Photo: snowpea&bokchoi
My local grocery store has about twelve linear feet, shelf upon shelf, dedicated to nothing but salad dressings. If you’ve stepped foot inside a supermarket recently, you’ve probably walked past a similar display without giving it a thought. Thousand Island, Italian, French, Ranch – you name it, they’ve got it, ready to use and probably laced with an unpronounceable ingredient or two. A few brands come in glass, but most are sold in plastic bottles. Plastic bottles that we buy fully intending to add them to the waste stream. (Doesn’t that just make you wonder how we came to this??) Sure, maybe you’ll recycle, but that still requires fossil fuels for transportation and the reclamation process.
Just imagine how many bottles of dressing one store must sell in a day. It’s kind of mind-boggling, really. Especially when making salad dressing is such easy thing to do. I think Breaking the habit of buying salad dressing is probably harder than actually making it. So, first step: next time you find yourself ogling the vast array of options, step back and think about the waste and the fact that you are fully capable of making a lovely salad dressing at home for much less than you’d pay for one of those bottles.
Next, start trying recipes to see what you like. By far the easiest way to dress a salad is with vinegar and oil. Bring a pretty container of each to the table and let each diner pour on the amount they’d like. Easy, peasy – but not always what salad eaters are after. Personally, I like a bit more oomph.
When I make salad dressing, I tend to use a “little of this, little of that” method, but I made one recently that my family loved so much that I jotted down the ingredients. Here it is:
Creamy Vinaigrette
- 3/4 olive oil
- 1/4 cup vinegar (I’ve used red or white wine vinegar)
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 Tablespoons sour cream
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
Put all ingredients in a glass jar. Tighten the lid and shake vigorously until ingredients are well blended. Ta-da! You’re ready to dress your salad.
I’ve yet to have success with a homemade ranch style dressing, but that’s the only sticking point for me. (I’m open to suggestions, if anyone’s got a great recipe!) Other recipes you might like to try:
- Mustard seed vinaigrette from My Kids Eat Squid
- Mustard (no seeds!) vinaigrette from Good. Food. Stories.
- Pomegranate salad dressing from Words to Eat By
- Thousand Island dressing from Alton Brown
- Blue cheese salad dressing from Hazeltree Farm
Do you have a favorite homemade salad dressing recipe? If it’s online, please share a link below – I’d love to expand my collection of go-to recipes.
I’ve got a GREAT homemade ranch dressing recipe… care to be a recipe tester?
Casey@Good. Food. Stories. recently posted..All-Day Drinking at Superfine
Yes, please!
I make my own croutons with leftover bread, but I hadn’t thought to make my own salad dressing, too. Thanks for the suggested recipes!
Homemade croutons are yummy, too!
I really like just simple oil and vinegar for a dressing, but it certainly doesn’t take much to integrate a few other things and mix it up a little.
Jane Boursaw recently posted..Daily Hot Shot- Warren Beatty as Dick Tracy
One of my standard go-to recipes is SO simple and fast and tasty. I use equal parts dijon mustard, canola/veg oil, and a dash of dried sage. (You can use fresh when it’s in season.. just cut it up for full flavor). I put a slight splash of water to thin it out.. and voila.. done. Throw it with some fresh grated parmesan.. it’s tasty. If you omit the water it makes a great glaze for chicken too.
Claudine M Jalajas recently posted..Beaded Choker Chain with Sterling Silver Snowflake Charms
I love how easy you make it sound. A splash of this, a dash of that – that’s how I cook!
We always make our own, very simple: few teaspoons of wine vinegar, one teaspoon of lemon juice, the same number of teaspoons of olive oil, salt and pepper, and half a spoon to a spoon of Dijon mustard. You whip it with a fork. Then I add a clove of pressed garlic. Yum!
Alexandra recently posted..Wellfleet Pedestrians Applaud Sidewalk Upgrade
Garlic is the ticket, for me.
My husband made organic Goddess dressing (so expensive and delicious to buy) and we all LOVED it. Now it’s a staple in our house. But he has to make a lot, since the kids gobble it up.
Is that the old 70s green goddess dressing? I’d like to try that.
Thanks for the shout-out. I’m hooked on making my own dressing–it’s so easy and fun.
MyKidsEatSquid recently posted..Q&A with Koeze Company- Cream-Nut Peanut Butter
Not sure if Dean and Deluca fit your sustainable mandate but I love this dressing
http://www.deandeluca.com/recipes/recipe_caesar_salad_with_roquefort_dressing_and_crispy_walnuts.aspx
we have enjoyed making our own dressings for some time — and you can include whatever spices strike your imagination, which is fun. adding a little (or a lot of!) cumin is a often a favorite thing to do at our house
Kerry Dexter recently posted..Music for changing seasons- Helene Blum
I like cumin, but I’ve never tried it in salad dressing. I’ll have to give that a go.
I love to make my own salad dressing. I’ve been experimenting with ranch and may have come up with what I want. I’m making another batch tomorrow (bc I had to use up the rest of my current batch tonight). If I like it, I’ll share. I’ve found the key to some of these is letting them rest for at least 4 hours, especially if vinegar is involved.
Here is a creamy Italian dressing one of my readers shared. I liked it. The key was letting it rest overnight. When I first made it I didn’t like it, but the next day it was great. http://www.ourfoodstorage.com/2011/08/03/zucchini-again-i-know/
Balsamic vinaigrette. what I like about this one is I can really vary it by changing the amount of honey I use. If I use a little honey it’s got some bite. If I increase it, it becomes much sweeter (obviously), but just a different flavor. On that same post is a citrus vinaigrette that is not only good on salad, but excellent on salmon:
http://www.ourfoodstorage.com/2010/03/28/gardens-salads-and-vinaigrettes/
I love thise poppy seed dressing recipe and the salad we use it on (the salad is good with lots of different fruits when strawberries are out of season like pears or blueberries):
http://www.ourfoodstorage.com/2009/06/10/rotating-dehydrated-onions/
I also have a honey mustard dressing that I haven’t posted, but here it is:
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 c mustard
1/4 c honey
salt to taste
pinch of cayenne
I even make my own mayo with light olive oil to make my creamy dressings (or a sandwich ):
http://www.ourfoodstorage.com/2010/12/26/holiday-leftovers-and-homemade-mayo/
Hmm. That was more than I realized I had posted.
I would love that ranch dressing recipe and the green goddess recipe if they shared.
Last thing, promise. I put my dressings and mayo in empty pint canning jars and use the plastic (I know!!) screw on lids you can buy at the grocery store. BUT I’m using them over and over again forever and ever. I have a cute little cruet for my vinaigrettes, but the creamy dressings go in my canning jars.
And I was also going to tell you that I make a lot of my own seasonings, like taco seasoning, chili seasoning, etc. No buying those little foil and paper packets. I buy my seasoning in the larger containers at Costco (bc any bigger and I’d never get through them). They can be used for storing things like nails or screws or buttons or markers or all kinds of things.
Ok, I think I’m done.
[...] your own salad dressing, mustard, and other condiments. It’s not that [...]