Make Your Own Salad Dressings
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Collapse ▲The door of our refrigerator is full of a variety of store-bought salad dressings. But I look at them and think, we can be fresher and healthier than this. Not to mention saving some money, too.
Lately I’ve been trying to make my own salad dressings. Homemade salad dressings
allow you to use wholesome ingredients that can be lower in saturated fats, sodium and sugar than store-bought. Homemade salad dressings can be packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber and mono unsaturated fats (the good ones).
A salad dressing is made up of three parts: a fat, an acid and seasonings. There is no
right or wrong. But here’s a basic recipe to get you started.
The fat could be any oil, yogurt, sour cream. avocado or mayonnaise or a combination. Start with ½ cup (eight tablespoons).
The acid could be lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice or any kind of vinegar. Start with three to four tablespoons. Experiment with different flavored vinegars such as balsamic, red wine or white wine. But, if apple cider vinegar is all you have – start there.
And the seasonings could be any herb, spice or seasoning or a combination of them that you have on hand. Common seasonings are parsley, garlic, onion, parmesan cheese or mustard. The choices are endless. A beginning amount would be one tablespoon.
Fresh homemade dressings can be prepared quickly before a meal. Use a bowl, a jar
with a lid, a blender or a food processor. Since homemade salad dressing is made
without any preservatives, store in the refrigerator and eat within a week (it never lasts that long at our house).
Start with the basic recipe and then adjust to your liking. Try different oils such as olive oil, canola olive or vegetable oil—but always go with a monounsaturated fat. To save money, canola oil is less expensive than olive oil. Try different types of olive oils for different flavors. If you’d like a creamier dressing use the mayo, sour cream or mashed avocado as the fat.
Most recipes for vinaigrettes call for a 3:1 ratio of oil to acid (6 tablespoons oil to 2
tablespoons acid). You can go less. Try 3:2 (Six tablespoons oil to 4 tablespoons acid). If you’re trying to reduce the fats and calories in your diet, use even less oil and
experiment with what you like. These are suggestions not rules.
Try different flavors types of acids. If using fruit juice, you can usually use more acid and less oil making it a lower-fat salad dressing. When using juice try a 50/50 radio oil to juice.
The seasonings can be herbs and spices, salt, pepper, sugar, mustard, chopped fruits
chopped vegetables. If you want it thicker add some more Dijon mustard—it acts as an emulsifier. A little honey adds some sweetness. If you’re using a juice as the acid, you could add orange or citrus peel for more flavor.
To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients except the fat in your mixing
container or bowl and then pour in the fat slowly while whisking to combine the
ingredients. Or just pour all the ingredients into a jar with a lid and shake. You may need to use a blender or a food processor to combine thicker ingredients such as Greek yogurt or avocado.
Consider using homemade dressings to flavor all types of foods, not just salads. Use
creamy dressings as dips or for a spread on burgers or sandwiches. Vinaigrettes are
good for marinades for meats, fish and vegetables. Making your own from what’s in the kitchen could save a trip to the store and I bet you’ll like the flavors better.
Here’s a Creamy Avocado dressing recipe from the University of Florida IFAS Extension.
Give it a try on top of fish tacos, spread it in a wrap or place on a dab on a fillet of fish,
meat or poultry as a garnish and some flair.
Creamy Avocado Dressing
1 ripe avocado, peeled
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste.
Place all the ingredients in the food processor or blender and blend until desired
consistency. You may need to add a little water to adjust to your desired consistency.
Resources:
https://beaufort.ces.ncsu.edu/2025/05/freshness-with-homemade-healthy-dressings-and-marinades/
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FY1502/pdf
Syracuse is a Family and Consumer Science team member and can be reached at NC
Cooperative Extension, Brunswick County Center 910-253-2610 or by email at
clsyracu@ncsu.edu