Salad Dressing

I use Mrs. Dash and balsamic vinegar.

I like Newman’s Own sesame ginger, Hidden Valley spicy ranch, forgot the brand Lite Hiney Mustard (on its own or mixed with balsamic vinegar), forgot the brand raspberry vinaigrette. I also recently made a Greek yogurt ranch mixed with salsa, and it came out very delicious.

I always make my own, because I get bored with commercial ones long before a bottle is gone.

Sometimes I just use a decent quality vinegar, maybe add nuts or seeds to the salad for fat, and add flavor to the salad itself with fresh herbs, a tablespoon of fresh-grated parmesan, or some blue cheese.

Vinegar & oil is fine, too, and mixing in some prepared mustard (especially brown or dijon) is good, too. Mustard/vinegar combo is good on oven-roasted veggies, also.

Other good bases for a dressing are Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Yogurt with dried herbs (thyme, oregano, that sort of thing), minced garlic, salt and fresh-ground pepper is Ranch-like. Anything with minced garlic, mince very fine, make it when you start cooking so the flavor blends. Dried herbs have more effect when it sits a bit, too.

Salsa makes a good dressing alternative.

Tahini and white wine vinegar, maybe with some finely chopped sweet onions, is good (let it steep a little so the onions' flavor blends and mellows).

Rice vinegar or ume plum vinegar with a little sesame oil, minced garlic, grated fresh ginger is tasty, especially in a salad with toasted almonds. Ume plum vinegar is salty. If you use rice vinegar, a little soy sauce won't hurt.

If you like tomato-y dressings, V8 juice is a good base for vinegar/seasoning.

As long as you don't go wild with oil, nuts/seeds or cheese, homemade dressings tend to be quite calorie efficient, and can be very affordable, too. Quick and easy to make.

I like Italian dressing-but to cut down the calories I use 1T dressing and 1T vinegar instead of using the 2T serving size. Still get the flavor, but less calories. I use different types of vinegar-whatever I have on hand.

I go with the Maple Farm brand dressings, they have fat free raspberry vinaigrette, fat free cranberry vinaigrette, Fat free balsamic vinaigrette, and fat free wasabi Dijon at the Kroger near me. All are delicious and low in calories and fat.

For a creamy dressing I like to use a bit of greek yoghurt with some seasoning or spice paste mixed in (eg Moroccan, tandoori, harissa etc). Low cal and heaps of flavour. Otherwise it's usually a spray of olive oil and a bit of sticky balsamic reduction (which you can buy already reduced - and is awesome).

Skinny Girl honey mustard and also poppyseed. Fat free, sugar free, and I can pronounce most of the ingredients

water, cider vinegar, dijon mustard (distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, white wine, citric acid, tumeric, tartaric acid, spices), maltodextrin, mustard seed, salt, cellulose gel, honey, mustard flour, dried onion, lemon juice concentrate, xanthan gum, granulated garlic, natural flavors, cellulose gum, sucralose, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium edta (to preserve freshness).

It's not really a dressing but I find if I put all my salad veggies in a bowl with a lid and use a couple table spoons of cottage cheese and shake my salad up I use next to no dressing because every piece gets coated!! You get a little protein from it too

Vinegars. Mix with mustard or olive oil or both or just use some good quality balsamic on its own. Lots of super easy options.

I also like including various pepper sauces (on their own or in a mix) and making a spicy Asian dressing with lime juice, soy sauce, and sriarcha. Excellent for salads based more on cucumbers and/or tomatoes or other non-lettuce-based salads.

I don't get not using dressing unless you really don't care for them; it's easy to make a very low cal dressing, and even when I use olive oil (which is usually) I just use a small amount, you don't need nearly as much as in a traditional vinaigrette.

peaceout_aly wrote: »

Kimma41 wrote: »

Looking for salad dressing ideas? What brands? Which ones taste good?

Walden Farms makes tons of calorie-free dressings

You missed the bit where she asked "Which ones taste good"

One of my favorites is walnut oil, orange zest, a little orange and lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mixing and matching different oils with different acids is a great way to keep it interesting. It works for marinades and pasta/rice/ grain dishes too.

Trader Joe's has several delicious options in their refrigerated section with reasonable calorie counts. My favorites are the avocado green goddess (20 cals per serving!) A creamy cilantro one and a spicy peanut one. I want to say the other 2 have 60 cals a serving or less. They also have carrot turmeric and almond butter flavors but I haven't tried those.

Newman’s own! I love all Newman’s products so much! I just use the serving size or less, just enough for a flavour pop and I’m good.