Homemade Salad Dressings – Tips For Making Your Own
When it comes to flavor, homemade salad dressings win over store bough dressings any time. Not only can you enjoy better flavor, but you will find that these dressings are extremely easy to make as well. You can avoid the high sodium and preservatives that come in the bottled options you will find at the store. With a few great tips, you can whip up great additions to healthy salads and they can double as great marinades for poultry, fish, and meats as well.
Have the Essential Ingredients on Hand
Most homemade salad dressings are going to include three basic things – a seasoning, an acid, and a fat. Seasonings can include things like chili peppers, herbs, or spices. The acids can include citrus juice or various types of vinegar. For the fat, usually a dairy product, eggs, or some form or oil is going to be necessary. The homemade dressings for your salad can be complex or very simple. With the three ingredients as the base, you can add other options to change up the flavor of the recipe you want to make.
A Few Important Tips
Having the right tools on hand will be important if you are going to make your own homemade salad dressings. Stick blenders, wire whisks, or immersion blenders are all great tools to have on hand. Dressings can easily separate, so you will need to shake or whisk together again right before you serve it on the salad.
As you are making your dressings, make sure you only make enough for a couple days. Most of the homemade options can go bad quickly, since they do not have preservatives. This means that you will want to only make enough for a meal or two. Otherwise, you will end up throwing away the dressing, which is a real waste.
Do not be afraid to do some experimenting on your own as well. Take a look at some recipes, but branch out and try out some of your own combinations too. This allows you to have some fun and come up with new options that you really enjoy.
Low Fat Ranch Salad Dressing Recipe
When making your dressings at home, you have the ability to cut down on the fat. One example is this low fat ranch salad dressing recipe. Enjoy the creamy flavor of ranch without a huge amount of fat and calories.
- 1/4 cup of buttermilk
- 1/2 half cup of mayonnaise (preferably no fat mayo)
- 1 green onion (minced)
- 1/4 cup of sour cream (low or no fat)
- 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup of fresh parsley (chopped)
- 1 clove of garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon of ground mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- In a medium size bowl, combine all the ingredients together. Use a whisk to whisk ingredients together until they are well combined. Serve on salad or serve on the side. Refrigerate any leftovers and make sure you use any extra dressing within three days after you make it.
- During the summer, a crisp salad and a nice grilled steak make a great dinner. Turn salad dressings into easy steak marinades or look for a nice flank steak marinade recipe to add great flavor to your steak.
The Author:
EasySteakMarinades
Photo. Whitney
Source: EzineArticles.com
