Food Talk And Fabulous Finds - Looking for recipes of fat free dressings...

HI , I absolutely love caeser salads.. I like to make my own dressing, but now that I am starting this new lifestyle I would love to have any fat free caesar recipes or even low fat ones... thanks.....

hi there-
I love salads too, but caesar dresssing (the tasty kind!) has egg yolks and other stuff which make it quite fattening. My husband uses Ken's lite Creamy Caesar which is not really all that lite (but better than regular) It's got 90 cal/8gr fat per serving. I use Newman's Own lite balsamic vinaigrette, which I really like a lot. It's got 45 cal/4gr. per serving...not bad. I also drizzle a little extra balsamic vinegar over my salad to make it stretch a little. Newman's also has a lite Caesar vinaigrette but it's not creamy.

I was mixing in a little Kraft "FREE" French (no fat), but then I read an article about HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), and it said it's often an ingredient in fat free foods. So I looked, and sure enough it was like the 2nd ingredient! HFCS :devil: is horrible for you, PLUS it is said to increase cravings for sweets... the last thing I need! So, when this bottle is finished, I won't be buying that anymore. I'm trying to lose about 20 lbs., but I also want to eat healthy, have more energy, and all that good stuff.

I know these aren't recipes, but I think you would like the Newman's. I really think it's worth it to have a little fat in your dressing, and it's not the saturated kind. The fat free just taste so unsatisfying to me.

Hope this helps ... I'll be reading to see if anyone else has good ones to try.

:) Angie

I don't have a recipe either, but I'll second the vote for Newman's Own salad dressings. They have several "Lighten Up" varieties that I like a lot, including a honey mustard, a sun dried tomato vinaigrette and my fav, sesame ginger (which is a little higher in sodium than I'd like, but it is really yummy).

None of these are fat free, but they are better than the full fat options, and I've found that fat free dressings have a taste that I really don't like. I'd rather have a little less dressing that tastes good than a larger amount that tastes like plastic.

I really like Bernstein's Light Fantastic Cheese Fantastico. It's not fat free and I don't have a bottle on hand so I don't know if it has HFCS in it, but it is low fat (only 1.5g and 25 calories per serving). I usually find that 1/2 serving is plenty for my very large salads.

If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, I also really like their fat free Balsamic Vinaigrette (no HFCS, I checked), raspberry vinaigrette, and ginger sesame dressing, all of which are very low in calories.

Girard's makes a fat-free Caesar that is okay. I'm not a big fan of Caesar dressing, so maybe it is even better than okay if you like Caesar dressing. Again, not sure if it has HFCS, though. HFCS hasn't been a big concern for me, although it probably should be.

I also really like a good balsamic vinegar with sea salt and pepper on my salad. That's definitely fat free and no HFCS, either.

Actually, a little fat is better than fat-free.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that dietary fat is necessary for the absorption of nutrients from fruits and vegetables. In the study, people who consumed salads with fat-free salad dressing absorbed far less of the helpful phytonutrients and vitamins from spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and carrots than those who consumed their salads with a salad dressing containing fat.

Thanks for all the input on the lowfat and fat free dressings.. as well as the information about the need for some fat... very helpful indeed...

My friend has a recipe for Caesar that is just an avocado, dijon mustard, lemon juice, six cloves of garlic and oil. You blend it all together and it's super good. I bet you could cut out a good amount of oil, may be use some light tasting vinegar or white wine and it would be good. Salad dressing is a great opportunity to get the good fats you need every day, like from avocado and olive oil. You just want to use it in moderation and get used to the taste of the veggies, not the dressing. Good luck!

Give this one a try - you can make it low fat or fat-free by using different mayonaises:

Caesar Dressing

1 cup mayonaise, reduced fat mayo, or FF mayo
2 T. olive oil
2 T. water
1/4 cup Eggbeaters
1.5 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. anchovy paste (optional)
2 cloves garlic
Splenda or Equal to equal 2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

Place all ingredients in food processor bowl fitted with steel knife. Process for a minute or so, until all ingredients are blended and dressing is creamy. Store in refregerator.

That last recipe sounds really good- pretty close to a real caesar. Also, I may try the avocado one... I love avocados and they are the good kind of fat. Thanks!

That last recipe sounds really good- pretty close to a real caesar. Also, I may try the avocado one... I love avocados and they are the good kind of fat. Thanks!

Avocados ROCK!!!! ;)

Yeah the avocado one does sound good, and I love them also, and the one above sounds good too... I think I will try out both , stay posted everyone, next week will be my results of the taste test....lol....