A trip to the salad bar is a trip we vegans often make when eating out. Things are normally satisfactory until the end of the line - where are the ingredients labels for these salad dressings? Most of the time I end up using vinegar and oil. Sometimes I take a chance and get the French dressing.
But you don't have to be deprived at home. There are plenty of tasty dressings available at the grocery store that make the grade. Annie makes some pretty good stuff, but be prepared to pay $3.50+ per bottle.
Here are some recipes for 4 basic vegan salad dressings that don't use weird ingredients and won't break the bank. Unless you consider vegan mayonnaise to be weird. If you haven't heard already, the best tasting vegan mayonnaise is Vegannaise. It is full fat and full flavor. You may notice that I lean more toward flavor and less toward low calorie on this site. But I do avoid transfat for the most part.
Print these out and keep them handy:
_______________________________________
Vegan Ranch Dressing
from Dragonshoes at Recipezaar.com
> 1 cup vegan mayonnaise
> 1/2 tsp garlic powder
> 1/2 tsp onion powder
> 1/4 tsp black pepper
> 2 tsp parsley , chopped
> 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
Whisk all ingredients together and chill before serving. Add a little more soy milk if you need to thin dressing.
________________________________________________
Vegan Thousand Island Dressing
adapted from Graybert at Recipezaar.com
> 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
> 2 Tbsp ketchup
> 1 Tbsp white vinegar
> 2 tsp sugar
> 2 tsp sweet pickle relish
> 1 tsp finely minced white onions
> 1/8 tsp salt
> 1 dash black pepper
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Stir well.
2. Place dressing in a covered container and refrigerate for several hours, stirring occasionally, so that the sugar dissolves and the flavors blend.
________________________________________________
Vegan French Dressing
from Darlene Summers at Recipezaar.com
> 1 cup corn oil
> 1 cup ketchup
> 1/2 cup sugar
> 1/4 cup white vinegar
> 1/4 cup water
> 1 tsp garlic salt
> 1 tsp black pepper
> 1/4 tsp salt
Put all ingredients in blender and blend until well mixed.
________________________________________________
Vegan Italian Dressing
from Darlene Summers at Recipezaar.com
> 1 cup salad oil
> 1/3 cup wine vinegar
> 1 tsp salt
> 1 tsp sugar
> 1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves, crushed
> 1/4 tsp dry mustard
> 1/4 tsp paprika
> 1 garlic clove, minced
1. Combine all ingredients in a jar with a lid; cover and shake to mix thoroughly.
2. Let stand at least 2 hours to blend seasonings.
3. shake well before using.
________________________________________________
For part 2 of this series I will try for some more exotic flavors.
