What salad dressing do you use?

I looove ranch dressing, that's the only one I've used for a long time. But now that I'm counting calories, it just takes up too many of my calorie allowance.

 

I bought the fat free Ranch but that just tastes like crap to me.

 

So, any suggestions?

Original Post by umneydurak:

Good quality soy sauce with some dijorn mustard and a healthy helping of black pepper (freshly grinded is better).

 Now, that sounds tasty!  I normally just drizzle on a little vinegar (usually balsamic).

I stick to just a tablespoon or two of EVO. For some reason that's all I need and I think my salad is delicious

But I do love me some Honey Dijon

I absolutely love Newman's Own light honey mustard!  70 cals to 2 tablespoons and its great on chicken too.  I buy double and leave a bottle at work.  I you want no calories, go for Ken's raspberry pecan vinagrette.

I actually really don't like salad dressing anymore.  Now, I just use lots of salt and pepper on my salad, and I think it tastes great!  Added bonus:  no calories or fat!

lemon/lime juice, balsalmic, fresh garlic (minced), and pepper

Newmans Own Sesame Ginger dressing and any type of chunky real bleu cheese.  I've never been one to drown my salad in dressing so the extra 100 cals from the amount of bleu cheese I put on does not matter to me.

I've never really liked salad dressings.  The only one I really like is Ken's sundried tomato vinaigrette, but I don't need it enough to buy it at the store... I only get it at this one particular restaurant with their one particular salad.  It is delicious though!

I'm a fan of the Ken's brand and Newman's Own.  They both have a great selection of light dressings.

A few tricks I've learned from other CC users.....

- Use cracked pepper on your salad to give it some zing

- Drizzle a little bit of balsamic vinegar on the salad to make whatever dressing you use go a tiny bit further.  The vinegar has minimal calories.

- When at a restaurant, get your dressing on the side then dip the tip of your fork in the dressing before picking up a bite of lettuce.  This way you avoid using too much dressing.

 

sounds like we all have an affinity for our favorite dressing.  Mine happens to be Newman's Light Honey Mustard.  I try to add a few other toppings to my salad to ease up on the ressing though..i.e. strawberries, walnuts, dried cranberries.  Most of the time this does the trick. 

DON'T use salad dressings.. the strore bought stuff is full of added chemicals, fats, salt, perservatives, sugars, and other unnessasary additives that your body does not need

sure some may be low cal or low fat or low sodium and blah blah blah, but most of that is a cover up for stuff that they put in to make up for the things taken away (ex: most low fat products, usually contain MORE sugar and the caloric difference is only a measly 10-30 calories anyways)

and btw you should eat some fats with your veggies so that the nutrients can be properly absorbed

either make your own with healthy natural oils, vinegars, juices, yogurt, and spices.. or go without it!

experiment with new flavors and types of vegetables... try adding nuts, lean protein, or fruit, the possibities are endless.. and much more exciting then *bleeping* ranch garbage

I like the taste of nice fresh mixed salad on it's own, and can go without dressing..  I feel that it is better off without the stuff; good quality greens should taste clean and refreshing. Not weighed down and dirty, drowning in sludge

just my two cents

You're right, fat free ranch is GROSS...blech!

I like vinagarettes. Sundried tomato/red pepper basil types are my favorites. Anything with lots of Italian flavors, anyway. I just use half a serving and make sure I mix it up really well. I also like asain flavors...just go browse around the salad dressings isle of your grocery store, there are TONS of flavors!

I make my own dressing with cottage cheese, herbs, chopped shallots, and black pepper in the blender.  It's a little chunky, but it has tons of protein.  If I don't feel like making up a batch, I just use a little olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice.

If you really like ranch, have it on the side, and use very little of it.

 

I like adding things to my salad to make it more interesting, instead of adding dressing.  My favorites are seedless grapes, roasted garlic, green beans, pickled mushrooms... okay, I'm getting hungry now, hehe.  They all add more calories, but they all contribute to my fruits and vegetables for the day.  Oh, and there's nothing like hot protein on top (grilled chicken, steak, portebello mushrooms, it doesn't matter, the juices from it make the greatest dressing).

I use Ken's Light Ranch and I love it!

Buy the packet of powder. Hidden Valley ranch makes the powder you are supposed to mix with milk and mayo, but you can mix it with yogurt and thin it out with milk or water, and it's a great dressing. You can try other 'bases' like plain almond milk, fat free mayo, etc to do it too. Just make it as you use it.

I love my light done right wishbone bluecheese on my lighter lettuces, and I also love Newmans Own basalmic vinegrette on the darker lettuces. I would be lost without those.

I love ranch too - but I thin it out with red hot sauce or with red wine vinegar - that way you need to use less ranch to actually coat the leaves and you get the good flavor.

I agree with you, I hate low-fat and fat-free ranch dressings....

In Canada, we have this PC Menu Blue Mango vinaigrette and it's only 15 calories for a tbsp... it tastes amazing... sometimes, i'll mix it up with some plain yogourt and a bit of maple syrup... during summer time it's the best thing to put in salads with fruits and nuts inside. yummmmy...

A tiny, tiny bit of light Creamy Cucumber.

It's soooo yummy. 

I either use:

- Balsamic vinegar with dijon mustard (very low cal and super tasty)

- Red wine vinegar with a little bit of water (almost no calories)

- Orange juice with soy sauce (salty but good, don't need to put a lot, especially good with rice salads)

- Grapefruit juice

When I do those salad dressings for my boyfriend, I add a little olive oil.

 

Also sometimes, when I do a greek salad, I cut my tomatoes a few hours before, so the juice from the tomatoes becomes my salad dressing. 

if you dont like fat free dressings then try olive oil & balsamic vinegar