Homemade Salad Dressings

Combinations for Healthy Salad Dressings

Whip up your own homemade salad dressings using a few basic ingredients. These recipes for salad dressings are fresh, healthy and easy to make. Choose from tasty combinations that add zest and flavour to your favourite vegetable salad recipes.

Basic Ingredients

The trick to making homemade salad dressings that taste great is to mix sour, salty and sweet flavours with a healthy oil. Olive oil and avocado oil are good bases for healthy salad dressings due to their low percentage of saturated fats. Opt for salts that haven’t lost their original composition of minerals and trace elements during processing, such as Himalayan Crystal salt or natural sea salt. Basic vinegars to keep handy in your cupboard include a balsamic vinegar and a red or white wine vinegar. Agave nectar is a low GI sweetener made from cactus juice that blends well in salad dressings and provides a healthier alternative than adding sugar or syrup.

Mixing and Storing

A good tip is to hang on to small jars to re-use for mixing and storing salad dressings. Clean baby food jars or empty mustard jars are the best, but any small jars will do. Using jars means you can easily double or triple your recipe, then replace the lid and store any leftovers in the fridge for later in the week. The main reason I like to mix up homemade salad dressings in jars instead of jugs is that it makes it so easy – just give them a shake before serving.

Recipes for Salad Dressings

Keep It Simple Dressing

When you’re in a rush or starving to get that healthy vegetable salad into your body, this is one of the quickest homemade salad dressings to whip together.

2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
2 tablespoons of lemon or lime juice
pinch of salt (optional)

Sharp and Tasty

This is my favourite salad dressing, I can stick to this one for a week before I need a change. It’s also an easy one to mix up quickly.

2 tablespoons olive
2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of wholegrain mustard

Asian Influence

This salad dressing combination is well suited to salads with lots of greens or fresh sprouts.

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon chopped chives
pinch of salt (optional)

Sweet Sucker

This is a delicious dressing that is both sweet and tangy. It’s a winner, especially on salads that have avocado as an ingredient.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Show Stopper

When I asked my boyfriend why this was his favourite dressing, his answer was simply because it has garlic in it. It’s a beauty, give it a go and you’ll be impressed.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
1 clove finely chopped garlic

Red Rocket

This salad dressing is quite a zinger and does a great job of picking up simple salads that would otherwise be boring.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon red balsamic vinegar

Green Treat

Avocado makes a flavoursome change from olive oil and is also a healthy base for salad dressings. It gives more of a nutty flavour and is very light. Avocado oil makes an excellent base for salads that are mostly made up of greens.