A healthy homemade salad dressing recipe is a nutritional powerhouse. Making a delicious salad at home is only as good as the dressing that tops it.
Luckily for you, I love how much better (and cheaper!) healthy homemade salad dressings are than their store bought counterparts.
So, I created this list of amazing healthy homemade salad dressing recipes so you can make any type of salad at home. There are:
- Herb and root based salad dressings with fresh herbs, ginger, garlic, and turmeric
- Spicy and south your mouth style dressings using lime, cilantro, peppers, and spices
- Classic salad dressings you know and love like ranch, blue cheese, catalina, and caesar
- Keto salad dressings that use no or alternative sweetener
- Fruity and sweet dressings with fresh fruit and honey
- Bright lemony dressings for all of you citrus lovers
- Vegan versions of classics that are typically not plant-based
- Dressing mixes. A couple of bonus dry mixes to have on hand for making dip or dressing in a snap
Herb and Root
Green Goddess Dressing – Mom’s 1970’s Recipe — Delicious Table
Ginger Avocado Dressing — Bad to the Bowl
Turmeric Cilantro Vinaigrette — Swirls of Flavor
Creamy Cilantro Dressing — Simply Happy Foodie
Savory Garlic Dressing – Almond Based and Oil-free — A Plantiful Path
Roasted Garlic Dressing • Happy Kitchen — Happy Kitchen Rocks
Spicy and South of the Border
Southwestern Chicken Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing — Play, Party, Plan
Original Taco House Fiesta Dressing {CopyCat Recipe} — The Good Hearted Woman
Chili Lime Vinaigrette — Swirls of Flavor
Creamy avocado dressing: a recipe from Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala — A Taste for Travel
Creamy Jalapeno Cilantro Dressing — Two Sleevers
Classic Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings
Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe — Eating on a Dime
Homemade Catalina Salad Dressing & Marinade {Russian Dressing} — This Old Gal
Simple Homemade Caesar Salad — Space Ships and Laser Beams
Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing — Bitz n Giggles
Cucumber Ranch Dressing — Bitz n Giggles
Blue Cheese Salad Dressing — Beyond the Chicken Coop
Simple Greek Dressing — Simple Gray T-Shirt
Apple Cider Vinaigrette – Family Favorite Salad Dressing — Kitchen Frau
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette Recipe — Chisel and Fork
Poppy Seed Salad Dressing — The Good Hearted Woman
Keto Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings
Keto Chicken BLT Salad with Warm Mustard Vinaigrette — How 2 Do Keto
Warm Keto Asian Noodle Salad (with an Asian Wasabi Dressing) — How 2 Do Keto
Keto Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe — Low Carb Yum
All-Purpose Easy Mustard Keto Salad Dressing — Two Sleevers
Low Carb Keto Ranch Dressing Recipe (Quick & Easy) — Wholesome Yum
Fruity and Sweet Salad Dressings
Honey Balsamic Dressing — Totally the Bomb
Blueberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing: a creamy, velvety blueberry dressing — Amanda’s Cookin’
Warm Cranberry Honey Dressing — Boulder Locavore
Sweet Vinaigrette Dressing — Play, Party, Plan
The Best Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing Recipe | Sugar and Soul — Sugar and Sole
Sweet Vidalia Onion Salad Dressing and Marinade — This Old Gal
Mango Chili Dressing — Radical Strength
Luscious and Lemony
Homemade Meyer Lemon Salad Dressing Recipe – 5 ingredients! — Boulder Locavore
Easy Homemade Blueberry Lemon Dressing — The Housewife Modern
Lemon Ginger Turmeric Dressing — Tasting Page
Parmesan Lemon Vinaigrette “Mason Jar Make & Shake” — Delicious Table
Vegan Versions of Your Favourites
Vegan Ranch Dressing (Oil-Free) — A Plantiful Path
Vegan Caesar Salad – Oil-free, creamy, and delicious! — A Plantiful Path
Vegan Green Goddess Dressing — A Sweet Alternative
Dairy Free Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing — Low Carb Yum
Homemade Ranch Dressing (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, No Mayo) — Very Vegan Val
Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing {Paleo, Vegan, Whole30} — Tasting Page
Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing Mixes
Homemade ranch dressing mix recipe — Eating on a Dime
Homemade Italian Salad Dressing Mix — The Housewife Modern
Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing Ingredients to Keep on Hand
Your healthy homemade salad dressing is only as good as the ingredients you use.
Choosing high quality products will allow you to make homemade dressings that are very simple but taste amazing because the quality shines through.
If you are normally a budget savvy shopper keep this in mind: store bought salad dressings can be twice the price per ounce.
But even if your homemade dressing costs more than the big-box-store variety, please take into account all of the non-food ingredients (fillers, preservatives, thickeners, colours, artificial flavours, etc.) that you are paying for.
Also, those cheap dressings just do NOT taste good. And certainly don’t taste anywhere close to as good as a healthy homemade salad dressing does.
Some ingredients to keep on hand:
- olive oil
- dijon mustard
- herbs and spices
- garlic
- red wine vinegar
- balsamic vinegar
- white wine vinegar
- apple cider vinegar
- lemons
- avocado oil or grapeseed oil (for a lighter flavoured oil than olive
- honey, maple syrup, monk fruit sweetener
- greek yogurt, kefir
- sour cream
- fresh herbs
Even just with those pantry staples you can whip up almost any variety of salad dressing. To make a main dish salad meal, try topping any salad with my Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken.
Other healthy homemade salads to try:
Asparagus Salad with Feta, Tomatoes, and Balsamic Vinaigrette
