Dressed to Impress

Knowing how to make a great salad dressing at home is a handy trick and uses fairly pantry-friendly ingredients. Once you know the basic formula, it's easy to riff using whatever ingredients you fancy or anything else you have on hand. Below we're sharing the basic formula for a vinaigrette. Creamy dressings simply swap in a creamy base – think mayo, tahini, yogurt or (in the case of our dairy-free, vegan Catalina) hummus – for all or part of the oil and use vinegar (or another acidic ingredient) as needed to complement the flavor profile of the base. Fresh herbs, mustard and sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, fruit juice or sugar are optional and deliver endless flavor possibilities.

Shown above, left to right (recipes linked below):

1. Lemon Dill Dressing – Creamy, tangy and great on Romaine and iceberg salads.
    
2. Orange Vinaigrette – Try this nutty-sweet vinaigrette on spinach and kale salads.
    
3. Lemon Yogurt Dressing – A tangy choice for both leafy greens and fruit salads alike.
    
4. Red Wine Vinaigrette – This Italian classic elevates a chopped salad or sub sandwich.
    
5. Grapefruit Vinaigrette – A lovely dressing for quinoa, couscous and other grain salads as well as greens.
    
6. Rachael's Light Ranch Dressing – Practically indistinguishable from our Culinary Director's original classic ranch recipe.
    
7. Rachael's Russian Dressing – This creamy dressing is flavored with smoky paprika, cumin and capers. It's great atop an iceberg salad or on a classic Reuben or Rachael sandwich.
    
8. Pumpkin Salad Dressing – Made with seasonally available pumpkin butter, it's ideal on a mixed green salad with roasted squash, dried figs and blue cheese. Apple butter is a great swap for the pumpkin.