Making my own salad dressing isn’t as hard as I thought

Author: Dr. Michelle Durkin on 12 July 2016

I have been eating what I call a real food diet for about three years now and it wasn't until about a year and a half in that I decided I should be making my own salad dressings.

Commercially prepared salad dressings contain a substantial amount of sugar and polyunsaturated oils - usually disguised under names such as high fructose corn syrup, glucose-fructose, molasses, modified corn starch, xanthan gum, soybean oil and canola oil. The problem with these ingredients is that they cause inflammation in the body, so I wanted to get away from them as much as possible.

My first step was to switch to olive oil based commercial dressings because I wasn't quite ready to make the commitment to make my own dressings. I had this preconceived notion that it was going to take up too much time and not really make much difference.

Well, I have to say I was completely wrong. Making my own salad dressing isn't as hard as I thought it would be, it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would, and it tastes 100 times better! Now that I've done it I wish I have made the switch sooner.

Here's my favourite salad dressing to make all those summer salads taste so yummy!

Balsamic Vinaigrette:

Ingredients

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp each sea salt & pepper

1 cup extra-vigin olive oil

Preparation

1. Blend all ingredients except olive oil.

2. Once smooth, slowly add in olive oil.

3. Serve atop your choice of salad.

Now I would love to hear from you! What homemade dressings do you really like to make? What is your motivation to make your own versus buy something from the store? Leave a comment below and share this recipe with family and friends. I look forward to next week's article on Doctor as Teacher Tuesday.

Michelle Durkin
12 July 2016
6:00 am
3 comments

3 Replies to “Making my own salad dressing isn’t as hard as I thought”

Susanne Koehler

15 July 2016, 8:44 am

My dressing is similar:
1 Tbsp plus 1/2 cup EVOO or Avocado Oil
3 Tbsp either white vinegar or balsamic vinegar or specialty vinegars
3/4 tsp each of salt, pepper, Herb de Provence
1 tsp mustard.
I store it in an old salad dressing bottle and it lasts a number of uses.
I am lazy so wouldn’t addd the garlic or onions although they sound good.

Dr Michelle Durkin ND

15 July 2016, 9:02 am

Thanks Susanne!

Robert

15 November 2016, 12:09 pm

I come from an Italian family and for decades our delicious salad dressings have been fast and simple consisting only of olive oil, wine vinegar, salt & pepper.

If you want to get extra fancy you can add additional items such as garlic salt, oregano, a touch of oyster sauce, Worcester sauce.

Recently most of my salads have been made with Apple Cider Vinegar since I’ve read of its health benefits. But the organic kind with “the mother” (sediment) not the clear pasteurized kind from the big box stores.