Salad Dressing Recipes
life is hard; food doesn't have to be #49 [vol2, 4.2]
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Tuesday I spoke to a group of women about the merits of thinking of food as medicine. One of the baby steps I suggested was replacing store bought salad dressings with homemade. Making homemade salad dressing is super easy. Below are recipes for Catalina, a copycat Chick Fil A sauce, creamy cilantro, honey dijon, Japanese steak house dressing, Italian, ranch, and a bonus.
Spring is salad season. Find one that looks good to you and make it! Most of these will keep a week or more in the fridge.
Two main reasons I advocate for making dressing is that you can insure the quality of oil and limit the amount of sugar. Most store bought dressings use cheap, inflammatory GMO oils like soy, corn or canola (read a previous newsletter why GMO oils are bad) and corn syrup (also a GMO).
Note: Most mayonnaise is made primarily from industrial GMO oils. Even if the label says “non-GMO” it can still be made from soy, canola or corn oils, which are still terrible for health whether or not they are genetically modified. I prefer to buy mayo made from avocado oil, or make my own with sunflower, grape seed, avocado, olive oil, or some combination.
Head to a farmers’ market this weekend and snag a fresh head of lettuce + spring veggies to make a salad. Here are 8 fall off a truck easy salad dressing recipes in alphabetical order for you to try.
Catalina
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup honey, raw & local is best
¼ cup onion or ½ t onion powder*
¼ c red wine vinegar
½ t paprika
¼ t Worcestershire sauce, optional
½ t sea salt or more to taste
½ c extra virgin olive oil
Place first 6 ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Add the oil in a steady stream with the machine running until the mixture comes together in an emulsion. Serve immediately. Store in the refrigerator for up to one week.
*If using onion powder instead of chopped onion, simply shake ingredients in a jar with a tightly sealed lid.
Copycat Chick fil A Sauce
1/4 cup honey, raw & local is best
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise, preferably made with avocado oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, to taste
Mix, preferably an hour before eating. Thin with water or milk to make it pourable.
Creamy Cilantro
Inspired by a Fijian friend, Torika, who’s an amazing cook.
In a blender, mix:
1/3 cup tahini
¼ cup water, possibly more
2 T white wine vinegar or lemon juice
5 cloves garlic
1 packed cup cilantro, leaves and stems (minus really thick woody ones)
Spoonful or more of honey, optional
1/2t sea salt or more to taste
Taste and adjust. Trust your taste buds and keep playing with the balance until you get it so good you want to lick it off a spoon. Store in a glass jar. This will last weeks in the fridge.
Honey Dijon Dressing
3/4 cup mayonnaise, preferably made with avocado oil
3-4 tablespoons honey, raw & local is best
3 tablespoons mustard, dijon or other
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ t sea salt or more
Combine all ingredients and whisk well. Keeps well in the fridge.
Japanese Steak House Dressing
If you don’t have a high powered blender (like Vitamix) you may want to mince the fresh vegetables before blending. We like this one so well that I usually double it.
½ sweet onion
½ carrot
2 T celery
⅓ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
½ cup peanut oil
2 T fresh ginger (dried is ok but won’t have the same pronounced flavor)
2 T ketchup
Garlic clove
½ t sea salt (maybe more, taste and adjust)
Add all to a blender and blend until everything is pulverized.
Italian Dressing
Inspired by Carolyn Wellons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, garlic powder)
1 tsp sea salt
dash of pepper, or to taste
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
Pour ingredients into a jar with a lid. Shake like mad before pouring. I make mine a few hours in advance so the flavors can meld.
Ranch Dip or Dressing
3/4 to 1 cup mayo (preferably from avocado oil) or replace with sour cream
1 cup sour cream
1 t. dried parsley, or 1-2 T fresh, if you have
1-2 t. dried dill weed (flavor intensifies the longer the dressing is refrigerated)
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. salt, add more to taste
1/2 t. black or white pepper
dash red pepper
Combine above and refrigerate for an hour. This makes a fairly thick consistency, so if you are wanting it to be thinner, add milk or water. It also thickens the longer it's been in the fridge. The above recipe will need considerably more liquid (water, milk, buttermilk, etc.) for pourable salad dressing.
Salad & Dressing with Mexican Food
Lime juice = When I made it this week, I juiced 2 limes. Some limes can be really dry but these gave me about 1/4 cup lime juice. You could also use bottled lime juice. I think fresh is more flavorful (when I can remember to grab them while I'm at the store!) but also fresh limes have enzymes that help you digest your food. The bottled lime juice has been pasteurized for longer shelf life.
honey = I used about 2 tablespoons of honey. You can add more, or less. Just don't omit. Whisk the honey into the lime juice.
olive oil = about 1/3 cup. If you can think of the lime juice and honey as one, you want about equal that amount of olive oil.
sea salt = about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Please add the salt. It's a game changer for this dressing.
The “Mexican” Salad
Start with green lettuce. I went to the grocery store specifically to buy jicama but they were out. So I decided to add green onions and thin slices of apple, since those are the flavors that jicama imitates. Easy peasy.
Let me know if you try any of these. You can do it!
Cheering you on towards greater health,
Julie