Confession :: I Am a Salad Dressing Snob
Every time we go out to eat at a restaurant, my husband begs me not to ask this one question:
“Are your salad dressings homemade?”
Sorry, not sorry! A dressing makes or breaks a salad in my opinion. If the dressings are not made in house, a salad will not be included in my order. The reactions from the wait staff vary from looks of confusion, looks of understanding and sometimes even, no they are not and I do not recommend ordering a salad. I love honesty. Brutal honesty when it comes to salad dressing is best!
I cannot describe it as well as I can grasp it myself, but store bought dressings just have a different taste, and usually not a good one. Outside of the lack of flavor, they are usually chock full of preservatives and dyes. While they may have a shorter shelf life, homemade dressings are healthier, taste better and are less expensive.
If I HAVE to use store bought salad dressing at home, I have two options:
Note: Always check the labels on the dressings in store. Be mindful that some store – bought dressings are high in calories and high in bad fats. Store-bought dressings, mostly national, are made in such large quantities, that the ingredients are usually poor quality and low cost.
- Cousin’s Creole Tomato – this is my go to – closest thing to a homemade dressing and it has no added sugar or salt!
2. My other option (when desperate) is to add a little pizzazz to a store – bought dressing. While not healthy, sometimes that is all you have.
- Add more spice – black pepper to taste
- Additional fresh herbs or ingredients that may already be included but processed a little too much- i.e. Dijon mustard dollop to a honey mustard dressing.
- Adding fresh garlic to anything and it will be a game changer. If you like garlic, of course.
Making your own house-made dressing is always the best, healthiest, cheapest and albeit more time consuming, way to go.
Here are some of my favorite restaurant inspired salad dressings.
Outback’s Ranch Dressing – Recipe
Olive Garden House Dressing – Recipe
Zea’s Pepper Jelly Dressing – Recipe
Chick-Fil-A Honey Mustard Dressing – Recipe
What would you add?
Bon Appetit!
