EASY HOMEMADE RECIPES FOR SALAD DRESSING

It is up to you to decide whether or not to DIY. You can make your salad dressings because they are tastier and cheaper, and you have complete control over the ingredients. Having a variety of homemade dressing recipes will be a huge help. Although I don’t always make my dressings from scratch (more later), having a list of homemade dressing recipes gives you the option to control and give you control. You can keep these homemade salad dressing recipes in your pocket or bookmarks for later use.

WHY MAKE HOMEMADE ALAD DRESSING FROM SCRATCH?

Spoiler alert: I did not always make my salad dressing from scratch. Sometimes it’s a good idea to make your salad dressing. Other times it is not. To help you decide when it is beneficial to make your salad dressing and when to purchase store-bought, I will quickly go through the pros and cons.

HOMEMADE SALAD DRESSING:

• You can control the ingredients. Preservatives, stabilizers and allergens can be avoided. Other ingredients, such as sugar, fat, and salt, can also be controlled.
• It is affordable – If you have all the ingredients in your kitchen, you can save money by not having to buy them.
• Fresh flavors – Mixing fresh ingredients can sometimes give you a stronger flavor punch.
• Mixing small batches and fewer leftovers can help reduce the number of bottles in your fridge.

DISADVANTAGES OF HOMEMADE ALAD DRESSINGS

• You can expect a shorter shelf life because homemade salad dressings are not preservative-free. They should be kept in the fridge for no more than five days.
• It can be more costly – if you don’t have the ingredients you need, you may need to buy them.
• One serving is not enough – you can’t make more than one salad per week if you cook for only one person and eat one or two salads each week.

What do you need to make your homemade salad dressing?

It doesn’t take much! You don’t need a lot of oil, vinegar, herbs, spices, and sometimes additional ingredients such as Dijon mustard or mayonnaise, citrus, avocado, mayonnaise, mayonnaise, or mayonnaise. The basic components of a salad dressing are fat, acid, flavor, and emulsifier. These ingredients bind to fat and water to prevent the dressing from separating. These are examples of each component:

• Fat: olive oil, neutral oils (safflower, avocado, peanut, canola, grapeseed), tahini, peanut butter, avocado, sour cream, mayonnaise
• Acid: vinegar (apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, champagne vinegar), lemon juice, lime juice
• Flavor Garlic, herbs (basil. oregano. thyme. cilantro. chives), spices
• Emulsifiers mustard (Dijon yellow mustard, coarse-deli mustard), mayonnaise and egg yolk, honey

As you can see, many ingredients are shelf-stable pantry essentials that can be kept on hand so you can make your dressings as needed. You don’t need a full pantry, so focus on purchasing one to two items per week.

KALE PESTO

A small batch of kale Pesto is a great way to use leftover kale. This pesto tastes great in sandwiches, soups, dips, and many other dishes.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of torn Kale Leaves ($1.06)
• 1/3 cup olive oil ($0.85)
• 1 fresh lemon (0.37)
• 1 clove of garlic ($0.08)
• 1/4 cup walnuts (0.30)
• 1/3 cup Parmesan ($0.59)
• 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
• Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Your kale leaves should be washed thoroughly, any excess water drained away, and any hard stems removed. Juice the lemon.
• Combine the kale with 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, olive oil, and garlic in a food processor. Add walnuts, Parmesan cheese, salt, freshly cracked pepper, and olive oil. Blend until you have a fine paste. If necessary, adjust the salt, pepper, and lemon. You can make the pesto runnier by adding extra oil or 2 tablespoons of water.

NUTRITION

Calories: 368.38 Kcal Carbohydrates 4.65 g Protein 2.75 g Fat 25.68 g Sodium 516.68 mg Fiber 1.78 g