Since salad dressings are one of the first things I started making – and stopped buying from the store – and because they are used almost daily, I thought it would be nice to gather all the homemade salad dressings I’ve posted into one place that would be easy to find. Not only are they great tasting and I know exactly what’s in them, I love that I am freed forever from having to buy junk-laden store bought versions – or even expensive versions that don’t use all the junk.
I will add to this page as I publish new recipes and you will be able to find it by using the search bar (upper right under the header) or looking in the ‘Pantry Basics’ section of the Recipe Index. All the individual dressing recipes can still be found in the Recipe Index, but in the ‘Salads’ section. That way, since dressings are such a staple for our pantries, they can now be found in the Pantry Basics section as well.
This recipe is second only to Soft 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls in popularity. Just reading through the comments will tell you I’m not alone in thinking this is the best!
The one that started it all – when you realize how easy it is to create a dressing like all the bottled ones labeled “Italian” or a variation thereof, and with no junk, you’ll wonder why you ever bought them in the first place!
One of our family’s favorites, a Caesar salad made with this dressing and croutons made out of leftover Easy Artisan Bread appears on our menus frequently.
If you like honey mustard dressing, you will LOVE this – it’s fantastic and has spoiled restaurant honey mustard dressings for me for good.
My favorite way to use this dressing is on a green salad with carrots, onions, beans, olives, and corn chips. It’s also good on taco salads and lettuce-tomato salads.
This dressing is a nice way to use some of the dried tomatoes I put up every year. We like the intense tomato flavor the bits of dried tomato add to any salad it’s used on.
This recipe was created at the request of my daughter who loves sesame vinaigrettes. It can easily be changed to a Ginger dressing with the addition of ginger (gee, you could see where I was going with that, huh?), and makes a very tasty marinade for grilling fish and chicken, too.
And if any of these dressings have become a staple at your house, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
I’m sharing this at the Spring Hop Party.
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
We made the honey mustard this week and it was very tasty!! I’m excited about trying the sesame next! Do you keep all of these in the fridge or are some okay left out? I’ve enjoyed trying your ideas/recipes–thank you!!
Hey! I’m glad you liked it – as you know, it’s one of our favs.
As long as a dressing doesn’t have fresh ingredients (herbs or garlic) it’s probably safe at room temperature. We actually keep dressings in the fridge all the time – it’s what we’ve always done and a lot of time I use fresh garlic. And of course we usually only have one or two varieties available at a time. 
Thank you for your helpful reply!! Have a terrific week!
We love poppyseed dressing–want to tackle that one next?
I have made several of yours and they are all good. I agree that it is one of the most satisfying things to make yourself–and so much healthier.
Good idea, Jenny! Poppyseed will go on my list – along with a sweet onion like the Costco kind, too.
I made the Caesar, Vinaigrette, Ranch and American French dressings today! My husband and I LOVE them all! Thank you! This should keep us in dressing for at least a month
Do you mind if I link this post on my blog? Thanks!
Michele
I don’t mind at all – thanks for asking, Michele! So glad you like them.
Great idea. I’m pinning the whole post.
Thank you so much for sharing, I will try one of these tomorrow. My sweetie loves homemade dressing. WE are moving away from processed foods, trying to eat healthier. Cheers!
Lori in Atlanta
Ooooooooooooooh, I can’t wait to go through these and make a few! Thanks!
Love this post. I too make my own dressing mostly so I know what’s in it. I’ll try yours since you actually have recipes (which I don’t). Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Thank you for sharing these recipes again! I am ready to try 2 or 3 of our favorites, especially the ranch dressing because we go through a lot of ranch, but I only like HVR {expensive}. I think I’ll need to find some fun bottles like you have, too! I’ve “Pinned” a few of these, too.
I love that you posted a Ranch dressing that doesn’t use a packet. My husband was a GM at a family owned restaurant for the better part of 20 years so we have wonderful dressing recipes, except for the Ranch. They cheated and used ranch powder in it, all the rest were made from scratch. I cheat when I make dressing and use my pampered chef bottle with the recipes printed on the side. Our favorite of those is the Oriental dressing. I’ll try your ranch dressing this weekend for our B-day dinner!
I made the honey mustard recipe yesterday. I will cut back on the honey a bit next time, but it was good!
Tailoring to your family’s taste is why cooking from scratch is so awesome, Daisy!
Nice site!
Question for you. I want to make a chicken salad but I don’t like mayo or yogurt. Can you recommend a light dressing to mix in? Thanks, I appreciate it. (I’m counting calories for weight loss right now, however, I prefer full fat versions to fat free or chemically laden versions).
When you emulsify olive oil with other ingredients in a blender, it becomes pretty creamy, Melody – maybe that would be good? The Honey-Mustard or the Caesar (though it has a bit of mayo, it isn’t noticeable) would both be good on chicken salad, I think – see it they work!
I’ll try that, thanks!