Smart Tip: Make Your Own Salad Dressing for the Week

Start with all your ingredients BUT the oil in the bowl and then add the oil in a thin stream while whisking, otherwise it will not emulsify. I also find that if the dressing recipe calls for even a little bit of mustard, it stays emulsified without any whisking at all if you shake it in a jar.

This is so crazy! I cannot imagine doing it any other way than using my own salad dressing :)

Yeah this is really nice way to dress salad.
Nice tips!
http://saltexports.com/

I hate to admit it but salad is not popular in my house. Neither my husband nor my kids will touch lettuce. At dinner I always serve a big portion of cooked vegetables and there will be a big platter of crudites with some sort of creamy dressing. Usually dill, blue cheese or ranch. I also include veggies in every meal. We do omelets for breakfast every day, then carrot sticks and cherry tomatoes in lunches and celery with pb after school. I have salad for lunch at work most days so I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I actually think my kids probably get more veggies than other kids so I don’t worry about it.

love this! fresh dressing always trumps store bought :) well done!

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They all seem yummy!
When you’re in a hurry, you could simply add lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper to plain yogurt…

Alma
polkadotsflowers.blogspot.mx

Love all these ideas. I also highly recommend some of Rick Bayless’ salad dressings: http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/category?categoryID=8

i got the recipe from pinterest for the salad dressing (pictured 2nd from top) and its AWESOME! and yes i make it for the week. its so good, better than anything you can buy!

Absolutely! I used to rely on packets to mix in, but as the curtain on what is really in them was pulled back, I resolved to changing. I love my old Frank’s Hot Sauce jar for dressing. My go-to bases have been rice vinegar, apple cider, honey. Avocado oil and walnut oil are wonderful to have on hand!

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the hubs and I always made our own dressings – because we were too poor, starting out, to pay for store-bought salad dressing.

Our default/favorite comes from Hammersley’s “Bistro Cooking at Home” cookbook:
2 pts olive oil
1 pt fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 pt red wine vinegar
1/2 – 1 pt dijon mustard
bit of minced shallot
bit of minced fresh thyme leaves
salt, pepper

(into a jar and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!)

On any given week, you’ll find about 5 different homemade dressings in our fridge; we just keep ’em sealed in mason jars in the fridge and use ’em up until they’re gone. If you think about it, when your dressings are made with shelf-stable ingredients (vinegar, oil, etc) or natural preservatives (lemon juice), they don’t really go bad too quickly.

I never buy dressing anymore. In the past I found that it always went to waste. I’d see an interesting one on the shelf and decide to try it and end up not liking it. Then I started making a dressing with nutritional yeast and I’ve never gone back to buying pre-made. Here’s a link to a recipe that is similar to the one I make…

http://apassionateplate.com/hollyhock-salad-dressing/

I don’t use vegetable oil though, and I don’t measure, I just eyeball it.

We eat simple mixed greens/baby kale with this dressing at least once a week. Even my 4 year old son loves it. It actually tastes a little like a caesar dressing so sometimes we have a simple chicken “caesar” salad for dinner. In fact I think that’s what I’ll make tonight!:)

Another dressing I highly recommend (if you like chevre) is this one…

http://www.marthastewart.com/313012/romaine-hearts-with-goat-cheese-dressing

I like to add a drizzle of honey to the dressing and I add sliced strawberries and sometimes red peppers to the salad.

My favorite go-to, easy salad dressing is actually comprised from a tip from Phoebe Cates that she shared when she was featured in The New York Diet on Grub Street. She didn’t share the whole recipe, but she ‘fessed up that she uses both lemon juice AND balsamic vinegar in her vinaigrette. I couldn’t believe it had never occurred to me to use two acids in a basic vinaigrette. So simple! Now I combine olive oil, balsamic, lemon, salt & pepper, and a little bit of either garlic or shallot. So good.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/11/phoebe-cates-ny-diet.html

OMG there are so many good dressings in the comments! I have a lot to try now!

I only make my own salad dressings — bottled dressing just tastes terrible to me, and I think it is partly because I prefer a more acidic dressing. My go-to is: 3 parts olive oil; 1 part Dijon; 1 part lemon juice or champagne vinegar (or red wine vinegar for something a little different); salt; pepper; and, lately, a bit of minced garlic, raw — sooooo yummy, incredibly easy. You can whisk it up in a bowl using just a fork, if making just enough for one salad, or mix it in a Mason jar and shake it whenever you want more, if making enough to last through a few meals. It’s excellent over “spring mix” greens and works well with all sorts of different cheeses/nuts/fruit if you want to add more interest — sharp cheddar, manchego, feta, walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, dried cranberries, tart apple, pear, etc. etc. It is SO easy, I promise you will never buy dressing in a store again.

We make a super easy ranch dressing: 1 cup mayo, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp vinegar. Mix it all together – super easy and tasty without all the bad ingredients that store bought ranch has. We also make a homemade tahini dressing (similar to Goddess dressing).

my mom makes salad dressings all the time.. thanks for the recipe

I make dressing nearly everyday. Like anything once it becomes a habit you don’t even think about it. And when you are doing it all the time it is easy to have all the ingredients on hand.

Last night Mike and I danced in the kitchen with this salad from Love and Lemons and it was amazing…dressing superb and could be used with so many other salad recipes. I’m planning to do a post on it sometime soon. Try it…you won’t be disappointed!:)

A couple others with dressings we love…

From epicurious…probably my staple dressing for the office right now…http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baby-Greens-with-Warm-Goat-Cheese-106043

From Green Kitchen Stories…incredible…http://www.greenkitchenstories.com/green-lentil-yellow-beet-salad/

Enjoy!
xo dina

I love this idea! And, funny timing. I was just thinking about the salad I have planned for dinner tonight and how it’s lacking a good dressing. Now I’m inspired. Thanks Jo :)

the Mozza cookbook has excellent salad (and dressing) recipes — easy to compose a coherent dressing + leaf combo with some suggestions like theirs.