Salad Dressing Without Soy or Canola Oil?

[CarricksMom]

I was looking a Whole Foods today for a buttermilk or ranch dressing without soy or canola and found none. I was hoping to find one with olive oil. What kind or brand do you all use?

[avendesora]

Homemade, super easy. Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt to taste. So many recipes available online.

Aven

[treegardner]

I make my own too. It's very simple and tastes so much better. Alton Brown has some good recipes, try googling those.

[elizawill]

hi,

i make vegan ranch, and it is super, super yummy!!! here's the recipe but you could use replacement items.

Ingredients
1 cup vegan mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons parsley, chopped (i use dry flakes)
1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk

Directions
Whisk all ingredients together and chill before serving.

you could substitute the soy milk with almond milk (which i've done & it's delicious...just use a little less than recipe calls for or it's too thin). you could also substitute the vegenaise with another homemade vegan mayo that's soy-free (maybe even find one to buy at whole foods). here's a recipe for soy-free vegan mayo if needed though: http://vegan-food.suite101.com/artic...gan-mayonnaise (i've never made this, so you may need to adjust the recipe to make it work - should be yummy though!!!)

hope this helps!

[MammaG]

I think I've only ever bought salad dressing in an emergency, headed to a BBQ and needing to pick up something quick.

Home made is the way to go!

For vinaigrettes, I stick to the formula my mother taught me: 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 oil. If you're using 'fancy' oil and vinegar it's best to start with olive oil and white vinegar and add in the flavoured one bit by bit. Add S&P plus any fresh or dried seasonings you may want to add in. Add a dash of some kind of mustard...it adds depth of flavour and acts as an emulsifyer.

You can add mayo to a few tablespoons of this to make a creamy dressing.

[tinuviel_k]

I also make my own.

The reason so few commercial dressings do not use extra virgin olive oil is that it solidifies in the fridge. Most folks don't want to go to the hassle of warming up their bottle of dressing before each use.

[CarricksMom]

Oh, I can't believe I didn't think of the EVOO turning to a solid in the frig! I made oil and vingar a while back and that is exactly what it did - duh!

Making homemade sounds like the way to go, thanks for the recipes!

Could I use yogurt instead of the almond/soy milk and the mayo? We substitue yogurt for mayo in everything. I'm thinking it would go bad sooner.

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by CarricksMom

Could I use yogurt instead of the almond/soy milk and the mayo? We substitue yogurt for mayo in everything. I'm thinking it would go bad sooner.

sure, that would be even easier & probably taste super yummy!! i may even try it myself! i love to experiment!

[Magelet]

we do only homemade dressings. mostly vinegrettes, but for ranch,

we use mayo as a base (homemade, in the blender. super easy. mix some lemon juice and an egg yolk, some mustard and salt and pepper, then slowly add in olive oil. It will emulsify. if it breaks (that means the egg becomes seperate), you can add another egg yolk if you want, but because its for a creamy dressing, it doesn't matter much.).

add in buttermilk, and yogurt or yogurt cream (yogurt strained through a cloth overnight) usually I don't have yogurt cream on hand. add herbs, (chervil and parsley are amazing. I also love a chedder dressing made by blending chedder into the buttermilk dressing base), salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice to taste.

[Drummer's Wife]

I also make my own - generally it's olive oil, balsamic vineger, rice vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, and whatever else I feel like adding (spices, blue cheese, etc.).

[LauraLoo]

Homemade is the way to go.

You will be lucky if you find a packaged salad dressing that doesn't use soy and/or canola. Those oils are cheap and there's a lot of profit in making dressings using those oils. Homemade is even less expensive and you can use better oils and ingredients.

[CarricksMom]

These all sound wonderful! Thanks for all the replies!

Do you all just make it as you need it or do you do a whole batch and keep it in the frig? DS has started liking salad and I was excited to have an easy veg for most meals, but if I have to make the dressing, it may not be so easy! Sounds like the ones with olive oil would be easier and would need to be made only as needed, but could the ranch/buttermilk types keep in the refrig for a week or so?

[LauraLoo]

Originally Posted by CarricksMom

Sounds like the ones with olive oil would be easier and would need to be made only as needed, but could the ranch/buttermilk types keep in the refrig for a week or so?

I make a batch of vinegar and oil dressings and just keep it in a shaker bottle in the fridge -- it lasts a long time, so no need to do it every time you need it.

Ranch/buttermilk dressings are supposed to keep for about a week, but ours lasts longer. I add a tablespoon of whey to the mix, and that seems to act as a preservative. Making dressings isn't really time consuming once you get into the hang of it.

[Magelet]

vinegrettes I usually whip up for each meal, because frankly, it's faster and easier for me to make vinegrette than to bring it up to room temp where the oil gets liquid again. (It takes a grand total of two minutes to make a vinegrette now that I've done it a lot).

ranch can definitely hold at least a week in the fridge. Maybe longer. Just smell it, and look at it, it will be obvious if it is bad.

[elizawill]

Originally Posted by CarricksMom

... but could the ranch/buttermilk types keep in the refrig for a week or so?

yep, mine keeps for 7-10 days. i actually use an old salad dressing bottle that i cleaned well. i make the homemade dressing and simply pour it into the bottle. it looks just like ranch from the store, but taste much better

[JessicaS]

I make mine in the salad bowl as I am making it. I don't usually use the same dressing all the time. Dh and I don't like creamy dressing so I don't make those.

[Lucy Alden]

My go to is:

2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup vinegar (mainly red wine vinegar)
1-2 tsp dried oregano (crushed in my hand to release some of the oils)
3-6 cloves freshly minced garlic
salt and pepper

Not sure how long it lasts in the refrigerator as we seem to go through it in a few days. Love it for pasta salads, marinades, baked potatoes and grilled veggies.

For a faux ranch I add some of the above to yogurt and/or mayo depending on what's in the house. And if I have it I throw a palmful of minced parsley as well. I've also been known to add grated onion, cucumber and fresh dill.

Once you start making your own, the store bought dressings start to taste rancid and flat.

[Calumet]

I found one at Wheatsville too.  It wasn't on the shelf when you first posted this.  It's made in Austin and called "Julia's Caesar".  Title made me smile, but the dressing is really good.  It's a little more expensive than the other dressings and must be refrigerated, but I just don't have time to make my own.

[geemom]

I like the Bragg's dressings, but they are all vinegrette type