12 Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

Homemade salad dressings are a nice luxury, they’re made with fresh ingredients, tastier than what you can buy and chances are–they’re a lot cheaper than ready-made. Here’s a list of what’s caught my eye around the net, each of them look so good!

Also check out How to Make Vinaigrette: Recipe & Tips for how to make homemade vinaigrette.

12 Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

*Note: Descriptions below are quotes from the recipe sites

1. Roasted-Garlic and Buttermilk Salad Dressing: Simply pour this rich dressing over wedges of crisp iceberg lettuce or quartered heads of romaine for a salad, or use it as a dip for crudités. Recipe found at A Perfect Beginning.
2. Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing Recipe: This Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing recipe is turning out to be so versatile. It’s great for dressing lettuce and salad greens (as pictured) but also as a dip (used like ranch dressing) for raw vegetables. I can also see using it for a homemade coleslaw dressing or as the mayonnaise for tuna salad and egg salad. Recipe found at A Veggie Venture.
3. DIY Recipe: Creamy Vinaigrette: A rich, creamy vinaigrette can take a simple salad and turn it into an elegant dish worthy of center stage. Whipping up a cup or two at home is even easier than going to the store, and once you have the basic technique down, the variations are endless! Recipe found at The Kitchn.
4. Carrot Ginger Dressing: Dressing keeps, covered and chilled, 1 week. Recipe found at Epicurious.
5. Homemade Ranch Dressing: Life would not be complete without ranch dressing… at least not in our house! It’s not just for salads. It is a must for pizza, the kids chicken nuggets or just for a dip for chips. I usually buy the bottled variety but homemade is so much better. This recipe is adapted from a Penzey’s recipe I found in one of their catalogs. Recipe found at Chef Michele’s Adventures.
6. Buttermilk Basil Salad Dressing: My husband can’t eat greasy or spicy foods, and non of us like mayonnaise, so I created this creamy dressing we all enjoy. It gets its pleasant flavor from fresh basil and Parmesan cheese. Recipe found at Taste Of Home.
7. Orange Sesame Dressing: Great for Asian-inspired salads such as chilled noodles, marinated fish or crispy snow pea, bean shoot and tempeh combinations. Recipe found at Cuisine.
8. Sweet Sesame Seed Dressing: It’s sweet and thick just like a traditional poppy seed dressing, but it is speckled with roasted sesame seeds instead of poppy seeds, is a bit more tart than the traditional poppy seed dressing, and uses ingredients that you are more likely to find in a Japanese supermarket. Recipe found at La Fuji Mama.
9. Cafe Rio Salad Dressing: We loved it! So much that we actually finished off an entire bag of baby carrots dipping them in this. It is really good! Recipe found at Karas Kitchen Creations.
10. New Fashioned Buttermilk Ranch Dressing: Once you try homemade ranch, there’s no turning back. The stuff in the bottle tastes like school lunch food, something to tolerate in seventh grade but to unilaterally shun as an adult. I admit the little packets of Hidden Valley have a pleasant flavor and tang, but the really authentic real buttermilk dressing is vastly superior. For my favorite version, I’ve updated the flavor of traditional Ranch by adding a pinch of hot pepper, lots of fresh lemon juice and some fresh cilantro. Recipe found at Prudence Pennywise.
11. Fresh Tarragon Vinaigrette: Kept the fresh herb to tarragon only to highlight its flavor; Kept the vinegar to just balsamic for simplicity; Adjusted other spices to taste. Recipe found at Smorgasbite.
12. Cilantro Orange Creamy Dressing: The fresh flavor of the oranges complements the assertiveness of cilantro so well. This salad dressing goes with just about anything. It is wonderful on romaine lettuce, beets, or shredded carrots with some added parsley. We have been eating it all week and every time everyone at the table raves about it. Recipe found at Artsy-Foodie.

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