Salad Dressing ideas

emstgm
emstgm Posts: 117 Member
edited November 12 in Food and Nutrition
I love eating salads, and I really love the taste of full flavor (and usually full fat) dressings. I've tried several store bought brands of the light stuff and I'm not a huge fan. What is your favorite kind?

Or do you make your own salad dressing with fewer calories? I'd love ideas. Thanks!
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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    I love Regular full fat Bleu Cheese....so when I don't have the calories for that I have 1 tsp. olive oil, 2 tsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp parmesan and about 1 Tbsp Feta cheese crumbles, some fresh ground pepper and a pinch of sea salt. Yummy.
  • misslissa121
    misslissa121 Posts: 126
    I bought a rasberry vinagarette that is sugar free, fat free, zero cal. It is listed in my log two/three days back. It was Maple Grove Farm I believe. It was only like 1.50 a bottle at krogers. I put it on my salad with some toasted almonds and dried cranberries and it was only 96 calories all together ( I don't eat a whole lot of cheese, makes me nauseas)
  • Cthebeach
    Cthebeach Posts: 1 Member
    I put spinach, fresh basil, a little mustard, garlic and a splash of calamata olive juice in a small food processor and mixup. I don't know the calorie count, but it can't be very much. This also is good ontop of a chicken breast.
  • forest0spirit555
    forest0spirit555 Posts: 164 Member
    i go with fat free ranch. not amazing but much better than raw salad.
  • kayceep
    kayceep Posts: 4
    That sounds good- I amso like a bit of hot sesame oil and rice wine vinegar together...
  • AnitraSoto
    AnitraSoto Posts: 725 Member
    Walden Farms Honey Dijon is awesome and ZERO calories! Also Maple Farms Sugar Free Raspberry Vinegarette (I think 5 calories per 2T).
  • JaclynnGail
    JaclynnGail Posts: 204 Member
    My new favorite is Annie's Organic Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. It's soooo good. I think it has 40 calories a serving, but a little goes a long way.
  • BigZ486
    BigZ486 Posts: 47 Member
    A few months ago, sick of salad dressings that had enough calories and sodium to make my salads unhealthier than mac and cheese, I discovered Bolthouse Farms dressing. It's yogurt-based, so it's creamy (which I like better than vinaigrette), but it's very low-calorie. The honey mustard dressing is also very low in sodium, but they have other flavors.

    Now if I can find a substitute for crunchy croutons with less calories and sodium...
  • JaclynnGail
    JaclynnGail Posts: 204 Member
    Don't know if this will help, but I keep (in my freezer so I'm not digging into it all the time) a regular bag of those pretzel twists...it's something like 100 calories per serving of 15 pretzels. BUT...when I make a salad, I grab just two or three of the pretzels and break them up over my salad. It gives me a little salty crunch for hardly any calories. I've been working on the same package of pretzels for months now, b/c that's all I use them for. But it has kept me from loading up my salads with croutons, and it's DELICIOUS!


    Now if I can find a substitute for crunchy croutons with less calories and sodium...
  • tehzephyrsong
    tehzephyrsong Posts: 435 Member
    I've developed a taste for oil and vinegar.
  • RyanPerry2012
    RyanPerry2012 Posts: 47 Member
    I recently found "Walden Farms" dressing at a local Sprouts (farmer's market). They have an enormous selection and variety of salad dressings, all of which have no sugar, fat, carbs, gluten or cholesterol. They're great! And they have Russian dressing, which is my absolute favorite.
  • misslissa121
    misslissa121 Posts: 126
    Also, salsa, very low calorie for 1/4 of a cup. I love taco salads, just a little ground up seasoned beef(less than a serving) crunch up a few tortilla chips (maybe even sun chips would work) and salsa YUM
  • merlegirl88
    merlegirl88 Posts: 16
    I love kraft raspberry vinegrate, I also bought this little gadget that u put into bottle and measures exactly one portion so I do not use more than I am suppose to have, love it and only 25 calories... :)
  • Eureka175
    Eureka175 Posts: 77 Member
    I like seasoned rice vinegar & different versions of balsamic vinegars - sometimes with a bit of olive oil & herbs, sometimes on their own.
  • MissJay75
    MissJay75 Posts: 768 Member
    I like Ken's sesame ginger. It's a little high in the sodium but 70 cal per 2 TBSP, and the flavor is really strong so although I usually use more than the recommended serving size dressing on my salads, with this flavor I always use way less.

    Some of my other go-to salad dressing options, especially when I want something creamy :
    1) for taco salad, mix some taco seasoning in with low fat sour cream
    2) I use frank's bufffalo wing sauce in the salad (again a little high in the sodium) but the coating & flavor allows me to use less salad dressing. I usually use part fat free sour cream and part regular ranch with this one.
  • mconway79
    mconway79 Posts: 49 Member
    I like Kraft Calorie Wise Greek and also their cal wise Sundried Tomato.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Have you tried Wishbone Fat Free Italian Dressing it is really good!! and only 15 calories for 2 TBSP.
  • newCourtney
    newCourtney Posts: 168 Member
    I get Walden Farm's balsamic and mix 2 tbsp of it with 1 tbsp of hummus. It's tangy and yummy.
  • dr0p4ah0y
    dr0p4ah0y Posts: 22
    lime juice. straight up.
  • blink1021
    blink1021 Posts: 1,115 Member
    Maple Groves Wasabi Honey Dijon dressing
  • SammyKatt
    SammyKatt Posts: 363 Member
    I make my own Ranch. Its only 52 cals per tablespoon and I normally only use 2 (sometimes 3)
  • dakitten2
    dakitten2 Posts: 888 Member
    I use several different kinds of the Kraft light line. The trick is measuring it out and not pouring it on like I used to and having more dressing than salad. I love salad but have found I can settle for a whole lot less dressing and all the Kraft lights I've tried are pretty good. It's not the best in calories but not the worst either. It's a matter of compromise for me on some things.
  • laurdw11
    laurdw11 Posts: 2
    Like others have posted... I lik the Maple Farms flavors. I also go for the Newmann's Lite regular and roasted garlic balsamic vingarette dressings. If you don't like balsamic vinegar, and can't get away from the full-fat dressings, you can also use the trick of dipping your fork in the dressing... Sometimes that goes a long way when you want creamy addition to your salad without going overboard of calories.
  • ahealthy4u
    ahealthy4u Posts: 442 Member
    I love eating salads, and I really love the taste of full flavor (and usually full fat) dressings. I've tried several store bought brands of the light stuff and I'm not a huge fan. What is your favorite kind?

    Or do you make your own salad dressing with fewer calories? I'd love ideas. Thanks!

    I normally make my own when I can and have fresh ingredients to do so. But my recent trip to the grocery store I was standing in the salad dressing isle looking for something better then what I normally get. When I asked the store clerk if he has ever tried this brand I was looking at he said no but a lot of people buy it. So reluctantly I purchased the salad dressing and I am in love with the brand which is called Ken’s Steak House Salad dressing. Just thinking about it, it makes my mouth water. The one I purchased was the pecan vinaigrette. When I go back to the grocery store I plan on looking at other dressing in this brand. Good luck in finding what you are looking for. They also have a walnut one!
  • coraliethomas
    coraliethomas Posts: 336 Member
    Waldem farms 0 calorie dressings... A GODSEND!!! I particularly like the 1000 island dressing its sooooo good! They have a website that you can order off of if your local grocer doesnt carry it.. And it doesnt taste like light 0 calorie cardboard either.
  • karmamaof2
    karmamaof2 Posts: 22
    I've been making a dressing with non-dairy sour cream and Muir Glen Chipotle Salsa with a squeeze of lemon juice. It's really tasty and low in fat and calories. It's nice and creamy, but not heavy, and tastes so good!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Kraft FF Catalina

    or make my own w/Olive Oil and flavored Balsamic Vinegar - yum.
  • sallydurkin
    sallydurkin Posts: 211 Member
    My dressings of choice are Kraft Olive Oil ones, they are relativly new come in a few flavors, tuscan italian, parmasan, greek, balsmaic..... they are relativly low in calories 35 to 40 per tablespoon and a little goes along way for flavor. Hope that helps.
  • maremare312
    maremare312 Posts: 1,143 Member
    I too love the fatty dressings but a few of my faves that aren't full fat but are still delicious are:

    Girard's Light Caesar
    Trader Joe's FF Balsamic Dressing
    Trader Joe's Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar (by itself or made into dressing)
    Home made dressing with Balsamic vinegar and cut back on the oil
    Home made tzatziki~full fat plain Greek yogurt (of course you could use FF if you want) with shredded cucumbers, garlic, black pepper, and whatever herbs you like. Fresh dill is good but I'm out so have been using dried dill + fresh parsley.

    Here's a pic of my salad with my tzatziki. You can see that I use a lot and still much lower cals than most regular dressings:
    6799525630_5dc14595d0.jpg
  • LaraMercier
    LaraMercier Posts: 1
    I have the same problem but I love avacado. So I just dice up about one quarter of a medium sized one and sprinkle it over my salad with a sprinkle of lemon juice and some pepper. I have considered mushing the avacado with a tiny but of olive oil, and the lemon juice to make a kind of dressing. It is creamy and makes it more fulfilling. I also usually add around a tsp of sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts to give it a little crunch so I don't miss croutons
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