Learn To Make A Healthier Salad
Verywell / Alexandra Shytsman
Do you love ranch dressing on your salad, veggies, or potatoes? The creamy condiment is a favorite in many kitchens. Ranch salad dressing that you buy in the store is rich in fat and calories. A serving size is quite small, around 2 tablespoons, and contains about 13 grams of fat. So if you use much more than that you could be consuming up to 50% of your calories from fat in one meal.
Sometimes “diet” versions of ranch dressing contain added sugar or artificial thickeners to approximate the consistency of the full-fat version. One of the best ways to enjoy your favorite dressing is to make it at home using quality ingredients. You’ll be satisfied and the result will be lower in calories and fat.
Salad Dressing Recipe Tips To Keep In Mind:
Tips To Cut Ranch Dressing Calories
The best way to reduce salad dressing calories is to use less of it. Even though two tablespoons is listed as the serving size on many packaged bottles of ranch dressings, it doesn’t mean you have to use that much. Use half the amount and sprinkle your salad with fresh herbs and other seasonings for additional flavor. Or cut the dressing with white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, lime or lemon juice to add low-calorie flavor.
Here are more clever tips that make it easier to cut back on the amount you use.
Also Check: How To Make Cesar Salad
More Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings To Try
- Try this Tarragon Vinaigrette over your spring greens. It pairs well with asparagus and goat cheese.
- This Thai Peanut Dressing is savory and delicious on power bowls, noodles or try it on a green salad with cucumbers, scallions and radishes. Our Japanese-inspired Carrot Ginger dressing is our Benihana Copycat!
- This Asian Sesame Dressing with soy is great on fresh mesclun greens or tender spring lettuce and toasted sesame seeds. Nothing more!
- Our love of maple syrup in salad dressing runs long and deep. A few favorites include this Balsamic Walnut Vinaigrette, this Maple Tahini Dressing and this Sherry Maple Vinaigrette.
- We also love Lemon Tahini Dressing with Middle Eastern-themed dinners and for drizzling over our pita pockets.
- Our Mustard Salad Dressing was inspired by the lovely dressings we had on our recent trip to Germany. Try it with a big composed salad!
- Our egg-free Caesar dressing is tangy and bright!
- If you love Salad Nicoise, try this caper-spiked Salad Nicoise Dressing.
- One of our other yogurt dressings is this Cumin Seed Yogurt Dressing. It is great with kale and feta with homemade croutons!
Thanks so much for reading. If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my free weekly email newsletter where I share weeknight meal plans delivered right to your inbox. Or follow me on . If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It is very appreciated. Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Creamy Dairy Free Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
This recipe makes a smooth and creamy raspberry vinaigrette dressing that goes well with any mixed green salad. The taste is out of this world good! You can make it with fresh raspberries or frozen raspberries.
In order to get a more concentrated flavor I also like to use freeze dried raspberries, it makes such a huge difference!
To make this raspberry vinaigrette creamy and dairy free I used plant yogurt. To get a thicker consistency coconut yogurt is the best.
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- Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined. Alternatively, for thicker dressings like the ranch or Italian, you can combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined and smooth.
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Healthiest Salad Dressings: The Best And Worst Revealed
Working out the best salad dressings for your diet and differentiating between the healthiest salad dressings and worst salad dressings for your diet can be difficult, so we round up some popular buys and dish the dirt on their real fat and calorie counts.
Salad is usually assumed to be the diet-friendly option, but after youve added your favourite dressing, how healthy is it?
Lets be honest whenever we pick a salad over a huge creamy bowl of pasta, or a juicy burger for dinner, we normally feel pretty pleased with ourselves weve picked the lower calories, nutrient packed option over the calorific meals we shunned.
But are all salads as healthy as we think? Unfortunately, the addition of salad dressing can tip your veggie-packed meal from healthy to supremely healthy, as many options on the supermarket shelves include a whole heap of calories that you might not expect.
Dont Miss: Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing Nutrition Facts
Also Check: Easy Way To Make Chicken Salad
How Do You Make Fat Free Dijon Salad Dressing
Making this dressing is super easy. If you find yourself with someone with special dietary needs or are just looking for alternative ways to make a healthy salad dressing, you can make this in about 10 minutes .
In a blender or food processor, blend or pulse together the beans, mustard, honey, salt and pepper, and vinegar. Once its good and smooth, add one tablespoon of water at a time and keep blending in between additional tablespoons of water until you reach the consistency you want in your dijon salad dressing.
Other Recipes You May Enjoy
If you are looking for more recipes, you know Ive got you! Below are some other recipes you might want to give a try:
- Deli-Style Crab Salad This delicious Deli-Style Crab Salad is easy to make and better than the store-bought kind! A mixture of imitation crab, veggies, and homemade dressing!
- Deli-Style Chicken Salad This homemade chicken salad is the perfect deli-style recipe to make at home. Learn how to make a flavorful and easy chicken salad recipe!
- How To Create Incredible Low-Carb Sauces Low-carb sauces to suit your diet goals. These sauces still bring your dishes to life with flavorful, saucy goodness!
- The Best 20 Low-Carb Dips For You To Try A collection of 20 Low-Carb Dips. Low-Carb dips are great additions to healthy snacks and finger foods. They also serve as fantastic appetizers at a family get-together or social event.
Also Check: Carrot Salad For Weight Loss
The Best No Calorie Salad Dressing
Are you on a diet, looking for a tasty, no calorie salad dressing? Look no further. I have the perfect option for you! Zero Calories and fat free. Read on my health-loving friends.
This is so simple and delicious youll be amazed. Regular salad dressings are full of fat, oil and other garbage you dont want in your body. But still you need something tasty to go with your fresh vegetables and salad! Right? This is one of the best options Ive ever discovered! I use it daily and youll be saying Wow I love Salad by the end of your meal!
Its true if you want to lose weight you have to control your eating. But you still need to eat things that are satisfying, delicious and healthy. You cant starve yourself to death. Just about every salad dressing you see in the supermarket is either Diet or Regular, but both of those are full of dozens of unhealthy ingredients. Why pour oil and fat directly into your stomach? Thats where it goes. When they do a biopsy on peoples stomachs, they can actually see what fats they ate! The so called diet dressings also seem to cause more weight gain and hormonal imbalances than the regular dressings. Thats why I switched to this simple recipe.
Fat Free Homemade Salad Dressing
Mason jars are perfect for making homemade salad dressings.
With them being glass, you dont have to worry about any nasty chemicals leaking into your food from unsafe plastics.
They are easy to wash and reuse. Buy a few and they will last for years! Theyre also dishwasher safe.
If you buy the mason jars with a wide mouth, you can even get a utensil down in the jar!
Plus, the ring and lid seal tightly, making you confident about giving the dressing a good shake before serving.
Read Also: Cold Pasta Salad With Italian Dressing
Why We Love This Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing Recipe
Given that I have shared quite a few ranch recipes over the years, from my Healthy Ranch Dip, my Maple Ranch Dressing and my Horseradish Ranch Dressing, I knew I better share my healthy classic ranch recipe with you. I have finally put the finishing touches on it and I have to say, it came out so well!
As the title suggests this recipe is made with Greek yogurt, which is how we can get away with much less mayonnaise than a typical homemade ranch dressing. But unlike a lot of other recipes for Greek Yogurt Ranch, this one is unique in that it has both buttermilk and buttermilk powder added to it for authentic farmhouse-style ranch flavor.
We also added in fresh chopped shallot and dill which make it taste fresh and light and so much better than store-bought dressing. It goes well over a simple garden salad, to dunk veggies into, or use for Air Fried Buffalo Cauliflower Wings. I wont judge if you want to dip your pizza into it, and I even have used it to dress pasta salad and everyone loved the classic creamy taste!
This ranch dressing recipe is yet another awesome homemade salad dressing to try from the dozens I have shared here on Healthy Seasonal Recipes. If you havent tried any of them yet, make sure to check out my Lemon Vinaigrette and my Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing. Those are two of our top-rated! And since youre a fan of creamy dressings, youll probably want to check out our Healthy Blue Cheese Dressing and our Light Creamy Italian Dressing.
Why Make Your Own Salad Dressing
If youve taken the time to make a big healthy salad chock full of fresh veggies, you dont want to ruin it with a salad dressing with questionable ingredients. Making your own is the best way to ensure your salad dressing is fresh and nutritious.
These are just a few of the reasons you should set aside a few minutes to make your own salad dressing:
- Store bought salad dressings usually have a lot of refined sugar.
- To make salad dressing shelf-stable, manufacturers have to use chemical preservatives.
- Salad dressing can be high in bad fats and calories.
- When you make your own salad dressing, you know it was made with fresh ingredients.
- These homemade dressings taste way better!
- Its cheaper to make your own.
- You can make salad dressing to fit any eating plan gluten-free, paleo, keto, Whole30 and more!
Recommended Reading: Macys Salad Bowl Set
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Skinnygirl Poppyseed Salad Dressing
SkinnyGirl Poppyseed salad dressing works out at 10 calories per 2 tablespoons .
It is fat free and sugar free and is suitable for anyone following a gluten free diet or a vegan lifestyle.
It is available to buy from Amazon and from many larger food stores including Walmart, Kroger and Publix.
SkinnyGirl Honey Dijon dressing works out at 10 calories for 2 tablespoons .
It is fat free and sugar free and is suitable for people following a gluten free diet.
Buy it online from Amazon or in store from stores such as Kroger, Walmart and Publix.
SkinnyGirl produce another 4 flavours of dressing including Buttermilk Ranch and Balsamic Vinegar all work out at 10 calories per 2 tablespoons.
For Making The Fat Free Avocado Salad Dressing Recipe
Avocado recipes are always a good choice. After all, despite being caloric, avocado is a rich source of good fat and its consumption can provide several benefits.
The advantages of eating avocado have already been scientifically proven. Studies show on the benefits of avocado point to its ability to prevent some types of cancer, such as colon, prostate, and breast cancer.
Read Also: How To Make Avocado Recipes For Babies?
With all these advantages, it is important to include avocado from time to time in your diet. So why not in the form of dressing for your salad. Making the dressing is easy, we have shown here the steps to make this dressing for your salad:
Steps to follow:
Also Check: Can Dogs Eat Tuna Salad
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Homemade Healthy Greek Yogurt Poppyseed Dressing
Poppyseed dressing is often filled with mayonnaise and refined sugar making it a not great choice. My Healthy Homemade Greek Yogurt Poppyseed version once again uses greek yogurt to get the creamy base and is sweetened by a touch of honey. If you like a sweet salad dressing, this is it!
Serve it with your favorite fruit salad or my Copycat Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad.
This one is unique! My Healthy Basil Vinaigrette features only 5 ingredients including fresh basil, lemon, and olive oil. I love it in the summer to bring out the flavors of fresh greens and tomatoes.
Its also the perfect dressing for a Caprese salad. Serve it with my Grilled Peach Caprese Salad.
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Why Add Greek Yogurt To A Salad Dressing
- Not as tart as regular yogurt.
- Greek yogurt is readily access ible these days. I keep it in my refrigerator at all times. Make it yourself,
Substituting nonfat Greek yogurt for some of the oil makes the calorie count more reasonable. My personal standard for salad dressing is 80 calories or below per serving.
Incidentally, a serving of salad dressing is usually two tablespoons. Going overboard is easy. Whenever Im being obsessive and measuring it outwell, two tablespoons is rarely enough. Just sayin.
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The Easiest Healthy Salad Dressing
My last salad dressing is the salad dressing you can make when you really dont have much time! This is what I do when Im making a fast lunch just for myself and dont have any other dressings on hand. Its basically the perfect combination of lemon, olive oil, and vinegar over fresh greens.
to see my demonstration video to make it.
How To Make This Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing
While I am a fan of blending dressings with a blender, immersion blender or mini-prep food processor, we loved the more rustic texture of the ranch dressing when it was whisked together by hand.
Simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them until they are completely combined. Make sure that if you are using granulated sugar that they are dissolved and that the buttermilk powder is not clumpy.
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I Cant Believe Its Cashew Ranch Dressing
Just when you thought youd never get to enjoy ranch dressing without a bunch of a processed substitutes!
Another Sid and Lisa creation, this one will even impress your omnivore friends and leave them shaking their heads, saying, I cant believe its cashew. Hence the clever name.
How to Use It:
I think everyone knows how to use a Ranch dressing, but I love to throw this on big salads with roasted veggies, chickpeas, and tomatoes, and toss in some pumpkin seeds for crunch.
We also use it as a dipping sauce for veggies.
The Recipe:
- 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper or, to taste
- Optional: 1 tsp hot sauce
Blend all ingredients till creamy and smooth. Make sure not to blend so long that it gets hot. If too thick, add more water.
This dressing thickens in fridge, so add a little water as needed to thin before using.
Read Also: Best Zero Calorie Salad Dressing