Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings
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Published May 25, 2017, Updated Sep 27, 2022
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Healthy homemade salad dressing recipes that are super easy to make — from a basic balsamic vinaigrette to peanut, honey mustard and cilantro lime. All dressings are gluten-free and vegan-friendly.
Regular readers know that I could practically live on salads because I love them so much. They’re such an easy option for healthy eating because you can literally toss a protein and healthy fat over a bed of greens with a ton of veggies or a whole grain and you’ve got yourself a delicious meal. (Check out my tips here –> how to build a meal-sized salad.)
And honestly salads are all about the toppings! Yes, the greens are important, but if you have a ton of flavorful toppings you might not even need a dressing. A drizzle of good balsamic vinegar, a scoop of hummus or even hot sauce will do the trick. Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but I put hot sauce on everything… even salad.
That said, there are definitely times when I’m in the mood for a salad with actual dressing. For times like this I like to whip out one of my homemade salad dressing recipes. The six I’m sharing are my go-tos. I make them all the time, but they’ve never really been featured on the blog because they’re all hidden within different salad recipes. Now they’re all are in one spot for easy reference.
Why Make Homemade Salad Dressing?
Many store-bought dressings are loaded with processed ingredients, preservatives and sugar so making your own dressing is much healthier. Plus, it’s cheaper! And once you get started making your own you’ll figure out what ratios you like best and it becomes so easy to whip up different variations.
As you’ll notice most of these healthy homemade salad dressings I’m sharing have recurring ingredients — garlic, apple cider vinegar, tamari, maple syrup, sea salt and pepper. So once you have these items in your pantry/fridge you can make a bunch of different dressings!
All of the dressings are made with whole ingredients and yield about 3/4 cup, which is about 12 Tablespoons and 6 servings. Each serving size is 2 Tablespoons. Oh, and if you’re looking for sugar-free options, check out the zesty tahini and the apple cider vinegar dressings.
How to Make Homemade Salad Dressing
Each of these recipes are made with minimal ingredients. There are a few ways to mix up homemade salad dressings:
- Put all of the ingredients in a mason jar and shake it up! I like using this method for oil-based dressings like vinaigrettes.
- Put all of the ingredients in a high powered blender and blend! I like using this method for creamier dressings that use ingredients like avocado but it also works great for vinaigrettes!
How to Store Homemade Salad Dressing
I recommend storing your homemade dressing in a glass container in the refrigerator. I like to use mason jars! One thing to note: homemade dressings made with olive oil tend to harden and separate when stored in the fridge. This is completely normal! Take the dressing out of the fridge about 20 minutes before using so it can come to room temperature and then give it a quick shake to recombine the ingredients.
How Long Does Homemade Salad Dressing Last?
When stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, your homemade dressing will last about two weeks.
Oil-Free Zesty Tahini Dressing
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 84 calories, 5g fat, 5g carbs, 0g sugar, 2g fiber, 6g protein, 30mg sodium
Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing
My go-to apple cider vinegar salad dressing recipe. If EBF has a house dressing, this would be it! Get all the health benefits of apple cider vinegar with this delicious dressing! Use it for this Brussels Sprout Chopped Salad or as a marinade for grilled chicken.
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 163 calories, 18g fat, 1g carbs, 0g sugar, 0g fiber, 0g protein, 434mg sodium
Cilantro Lime Dressing
One of my favorite zesty dressings to use for Mexican themed salads. Try it on my Deconstructed Guacamole Salad or as a marinade for grilled shrimp.
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 87 calories, 9g fat, 2g carbs, 1g sugar, 0g fiber, 0g protein, 394mg sodium
Basic Balsamic Dressing
Everyone needs a go-to balsamic vinegar dressing and this one is absolutely delicious and works on just about any salad imaginable. Try it on my Detox Salad or for a Salad in a Jar.
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 103 calories, 9g fat, 5g carbs, 4g sugar, 0g fiber, 0g protein, 217mg sodium
Honey Mustard Dressing
One of my favorite salad dressings growing up was honey mustard and I still love it to this day. This version is lighter than regular honey mustard but still just as flavorful! Try it as a dipping sauce for my Baked Paleo Chicken Tenders.
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 106 calories, 9g fat, 7g carbs, 6g sugar, 0g fiber, 0g protein, 219mg sodium
Peanut Dressing
The most amazing peanut dressing to use for Asian salads! Try it on my Kale Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing, Kale Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls and as a dipping sauce for fresh spring rolls.
Nutrition per 2 Tablespoons: 107 calories, 7g fat, 13g carbs, 6g sugar, 0g fiber, 3g protein, 345mg sodium
Want More Salad Dressing Recipes?
- Mexican Goddess Dressing
- Maple Dressing
- Avocado Ranch Dressing
- Lemon Vinaigrette
- Turmeric Tahini Dressing
- Avocado Caesar Dressing
- Chili Almond Dressing
- Blueberry Tahini Dressing
- Raspberry Vinaigrette
My Best Salad Recipes
- Sweet Potato Salad
- Favorite Kale Salad
- Easy and tasty Pear Salad
- Fuji Apple Salad
- Quinoa Salad
- Easy Pasta Salad
No time to make your own dressing?
Be sure to check out all of my healthy salad dressings as well as my favorite healthy store-bought salad dressings.
Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings
Ingredients
Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt + more if needed
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper + more if needed
Zesty Tahini
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup low-sodium tamari or soy sauce, or coconut aminos
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
Peanut
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- a pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- water, to thin
Honey Mustard
Cilantro Lime
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- juice of 2 limes
- 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ½-1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
Balsamic
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dijon
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil and/or thyme, optional
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until combined. Add water to thin if needed.
- Alternatively some of these dressings (balsamic, cilantro lime, apple cider vinegar, etc) work fine without blending. simply add to a mason jar and shake until all the ingredients are well combined.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made the cilantro lime dressing and ate it on a homemade taco salad. It was delicious!
So glad you enjoyed the cilantro lime dressing, Francie! Thanks for making it and coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!
made it and love it!!!
Love all of these! Made the tahini tonight!
Yay! So glad you are enjoying these dressings, Lindsay! Thanks for leaving a review. I really appreciate it!
I’ve been making my own dressing for many years. I have such a distaste for store bought because they taste like a chemical concoction. I can always tell if someone has used a store bought dressing. Homemade is easy to make and tastes so good! I especially like controlling what goes into my food. I generally make everything from scratch. Homemade soup is right up there with homemade dressing. The homemade versions are too good to give up.
Thanks for the recipes. I can’t wait to try the peanut dressing.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe, Wendy! Let me know how the peanut dressing turns out!
Love all your dressings! Does tahini dressing need to be refrigerated? If so, how long will it last in fridge? Thank you kindly.
Hi, Susan. I suggest storing the tahini dressing in an air-tight container in the fridge. It should last for a week or two!
Hi! I noticed in the nutrition facts for each dressing the sodium count was missing. Do you know how much sodium is in each dressing?
Hey Krista,
So sorry for the delay! The nutritional info has been added to this blog post for each of the dressings. 🙂
I really need to start making dressing at home.
Im excited to find this web site. I wanted to thank you for your time just for this fantastic read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and i also have you book marked to check out new stuff in your website.
Of course, I appreciate you being here!
Thank you, thank, thank you! I have just started getting your emails, and I am so glad I did! I have been needing some good some tahini and peanut dressing recipes and I am tired of scrolling through Pinterest to find them. Now I have even more recipes to choose from. Thank you for your time to send out emails!
Yay! I am so glad that you are enjoying my recipes, Danni. Thank you so much for sharing your review + star rating, I really appreciate it.
Excellent cider and olive oil recipe. thank you. Does it have to be refrigerated? I ask because it gets extremely thick in the jar in the fridge. It’s delicious.
Hi Chris! So glad you’re enjoying this recipe. I would recommend keeping in the fridge, bit when you are ready to use, you can either leave out for a bit or run it under warm water to re-liquify the oil. Enjoy!