What’s your favorite salad dressing? Do you know what’s in it? Take a look today at the bottle and see if you can read the ingredients. Would you be surprised to learn that many salad’s contain as many calories as a Big Mac at McDonalds? Adding too many toppings can be one danger, like meats, cheese, nuts and croutons. The other add on that can sidetrack your healthy salad is the dressing you use. Many store bought dressings are laden with chemicals and additives, many of which I can’t even pronounce.
I never buy salad dressing as I just don’t see the need. It is super easy to whip up a dressing for your salad with clean ingredients so I don’t see the need. My personal favorite is really just lemon juice and a touch of garlic infused avocado oil. Doesn’t get any better than that, clean and healthy. Next time you make a salad, go easy on the additions to it and consider making some fresh healthy salad dressing to top it. Here are a few of my personal favorite recipes.
Lemon & Garlic Infused Avocado Oil
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic (I roast the bulb and chop the cloves for later use)
- Olive Oil – for roasting garlic
- 1 tbsp avocado oil (if making family size you large serving spoon)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (more is fine, large serving spoon size for family salad)
Directions
- Cut the top off the bulb of garlic
- Place in ramekin and fill with olive oil to cover
- Roast in oven at 375 for 60 minutes
- Push 2 cloves of garlic out of skin and chop finely
- Mix avocado oil and lemon juice with garlic
- Top salad with mixture, stir and eat
You can make this with lime juice as well. If you want the dressing creamier, add in 1 tsp of dijon mustard. The left over roasted garlic can store for a few days in the refrigerator. I use it in many recipes and my husband loves to use it as a spread.
Spicy Hummus Salad Dressing
When I have leftover hummus, I make a spicy hummus dressing which is adds protein to my lunch without adding meat. It’s pretty delicious, but packs a punch.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup hummus
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 chipotle pepper, sliced
- 1/4 cup almond milk, plus more if necessary
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Directions
Place all ingredients in blender, and blend until smooth. Add more milk if you’d like a smoother consistency.
Recipe courtesy of Popsugar Fitness
Want to try this one but have no hummus at home, no problem. Hummus is so easy to whip up if you have chickpeas. Here’s my recipe for homemade hummus, but you may never have enough leftover for dressing.
Hummus with Red Pepper
Ingredients
- 2 cups drained well-cooked or canned chickpeas, liquid reserved
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground red pepper
- Juice of 1 lemon, plus more as needed
Directions
- Put everything in a food processor and begin to process
- Add the chickpea liquid or water as needed to allow the machine to produce a smooth puree.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning
What do you top your salads with? Please share in the comments below your recipe. If you try either of these, let me know how you liked them.
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