Fav low cal salad dressing?

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  • I threw out all my full fat dressings and now I need ideas of new lower cal ones to buy. What's the best brand? What's your fav? Any simple home-made ones are welcome, too.
    Thanks

    P.S- I want to experiment making a very low calorie ranch dressing using the dry ranch packets. Would you all suggest trying fat free plain yogurt or fat free sour cream with the mix? What do you think would taste better? I wonder which one is lower in calories.
  • The only dressing I have found with taste and low cal is oil and vinegar. I make an immulsion with fresh raspberries in it. Yummy
  • This Link has some delicious ones, especially the blue cheese dressing.

    If I have to buy, I like the Trader Joe's light champagne vinaigrette or the wishbone olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.
  • I love this one:

    http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/01...-dressing.html

    Otherwise, I just use oil and vinegar. If I'm out at a restaurant, sometimes I'll order a side of salsa to use as salad dressing. Salsa is good on a baked potato too.
  • I usually make my own, but as far as bottled dressings go I like Newman's Own Low Calorie Sesame Ginger. 35 cals for 2 tablespoons.
  • i really like balsamic vinegar.
  • I found a recipe online for ranch dressing, made with a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix and fat free cottage cheese. I put them in my food processor and add a little skim milk til it's smooth and the consistancy I want. it's really good, and very low in calories.
  • I use a brand called Walden Farms. It is fat free, carb free, sugar free. It is mostly vinegar with natural spices. I found it at an organic food store. It comes in all flavors, italian, caesar, ranch, bacon ranch, and caesar. I love it beacause it is free and tastes yummy to me. They have a web site.

    Also, recently i bought a mandarin orange vinagrette that has 20 calories per two tblsp. I bought it at a country store. Cant wait to try it. Seems like this would be easy to make on your own.
  • I make my own. I use 1/3 canola or olive oil to 2/3 lemon juice and freshly grated garlic. I salt and pepper it, shake it or put in blender if making a large amount. My whole family eats it, even the ranch loving kids.
  • I see Pearl North mentioned the Walden Farms dressing, and I have heard great stuff about them (never tried them tho). A friend of mine buys regular oil/vinegar dressings and then leaves it unopened on the counter to get to room temp for a couple days---so the oil is separated to the top--and then over the sink squeezes out the oil (which spills onto the hand, ugh) but after the oil is gone, takes off the cap and replaces the oil with water and vinegar. Says it still retains the delicious taste, but the fattening oil is gone.

    As to home made recipes that are creamy, I don't know any...sorry.

    I know there are some that use chicken broth for oil, and others buttermilk, but you'd have to go google that.
  • I'm going to second the Newman's Own Sesame Ginger - very tasty.

    Also Chick Fil'A has a decent Light Italian that is 15 cals for a large packet (!). But I have no idea if there's a way to buy it to take home.
  • I like rice vinegar to dress my greens & beans!
  • Quote: I like rice vinegar to dress my greens & beans!
    maple farms honey mustard...35 cal...yum!
  • I don't do this because I can't tolerate anything hot, but my friend uses hot sauces as salad dressing. I think they are extremely low in calories, maybe even no calories.
  • I mix my own.
    -1 tbs. full fat italian dressing. Full fat because the nutrients in salads are usually fat soluble and to get the most out of the salad it needs to be eaten with a healthy fat.
    -1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
    -1 tbs. water

    Comes out to be 45 calories and very satisfying.