- Hey there, Taylor from the Girl on Bloor blog
and I am back with five healthy, homemade salad dressings
that will take your salad game to the next level.
I'm sure I don't have to talk too much
about why homemade salad dressings are much better
than store bought dressing.
by making your own dressings at home,
You can better control the ingredients
and ensure that they are a lot healthier than store bought.
You can also rest easy knowing that there are no chemicals
or weird ingredients
and you'll understand
where all the calories are coming from.
making your own salad dressings at home
is just one more step towards kicking processed food
to the curb.
And besides all of that,
it is super easy to make salad dressing at home.
Most of the dressings I'm going to show you today
only take about five or 10 minutes to make
and depending on the ones you choose to make
from this video,
you can keep most of them on hand in the fridge
for two to four weeks.
I know, I know,
the shelf life of my homemade salad dressings
is much shorter but even store bought dressings go bad
after a few months.
This way you can rest easy knowing that exactly
what you're putting in your body contains healthy-ish,
whole food ingredients.
Did I also mention that you can make substitutes?
I'll provide more details on what you can substitute
in a bit.
For now, let's dive right into these delicious dressings.
Today I'm showing you how to make Italian, ranch,
ginger sesame, honey Dijon and balsamic dressings.
All of the dressings except for the ranch
can also be used as a marinade for chicken,
meat and seafood,
so if you don't think that you'll be able to use
up a dressing in a two to four week period,
you can always freeze it with your choice of protein.
See how I'm always connecting my recipes
back to how you can meal prep?
I got you.
So, I'm going to show you the basic format
on how to make a healthy salad dressing.
Let's start with the Italian dressing for example.
First things first,
you're going to grab an eight ounce Mason jar.
I highly recommend that you get a whole bunch
of Mason jars to keep on hand
because they are great for overnight oats, chia pudding,
protein shakes, Mason jar salads, soups
and homemade juices,
they are so versatile that they are worth keeping on hand
in your kitchen as a staple meal prep container.
I like the eight ounce jars in particular
because they make the perfect portion sizes
for different meals,
but they are still skinny and small enough
to fit into your fridge without overcrowding it.
And obviously they work great for storing dressings
and sauces too.
Once you've got your Mason jar,
you're going to add one part fat, one part acid,
one part emulsifier, one part sweetener.
A bonus for this formula would be additional flavoring
such as spices, herbs, garlic or ginger.
This is your basic homemade salad dressing formula,
I provided you with five easy dressing recipes on the blog
but I give you this formula
so that you can feel free to play around
with different flavor combinations
and experiment with your own.
You do need to start with some sort of fat
such as an oil, mayo, Greek yogurt or sour cream.
From there, you'll be able to add an acid
such as any variety of vinegar or lemon or lime juice.
Since oil and vinegar typically separate,
this is where the emulsifier comes in,
which is typically something like a mustard
but can also be a sweetener such as honey.
If you've already added an emulsifier like mustard,
then you'll also probably want a sweetener
to take the edge off of whatever acid you used.
I like honey, maple syrup or agave syrup
since they are more natural sweeteners
but I will occasionally add a tiny bit of brown sugar
or coconut sugar.
Nice thing about making your own dressings
is that you really don't need a ton
and you can totally control how much you add.
Always start with just a little
and then I add more to taste.
Finally, you can add other optional flavor add ins
and this comes in the form of fresh or dried herbs
and spices along with garlic, ginger, lemon grass,
hot sauce, Parmesan cheese,
whatever other flavors you can think of.
Now that I've given you the base ingredients
and you have a good understanding
of how to make a salad dressing,
I'm gonna walk you through my Italian salad dressing recipe.
The other five dressings are listed out
in detail on my blog, thegirlonbloor.com,
so if you want the other five recipes,
you can head on over to the link in my caption
below this video.
I figured rather than bore you
with an exact ingredient amount
for every single dressing recipe,
which would take forever to list out,
I would just walk you through one example,
then let you pick and choose
whatever others you want to make.
I think the honey Dijon and the ginger sesame are my faves,
I always have them on hand in the fridge.
So be sure to head on over to the site
so you can whip them up yourself.
Now back to the Italian dressing.
Here's how you're gonna make it.
You're gonna add one quarter cup of canola oil
to your Mason jar
followed by a quarter cup of white wine vinegar.
Add in two cloves of minced garlic,
then one teaspoon of Italian seasoning
and half teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
Finally, add one tablespoon of freshly grated
Parmesan cheese and two tablespoons of honey.
Now here's the best part because you're using a Mason jar,
you don't have to stir it, just place a lid on top,
then shake everything to combine,
it really doesn't get any easier.
Now that you can see how easy it is to make each dressing,
you'll want to make all five and keep them on hand
so everyone can choose their favorite dressing
every time it's salad night.
I also use these dressings as healthier sauces and dips
for different meals,
so it really does come in handy
to have a little variety on hand.
The sesame ginger in particular, I use for stir fry's,
so they are great as doubling at other sauces.
I guarantee that you will use them up one way or another.
I'll usually make the ranch and keep it on hand
for homemade chicken fingers,
dip for sweet potato fries
or even just as a way to spice up different veggies.
Dressings aren't just for fresh veggies either,
you can totally use these dressings
as a way to add flavor to steamed vegetables
or cooked chicken.
They are just fantastic for adding a little pop of flavor
to an otherwise boring meal.
Let's face it, we could all use some more delicious,
exciting food in our lives after the year that was 2020.
If we aren't settling for less in 2021.
Okay, now you're probably wondering,
what are my favorite types of salads?
I've got a list of them over on the blog
linked to the post with these salad dressings
but I've also linked to my salad archive
so you can see for yourself exactly
how I build out a filling, protein packed salad
that you'll actually wanna eat.
As with all of my recipes,
you can feel free to skip the ads
and jump right down to the recipe card
with the jump to recipe button at the top of the page.
I know, I know, ads suck
but don't you love these free recipes?
Let me know if there are any other salad dressing combos
you want to see and I might just pop up with another video
with some more ideas.
Thanks so much for tuning in and if you love this video,
I'd love to see you subscribe to my channel.
There's a whole lot more delicious recipes and meal prep
tips and tricks on my channel,
so I am excited to continue sharing more healthy inspiration
with you this year.
Hit that subscribe button at the end of this video
and I will see you in the next one.
Take care.
(gentle upbeat music)