When it comes to making a delicious salad, the dressing can make all the difference and the best ones often come from your own kitchen. Homemade salad dressings are surprisingly quick and easy to make, requiring just a few pantry staples.
Something that is important for my family is that we have complete control over the ingredients. That means you can skip the mystery additives, adjust flavors to your taste, and make them safe when you have allergies or sensitivities. Making your own dressing also often costs less than store-bought dressings saving you money on groceries! Once you see how simple and flavorful homemade dressings can be, you may never go back to buying them again.
High Protein Avocado Ranch
This avocado ranch is packed with protein and can be used as a dip with fresh veggies or as a dressing on a salad. It pairs the health benefits of avocados with greek yogurt and other seasonings for a delicious flavor. You can get the full recipe on this blog post.
Honey Mustard
This honey mustard is a staple in our home. We love it with chicken strips as well as with salads. You can get the full recipe on this blog.
Mike's Basic Salad Dressing
There is a salad dressing that Mike likes to make and we simply call it, Mike's Basic Dressing. Here's the recipe!
Instructions:
1) Add about ¼ cup of balsamic vinegar to a mason jar
2) Add about ¼ cup of olive oil to the jar
3) Add about 1 tsp. of oregano to the jar
4) Add about 1 tsp. of Italian Seasoning to the jar
5) Cover the mason jar and shake well to mix the ingredients and drizzle onto the salad *Note: the ingredients will separate after a while, so just give the jar a good shake to mix them up again when you're ready to add to your salad
Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
This lemon basil vinaigrette is a light and creamy dressing that is packed with fresh herbs. It's perfect in the summertime on salads with fruit, but you can enjoy it all year long. You can find the full recipe on the bottom of this stone fruit salad blog post.
Catalina Dressing
This catalina dressing is our favorite with taco salads. This dressing is free of seed oils and uses ingredients that you probably already have in your home. You can find the full recipe on this blog post.
Poppyseed Dressing
This homemade poppyseed dressing is one of our go-to's. I especially enjoy it on a spinach salad with strawberries and bacon.
Ingredients:
- ½ cup oil (avocado, olive, etc)
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 3 T honey
- 1 T Ground mustard
- Punch of salt
- Juice of half a lemon
- 1 T poppyseeds
When making this dressing, blend all of the ingredients except the poppyseeds until they are mixed (about 20 seconds) and then add the poppyseeds before serving.
Homemade Salad Dressing Storage
All of these homemade dressings should be stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar with a metal lid. They will stay fresh for 1-2 weeks when stored that way.
if you're looking for more recipes or ways to keep your produce fresh for weeks, check out the Zero Waste Produce Guide. It has directions for washing and storing 75 produce items as well as over 40 recipes.
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