Keto salad dressing recipes offer a fantastic way to enhance your salads without compromising your ketogenic diet. Store-bought dressings often contain added sugars and starches, making it challenging to find genuinely keto-friendly options with zero carbs per serving. Fortunately, crafting your own creamy keto dressing is surprisingly simple and allows for complete control over ingredients.
Why Make Your Own Keto Salad Dressing?
- Avoid Hidden Sugars and Starches: Many store-bought salad dressings contain hidden sugars and starches, which can derail your keto diet.
- Control Ingredients: Making your own dressing allows you to use only keto-friendly ingredients and avoid unwanted additives.
- Better Taste: Homemade dressings often taste superior to store-bought versions.
- Customization: You can easily adjust the flavor of your dressing to suit your preferences.
Creamy Lemon Keto Salad Dressing Recipe
This recipe for lemon keto salad dressing is easy to put together with just a few simple ingredients. It’s also high in delicious healthy fats, which makes it the perfect keto-friendly choice.
Ingredients:
- Eggs
- Extra light olive oil
- Lemon juice
- Mustard or garlic (optional)
Instructions:
- Grab your immersion blender and a tall glass jar or tumbler that the blender can fit into.
- Add the fresh eggs into the tumbler, then add the rest of the salad dressing ingredients.
- Immerse your stick blender, immersion blender over the egg.
- Blend all the ingredients until the dressing is thick and creamy.
- Eat and enjoy!
Storage Instructions:
- Refrigerator: This salad dressing will keep fresh for up to 3 days if you place it in an airtight container with a lid. A mason jar or even an old salad dressing bottle will work perfectly. Make sure to shake vigorously before use.
- Freezer: It is not recommended to store your creamy dressing in the freezer. The ingredients form an emulsion when made and if you freeze the dressing, there is a high chance the emulsion will split and separate when defrosted, potentially becoming lumpy and unappetizing.
Variations:
There are so many different ways you can change this keto-friendly salad dressing to make it suit your tastes perfectly. You can add these flavors to your dressing.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon juice for a different flavor profile. Other options include white wine vinegar or white vinegar.
- Oil Variations: Experiment with different oils to alter the flavor. Avocado oil is another excellent choice.
- Herbs and Spices: Add herbs and spices to customize the flavor. Diced fresh green onion or a dash of Italian seasoning can make a big difference.
Tips for the Perfect Creamy Texture:
For this recipe, I recommend using an immersion blender. If you want to make a thick mayonnaise you must use a stick blender with a tall slim jar.
Serving Suggestions:
- Dipping Sauce: Use it as a dipping sauce for raw veggies, skewered meats, and even keto bread.
- Grilled Meats: Drizzle it onto grilled meats, especially chicken and salmon.
- Mixed Greens: Toss it with mixed greens, blue cheese, walnuts, and other low-carb ingredients.
- Caesar Salad: Try it with a simple Caesar salad.
Other Keto-Friendly Salad Dressing Recipes
Besides the creamy lemon dressing, here are a few more keto-friendly options to explore:
Read also: Homemade Keto Italian Dressing
- Keto Italian Dressing
- Keto Caesar Dressing
- Keto Blue Cheese Dressing
- Keto Thousand Island Dressing
- Keto Russian Dressing
- Keto French Dressing
- Keto Ranch Dressing
Creamy Keto Ranch Dressing Recipe
This low carb ranch dressing is easy to make and tastes way better than the bottled ranch you find at the store.
Ingredients:
- Mayonnaise (preferably avocado oil-based)
- Sour cream
- Heavy cream (or nut milk for a thinner consistency)
- Dill (fresh or dried)
- Parsley (fresh or dried)
- Onion powder
- Vinegar (white wine vinegar, white vinegar, or apple cider vinegar)
- Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- To a small bowl or a mason jar, add mayo, sour cream, heavy cream, dill, parsley, vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
- Use nut milk for a thinner pourable dressing. Use heavy cream for a thicker dressing like a dip. To lower the carbs, use all mayo instead of sour cream.
- Whisk ingredients until combined or close mason jar with the lid and shake until combined.
- Use right away or let sit in the refrigerator for 1 hour for ingredients to meld together and flavor to develop.
Storage:
Store your ranch dressing in an air tight container or mason jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. This dressing does not freeze well.
Variations:
- Dairy-Free: Instead of sour cream, either add all mayonnaise or substitute with dairy-free yogurt or coconut cream.
- Spicy: Add a pinch of cayenne pepper or a dash of hot sauce for a spicy kick.
- Herby: Experiment with different herbs like chives, tarragon, or cilantro.
Creamy Keto French Dressing Recipe
This homemade keto creamy French dressing is sweet and tangy and takes just 5 minutes to make! It goes great with big steak salads or chicken salads but would also make a tasty keto dip and serve with fresh vegetables.
Ingredients:
- Keto mayonnaise
- Keto ketchup
- Olive oil
- White wine vinegar (or champagne vinegar)
- Keto sugar (such as Swerve)
- Paprika
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- Add all ingredients to a blender.
- Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Pour into a medium bowl or mason jar and serve with your favorite salad.
Storage:
Just make sure to store in an airtight container. It should keep for at least a week in the refrigerator.
Tips for the Best Flavor:
Some people like to use ketchup instead of tomato paste but that tends to have more carbs than tomato paste. However if you have a low carb ketchup that might work.
Read also: Delicious creamy soup recipes
- Sweetness: Adjust the amount of keto sugar to your liking.
- Smoky Flavor: Use smoked paprika instead of regular paprika.
- Low-Carb Ketchup: Choose a keto-friendly ketchup brand like Primal Kitchen.
Store-Bought Keto-Friendly Salad Dressings
If you prefer to purchase store-bought dressings, there are a lot of available options these days. You’ll want to check the label carefully as many dressings add sugar and additives (which is why I prefer to make my own).
A few options include:
- Ranch dressing
- Caesar dressing
- Blue cheese dressing
Additional Tips and Information
Does Vinegar Affect Ketosis?
No, vinegar does not impact ketosis because it is free of carbs. Vinegar is usually zero carbs unless you choose vinegar with added sugars such as balsamic vinegar.
Can You Have Store-Bought Salad Dressing on a Keto Diet?
Unfortunately, most salad dressings are unsuitable for a keto diet due to excess carbs. The exception would be sugar-free salad dressings or simple vinaigrettes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Using Seed Oils: Many store-bought dressings use unhealthy vegetable oils like canola oil. In order to get away from using a vegetable oil based dressing, select avocado mayo as your base for your homemade low carb ranch dressing.
- Ignoring the Label: Always check the label for added sugars and starches.
Creative Ways to Use Keto Salad Dressings
- Mix the ranch dressing with some crumbled blue cheese. Then use it as a dipping sauce for keto-friendly chicken wings.
- Mix the dressing with mashed avocado.
- Instead of boring ol’ mayo, use it in your egg salad or chicken salad recipes.
Read also: Quick Keto Seafood