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Dressings

About Dressings

Making salads a part of your diet is a great way to meet your daily nutrition targets and to cut down on your carbohydrate consumption. But salads don’t have to be boring! Add a tasty salad dressing on top of your salad and make it more interesting and delicious.

One of the main reasons why people find it so hard to eat healthily is because such food items might not taste as good as junk foods full of sugar, fat, and salt. Even when people take up the habit of consuming fewer carbs and including more leaves and vegetables in their daily routine, most of them relapse back to their old habits after a few months. People are not rabbits, and this is understandable. But salads can be tasty and healthy at the same time if you use a good salad dressing with it. Read this article to find out more about these sauces.

Different types of salad dressings for a dinner party

The great thing about salad dressings is that there are plenty of options for a person to choose from. Everyone will be able to find a flavour of salad dressing that they will like. Because there are hundreds of different salad sauces out there, it is not possible to list and describe every single one of them. However, here is a list of the four most popular types of salad sauces. Also, you will find a few tips that you can use to find a good dressing that will suit your taste. Having a better understanding of them will help you make better purchase decisions when you are shopping.

Italian dressing

Italian salad dressing is basically vinegar-based sauce. Most parts of this dressing consist of vinegar, lemon juice, water, and a sweetening agent. The sweetening agent can be sugar, corn syrup or honey. The benefit of using honey instead of sugar or corn syrup is that it can balance the acidity of lemon juice and vinegar. If you want to make your sauce thicker, then add vegetable oil to the mixture and emulsify it until it reaches a creamy consistency. The attractiveness of Italian salad dressing is its combination of sweet and sour elements.

Ranch dressing

This is a really versatile type of dressing that you can use for a variety of different uses. This salad is a combination of mayonnaise, buttermilk, garlic, pepper, salt and dashes a few other things. Therefore, it is not surprising that ranch sauce is really thick and creamy. However, there is more to it. One can use herbs to add extra flavour to this dressing. Herbs like parsley and dill can further diversify the taste of the dressing while mustard paste or seeds can really intensify the spiciness of it. Also, you can increase the heat of the dressing by adding pepper chillies.

Balsamic vinaigrette dressing

From the name itself you can tell that this dressing has its origins in rural Italy. The key ingredient of balsamic vinaigrette dressing is, of course, balsamic vinegar. Unlike regular vinegar, which is a clear liquid, balsamic vinegar is more concentrated and thicker. It has a really intense flavour, and you cannot use it as generously as regular vinegar. Even a little bit of balsamic vinegar can really influence the overall taste of the vinegar. Besides the vinegar itself, there will be olive oil, salt and pepper as well in this dressing.

Honey mustard dressing

This dressing combines the heat of the mustard sauce and the sweetness of honey. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is a really intense tasting dressing. The combination of the sharp taste of mustard and honey makes it suitable for both salads and also for meat-based foods. People use honey mustard salad sauce not only topping green salads but also for adding to hot dogs. Because both honey and mustard paste is brown and thick, the salad has a thicker consistency similar to that of Manuka honey.

Tips on how to buy Salad Dressings

Finding the right type of salad dressing can be harder than you might think. The fact that there are so many different types of dressings out there with so many different flavours makes it even harder, especially if you are new to the world of salads and salad dressings. However, finding the right one can be easy if you know what factors to consider while you are shopping for them. Here are a few tips that you can follow when you are shopping for salad dressings.

  • Choose the flavour – The primary reason to use a salad dressing is to improve the taste of the salad and make it more palatable. Therefore, you should pick a dressing that is suitable for your taste buds. This is also the hardest part, as well. Taste is really subjective, and nobody can tell you one is better tasting than the other. The easiest way is to look for the salads that contain your favourite ingredients.
  • Check on calories – The reason why most people include salads in their diet is to reduce their calorie consumption and to take up a healthy eating habit. However, sometimes the dressing you use on the salad can sabotage your plans. It is pretty common for salad dressings to contain sweeteners. So, you should always check the label to find out how many calories does the dressing contain in a single serving.
  • Read the list of ingredients – The base for most salad dressings is water, oil, and vinegar. However, this is not true for all types of salads. There are dressings that use corn syrups as the base. It can add too many calories to the dressing and be really unhealthy. Also, check the list of ingredients to make sure that there are no ingredients in the dressing that you are allergic to.
  • Consistency of the salad dressing – A salad dressing can have a thick consistency like a cream, or it can be runnier. Dresses that contain ingredients like yoghurt, mayonnaise, sour cream, or avocado tend to be thicker. Which one to choose is completely up to you.

There are different kinds of salad sauces available in the market with different flavours and tastes. However, you need to decide on the budget before heading to shop online. The best part is that you can find all of them easily using our shopping search engine. It will also let you shop from the myriad collection of food & beverages items from different brands. You get it all at the best prices in the market with exclusive offers. Hurry and buy!

Question & Answer

What is a salad dressing made of?

Salad dressings are basically flavoured fat emulsions similar to mayonnaise. However, they both are not exactly the same. At the same time, a typical mayonnaise contains about seventy-five per cent oil, in the case of a salad dressing that would be about forty per cent. Besides oil, there would be vinegar, water and other flavouring agents. The exact proportions of these ingredients are not always the same and vary depending on the type of dressing. There are even a few dressings that do not use oil at all. However, such dressings are exceptions rather than the rule.

What is the best salad dressing for weight loss?

In order to lose weight, the first thing you have to do is to reduce the consumption of calories. A salad dressing that is steeped in cornstarch or sugar can take away the benefit of eating salad. However, it is easy to find a dressing that is low in calories. Greek yoghurt dressing is a great option for people trying to lose weight. They not only make the salad very filling, but also add the nutrients of Greek yoghurt. If you want to add a really strong flavour, then go for the balsamic vinegar salad dressing. They enhance the flavour without increasing the calorie content of the salad.

What salad dressings are dairy-free?

Dairy products are healthy for most people. But not everybody is a fan of them. While some people do not like the taste of the dairy product, some others are intolerant to dairy products. In that case, you can look for a dressing that does not contain any dairy product at all. It is not difficult to find a good one, either. You can dry something like the Moroccan carrot dip, citrus tahini dressing, or curried almond dressing. All three of these desserts are also vegan and gluten-free and do not use much oil. That means these salads can be appealing to a huge population.

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