Often when I make salads at home I toss whatever I have in the fridge into a bowl and make a homemade dressing for it. This is a giant salad I made one night for dinner and it was so filling I didn’t need anything else! But I kept it lower fat by not adding anymore nuts or avocado to it and added chickpeas instead for calories and protein.
I also like to add apples and dried fruit to salads to give them more flavor and calories as opposed to lots of nuts or seeds. Salads can be much more appetizing when you make a fresh homemade dressing. Store bought dressings often contain a lot of junk and it’s super easy to make your own at home. I usually make my dressing recipes up as I go along and season them to taste. This one is no exception and I think you’ll like it!
Sweet and Savory Salad Ingredients:
6-8 cups of salad greens like spring mix, or baby greens
2 apples, peeled and diced
1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup of sugar snap peas
1/2 English cucumber, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced *optional
2 tbsp dried cranberries
Orange Sesame Dressing Ingredients:
4 tbsp tahini (sesame seed butter)
2 tbsp orange vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)
8 dates, pitted and chopped
1/3-1/2 cup water (as needed for consistency)
Dash of salt
Directions:
1. Arrange salad ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Combine dressing ingredients in a blender or VitaMix and blend until smooth.
3. Serve and drizzle with dressing.
Additional Tips:
Use dressing within 3-4 days and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Mix up your dressings by purchasing a few different types of fruit vinegars. Trader Joe’s makes a few varieties and so does Dr. Fuhrman (sold on his website). Having a little variety makes creating different tasting dressings so easy.
What’s your favorite salad dressing recipe?
Grat recipes!
Hi Veronica I also love freshly squeezed lemons in my salad but I use much less oil in it and it tastes great. Linda
thank you so much for posting this amazing yummy recipes! I am so glad I found your website. I am just getting back on track with my LFRV diet after straying a bit for the past couple months. Your delicious recipe ideas are helping me get creative with eating healthy again <3 You're the best! Thanks again!
This dressing is so good with a green salad that has fruit like grapes, oranges, or apples.
I just prepared Dr. Furhman’s Dijon Date Dressing/Dip on page 256 of his book Eat To Live. It was bitter and was thrown out. It was very salty and too much garlic. There must be a typo.
I’m not sure what that has to do with my dressing recipe here. Its not the same
Wow, what a delicious dressing! I recently started a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet and have been looking for salad dressings without added oils. They are very difficult to find. What a nice find, an absolute keeper!
Hi Veronica,
Thank you for your recipes. I followed up with the Napa Valley Naturals and the call centre told me that is very expensive to ship to Calgary Alberta (he quoted a minimum of $50.00). That does not include the product! How did you do it? Have I got wrong info?
Thanks,
Kate
Hi Kate
No I do not order from them. Someone else who lives in the USA suggested it. I have some from Trader Joes and Dr Fuhrman from when I visited the states. You can look at the grocery stores and health food stores for various fruit flavored vinegars aside from apple cider vinegar. I’ve never heard of Napa Valley Naturals nor used them before.
This dressing looks really yummy! I’ve been making my own oil-free salad dressings lately, now store-bought dressings don’t appeal to me at all. My favorites are the vegan ranch and balsamic vinagrette that Somer has at http://vedgedout.com/. I think I will be adding your dressing into my regular rotation now!
Can you help me make this dressing from Eating Well magazine oil-free? It is my favorite of all time!
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
4 small cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Thanks in advance!
That is a lot of oil for a salad dressing!
1/2 cup of olive oil contains the following:
Calories 954.7 Total Fat 108.0 g Saturated Fat 14.6 g Polyunsaturated Fat 9.1 g Monounsaturated Fat 79.6 g
Since oil is the base of this dressing you’ll have to switch it to something else, also that much lemon juice will make something else like blended fruit too sour. Why not try starting from scratch with your own dressing and adding a little vinegar, dijon, salt and pepper to taste? I like to use water or fresh squeezed orange juice as the base and then add 2-3 tablespoons of tahini or nut butter and a pitted date. Then season to taste with vinegar, dijon and salt and pepper.
I know, right?! I’ve been vegan for about a year, and was “mostly vegetarian” for maybe 15 years before that. It’s only in the last few months that I’ve realized how important the low-fat, no-oil aspect is.
Thanks for the suggestions! It’s that combo of lemon, dijon & garlic that makes that dressing SO good. I guess I will start playing around with those flavors and see what happens! I like the idea of using a little tahini.
I know I’m a little late to the discussion here, but that recipe above is very similar to my favorite dressing and I make it without the oil. I use lemon juice, whatever mustard i have at hand, and balsamic vinegar with garlic and spices. I cut it with water to make it alittle less tart, and it’s wonderful.
best source of flavored balsamic vinegars at a reasonable price is from napa valley naturals which has a number of flavored vinegars for sale. i ordered blood orange, fig and pomegranet and got delivery in one day. their web site is http://www.napavalleynaturals.com ….