6 homemade healthy salad dressings you can make at home this summer || Dunnebells

Whenever I’m speaking to a client or a friend and tell them that I actually love vegetables and healthy nutritious food, the first thing they respond with is “what kind of salads do you eat each day?”. Here is the real talk answer to those questions. I actually don’t and have never really loved salad all that much. I am for sure not throwing a ton of greens in a bowl and sitting down to munch on it like a rabbit and call it “dinner”.

One of the easiest ways to add incredible flavors while keeping intact the calories and fat content is to stock lighter healthy salad dressings in your fridge. These dressings are nutritious, healthy, as well as low in calories.

Inside my 8-week program, you get your own custom macronutrients to follow, which will quickly help you continue to develop healthy habits to get a happier and healthier you!

I have a large appetite, and for me, a salad is good if it is substantial. You know what I mean right? it has to have lots of flavours, textured, and of course a really good dressing. A good healthy salad dressing makes such a difference when you think about making your next salad. Vegetables are great but they get boring if you don’t spice them up and give them life.

Even if you think salads or veggies aren’t your things (or your toddlers’ thing), the below recipes are going to change how you view salads forever. Imagine those plain old boring raw veggies dipped in a healthy Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing (recipe below) that is exploding with flavour. Now those tastebuds are tingling aren’t they?

6 HOMEMADE HEALTHY SALAD DRESSINGS

Are you ready? I’m sharing six of my favorite simple, easy, and healthy salad dressing recipes that you can make at home in minutes. I would even bet you have most of these ingredients ready to go in your fridge or pantry.

I recommend for all six recipes that you make them inside a jar. Think about those wide mouth canning jars. Throw all the ingredients in, shake the jar well - hello arm workout, once it is well blended you are good to go! We love our Blendtec and you can always use something like this if you want a less chunky dressing. It is totally up to you.

All recipes make approximately one cup of dressing. The dressings will keep in the fridge between 1-2 weeks.

1. GREEK YOGURT RANCH

• 1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp onion powder

• 1 ½ tsp fresh lemon juice (or can sub apple cider vinegar)

• 1/2 tsp dried dill

• 1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste

• 2 tbsp water to thin dressing

• Optional: 1/4 teaspoon honey melted

Packed with healthy fat and protein, this healthy ranch dressing recipe will soon become one of your favourites. Swapping out mayonnaise and creams for Greek Yogurt will ensure you still get that creamy dressing without packing on the unwanted calories to the top of your salad.

2. ITALIAN DRESSING

• 6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 Tbsp white vinegar

• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• Juice of half a small to medium-sized lemon

• 1 tsp dried basil

• 1/8 tsp dried oregano

• 2 cloves fresh garlic minced

• Salt and pepper to taste

This healthy Italian dressing from scratch tastes way better than the store-bought kind!

3. CHILE LIME SALAD DRESSING

• 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro

• Juice and zest of one lime

• 1/2 tsp chilli powder

• 1 tsp red pepper flakes

• 1 tsp honey or maple syrup 

• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 3 tbsp light olive or avocado oil

For more of a kick add extra pepper flakes.

4. HONEY MUSTARD SALAD DRESSING

• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (any % fat, try and avoid non-fat)

• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

• ¼ cup Dijon mustard

• 4 tbsp honey  

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

• Salt and pepper to taste

This creamy healthy honey-mustard salad dressing recipe contains Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise! This will keep for about 10 days!

5. LEMON VINAIGRETTE'

• 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 1/4 cup good quality olive oil 

• 1 tsp maple syrup

• Pinch of salt and pepper

Optional: Top dressing with finely diced shallots.

If you are anything like me, you have struggled to make a lemon vinaigrette that isn’t super oily and actually has balanced lemon flavour. This one is different and SO good!

6. LIGHTER SRIRACHA DRESSING

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 4 tbsp plain fat-free Greek yogurt

• 1 tbsp Sriracha sauce

• 2 tbsp honey

• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Optional: Top dressing with hemp hearts after serving.

Low in fat and calories, high in amazing flavour. This Sriracha dressing will become a new staple for you.

LOW-CALORIE SALAD DRESSINGS THAT ARE HOMEMADE

Making salad dressings at home ensures that you won’t feel guilty about splashing them onto your greens! These 6 healthy homemade dressings make it easy for you to keep an eye on those sneaky calories that can add up by using other dressings or sauces.

If you are anything like me, you love dressings and sauces. Check out our recent article talking all about 6 best low-calorie condiments that you can have endless supplies of without compromising your health goals.

LOW-CALORIE SALAD DRESSINGS - STORE BOUGHT

The salad dressing aisle can be overwhelming with so many choices! You may know which flavour you are looking for, but then trying to choose the brand or type is where things can get tricky right?

Here is a list of the best salad dressing when looking at the fat content, sodium content, and added sugar content for each serving.

BEST LOW-CALORIE SALAD DRESSINGS FROM THE STORE:

Balsamic: Marie’s Balsamic Vinaigrette

Blue Cheese: Bolthouse Farms Chunky Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing

Caesar: Annie’s Organic Caesar Dressing

French: Annie’s Organic French Dressing

Greek: Kraft Greek Vinaigrette Dressing

LOW-CALORIE SALAD DRESSINGS FROM SUBWAY

Many of my clients turn to Subway when they are on the road or in need of some food in a pinch. Subway can be a great option as long as you hold the mayo, limit the amount of cheese and opt for bread made of whole-grains.

When it comes to salad dressings from Subway the best choices for your sub would be honey mustard, yellow or brown mustard, sweet onion sauce, or fat-free Italian if you are going for a salad.

So as you can see, salad dressings are extremely easy to make at home. It’ll save you a lot of money during your next grocery trip. The markup you are paying on bottled salad dressings is HIGH—most of them you can make for a fraction of the cost and you can leave out all those nasty additives and fillers that are not good for you.

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