice of 1/2 orange
    1/4 c. Apple Cider Vinegar (raw, organic)
    1 T. Dijon
    1/8 c. Olive Oil
    1/4 c. Water
    1 garlic clove, minced
    Salt & Cayenne Pepper

    The mustard is important to help hold the vinaigrette together.

    This is my usual, but I like my dressing more vinegary than most. A typical ratio is 1:2 vinegar:oil.

    Once you get the basics, you'll be adding your own twists like soy sauce & ginger or basil, oregano & Parmesan.

    Also - I love the idea someone posted of adding fresh strawberries to get a thicker consistency. I always add fruit to my salads. Good luck!
  • SeptemberLondon
    SeptemberLondon Posts: 151 Member
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    Oh, I want to add that I also use extra fresh lemon or lime before adding vinaigrette. It makes the vinaigrette go further and with fewer calories.

    My trick at work is to put my salad into a gallon size zipper bag, squeeze the lemon in and then add dressing. Shake the bag to evenly distribute.
  • cardbucfan
    cardbucfan Posts: 10,396 Member
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    Bump
  • Tuala42
    Tuala42 Posts: 274 Member
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    I cut way back on salad dressing calories by using 1 part Ranch and 3 parts roasted salsa verde - Its the BOMB!

    Just wanted to thank you for sharing this one--tried it last night and it was sooo yummy! I'm a sucker for anything with salsa verde in it. Never would've thought of mixing it with ranch and trying it on salad.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
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    I usually keep it simple. It's just worth noting though that the quality of olive oil you use can really affect the taste of a simple oil and vinegar dressing, I'd stick with something higher quality and not the stuff you cook with. As for vinegar, there's a whole assortment of aged balsamic vinegar that most people aren't aware of. A bottle might be somewhat expensive compared to cheaper vinegar but it'll last you a long time. Aged balsamic also works really well with vanilla ice cream if you get sick of salads. :tongue:

    If I make something more complex, it's usually some form of honey mustard dressing.
  • ishiqa36
    ishiqa36 Posts: 37 Member
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    my fav salad dressing is just salt pepper and fresh squeezed lemon juice. But for a tip, try using a shaker bottle to blend your dressing. I use my shaker bottle to make homemade mayo and with the mayo I sometimes make thousand island dressing.

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