I mostly hate all bottled dressings, but my sister kept trying to get me to try Newman's own oil & vinegar dressing. I did, and I really love it. It's gotten me enthused about eating salads again. In principle, I hate buying it because it's so easy to make a vinagrette at home, but I find that I often don't, and I use that as an excuse to not eat salad. Having a ready-made bottle on hand helps.
You have to be careful, though. It's 75 calories per tablespoon. But a tablespoon goes a long way. I don't use more than a tablespoon at a time.
you could blend up the vinegar and oil (2 or more parts vinegar to one part oil will help make it lower-fat) with a hand blender (or a whisk) with dijon or honey mustard, shallots or garlic, some herbs, etc. Or change to a different type of vinegar -- red wine, sherry, rice wine, cider. I also toss in a little apple sauce or frozen apple juice concentrate (1T or so to 1/4 dressing) to help it go farther and cut the fat. It helps to emulsify the dressing when you're blending it.
I use the Wish Bone Italian Dressing Spray. Once the bottle is empty I'm going to keep it and try finding a good vinagrette recipe that I can make and put in it.
Oh, we were at the hospital the other day to visit a relative and at the cafeteria I had a salad and used Ken's Steak House Fat Free Ranch. Normally I HATE FF Dressing but this was actually good!
My favorite salad dressing is Salsa... Generally salsa has 10 calories per 2 tbsp I believe. Most restaurants will have some salsa, some are better than others. I don't eat salad too often at home though but I do have salsa on it when I do.
I like Soy Vey's Teriyaki sauce, or their Wasabiyaki (I have a big spicy tooth!) I also love salsa as a salad dressing and I make a vinaigrette out of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard. If I'm only eating a salad for dinner sometimes I blend oil into the teriyaki to make sure I'm going to feel sated enough - or I mix it with chinese chicken salad dressing.
ETA: I use less dressing than most people I know -- I put a little in and toss the salad for a couple of minutes before tasting to decide if it needs more, which keeps the calories from being too astronomical even with a higher fat dressing.
I have lots I like. I used the seasoned rice vinegars quite a lot. I like to mix ff or lf sour cream with salsa. If you warm it about 20 sec in the microwave it gets runnier so easier to distribute. For bottled dressings, I like FF Sesame Ginger made by Lighthouse, and I have a bottle of a good flavored light honey mustard, which I think is a Safeway or Kroger store brand.
What's your favorite dressing for a salad?
