Homemade Salad Dressing Recipe Roundup

I love salad, y'all. I've discovered this fondness for raw leafy greens in the past year or two, and I've been perfecting my ideal salad combinations ever since.

With the planting season beginning here, I can hardly wait until my lettuce, chard, kale, and spinach start popping up in the garden so I can again enjoy home-grown salads every day!

One thing for me that makes a great salad is variety: no iceberg-lettuce-only salads for me! I enjoy seeing and experiencing a variety of colors, textures, and flavors along the way. I like to add plenty of protein into my salads (in the form of leftover beans, sliced boiled eggs, cheeses, and leftover dinner meats) as well as some extra crunch from shaved carrots, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, and of course: roasted squash seeds.

The other thing that tops off a great salad is the perfect dressing. Most salad dressings available in grocery stores are loaded with preservatives, salt, and other questionable (and unpronounceable) ingredients. But I'm here to fill you in on a little secret today: making salad dressing at home is very easy. Besides, who knows—you and your family members may just find you like the taste of whole ingredients even better than the processed store-bought versions.

Each of the salad dressings listed below has six ingredients or fewer (using the Six Ingredient Challenge guidelines) and is made with whole food ingredients. Most of the recipes are vegetarian, several are vegan, and they're all gluten-free. I've included allergy information (when applicable) at the end of each recipe's description. (Clicking the photos will redirect you to the individual dressing recipes.) Get ready to get your salad on!

Ranch

 

Ranch is my go-to dressing. I like this creamy, fresh version from Danielle of It Starts With Me. (Vegetarian; contains dairy, eggs.)

Caesar

 

Sam at Hobo Mama presents a foolproof yet complex Caesar dressing, made creamy by the emulsion of olive oil and egg yolks and seasoned deeply with garlic, anchovy paste, mustard, Parmesan, and other goodness. (Contains dairy, eggs, fish.)

Classic Balsamic Vinaigrette

 

Simple, delicious. Who can complain about this balsamic vinaigrette from Robyn of Add a Pinch? (Vegan)

Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette

 

Yum, yum, yum! This dressing is a great way to utilize the abundance of basil in the Summertime. Thanks to ModFruGal for this delicious recipe! (Vegan)

Lemon Vinaigrette

Another lovely simple vinaigrette from What'sCookingAmerica. (Vegan)

Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette

 

A little heat, a little lime: this is my kind of dressing! Thanks to Life, Love, & Lavender for this yummy vinaigrette. (Vegan)

Roasted Strawberry Vinaigrette

 

I'm so excited for strawberry season so I can try out this amazing looking strawberry vinaigrette from Rosemarried. (Vegetarian)

Italian (Olive Garden Copycat)

 

Most of the Olive Garden copycat recipes out there either use corn syrup or pre-packaged Italian dressing mix as one of the ingredients. But this one from Cheeky Bums Blog passes the Six Ingredients test! (Vegetarian; contains dairy, eggs.)

Bleu Cheese

 

This recipe from Kristi at Veggie Converter may be the winner for creamy dressing with the fewest ingredients (only 3!). I'm going to whip this up for Jaymz next time I make chicken wings. (Vegetarian; contains dairy.)


What's your favorite salad dressing? Share your favorite homemade salad dressing recipes in the comments!

First image adapted from "Salad Mix" by Tim Sackton on Flickr.
Unless otherwise noted, all other images credit the authors of the dressing recipes.

Join the Six Ingredient Challenge hosted by Hobo Mama and Anktangle!

We're on a six-week path to eat more whole foods, guided by one simple rule: Buy foods with six ingredients or fewer. And we're blogging about our journey on the way.

To join in the Six Ingredient Challenge anytime during the six weeks, visit the sign-up page for a list of posts and to link up!