Written By: Sofia Layarda, RD
Last Updated on:
Nothing could be easier than buying pre-made salad dressing in a bottle or jar to bring to work, especially if it means you’ll be enjoying a healthy salad for lunch, right? As we gear up for New Year’s resolutions and healthier eating, let’s make sure you are not sabotaging your good intentions by drenching those healthy salads with a dressing full of food additives.
Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
Homemade Ranch Dressing
We created our version of the ever-popular ranch dressing from scratch and compared it to a bottled version. Check out the following table:
Hidden Valley
|
Homemade |
|
Serving Size:
|
2 tbsp | 2 tbsp |
Calories:
|
140 kcal | 50 kcal |
Protein:
|
1 g | 1 g |
Fat:
|
14 g | 4 g |
Trans Fat:
|
0 g | 0 g |
Carbohydrate:
|
2 g | 2 g |
Sodium:
|
260 mg | 69 mg |
Preparation time:
|
0 mins (straight out of the bottle) |
8 mins |
Price per serving:
|
$0.25 | $0.08 |
How Did the Two Stack Up?
Our homemade dressing beats the bottled version in all departments: it costs way less, tastes better, and has dramatically lower sodium and fat contents per serving. Taste-wise, the flavors are a lot more pronounced in the homemade version – tangier (from the fresh lemon juice, yogurt, and buttermilk) and more savory from the use of fresh and dried herbs.
Plus, no mysterious chemical are to be found in our homemade dressing, while the bottled version is full of hard-to-pronounce ingredients like xanthan gum (which keeps the dressing thick yet pourable), disodium phosphate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, MSG (a flavor enhancer), and calcium disodium EDTA (a preservative).
The Bottom Line
Making your own salad dressing from scratch is not as daunting a task as it may seem. Armed with a good recipe, it is something you can complete in minutes while packing the next day’s lunch. The best thing about it is that it gives you full control over what ingredients get drizzled over your salad and, ultimately, what goes into your body!
Our Homemade Recipe
The ranch dressing is courtesy of Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave.
De-Light-Ful Ranch Dressing
Great as a dip or a sandwich spread as well as a salad dressing, this will last about three days in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Makes 1 cup. Serving size: 2 tbsp
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt or1/3 cup plain Greek-style nonfat yogurt
- 1/3 cup low
- fat buttermilk
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbs finely chopped fresh chivessalt to taste
Steps:
If using regular yogurt, place it in a strainer lined with a paper towel and set the strainer over a bowl. Let the yogurt drain and thicken for 20 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the strained or Greek-style yogurt with the remaining ingredients.

Sofia believes in bringing back fun and pleasure into everyday eating. She loves cooking, and is constantly experimenting with ingredients, creating recipes and trying them out on family and friends. Her latest interest lies in finding realistic and practical ways of environmentally-friendly food/eating habits.