Make Your Salads More Flavourful With These Dressing Options

We all know that salads are healthy and packed with nutrients. But, we also know that salads, just by themselves, can be quite bland and boring. That’s why you need a salad dressing. Packed with flavours, it can immediately elevate your salad.

Most salad dressing usually have one or more of these ingredients—oil, vinegar, lemon juice and spices. It is believed that Babylonians used oil and vinegar to dress their greens some 2,000 years ago, while Egyptians liked their salad dressing with Asian spices, oil and vinegar.

According to the Association for Dressings & Sauces, “Mary, Queen of Scots, preferred boiled celery root diced and tossed with lettuce, creamy mustard dressing, truffles, chervil and hard-cooked egg slices.”

While you can always make a dressing of your choice at home, for those running short on time, getting packaged varieties from the market can be an option too. Avoid the ones that contain artificial colours and flavours.

Here’s a list of salad dressing you can try:

Thousand Island dressing: This salad dressing takes its name from the Thousand Islands archipelago on the Saint Lawrence River along the US-Canada border. Traditionally made of green olives, peppers, onions, pickles, hard-boiled eggs and chopped nuts, this one’s a classic known for its slightly sweet flavours.

Italian dressing: Although called Italian dressing, it was probably first made in the US. Some believe the dressing gets its name from the ingredients used in it, which are largely associated with Italian cooking, like olive oil, oregano and basil. This tangy dressing has a thin consistency. There is a creamy version too, which has a thicker consistency.

Honey and mustard dressing: For those who love sweet and tangy flavours in their salad, honey and mustard dressing is an apt choice. No prizes for guessing the main ingredients of this dressing. In addition to honey and mustard, this dressing needs olive oil and lemon juice. Besides salads, this dressing is also used in burgers, subs and sandwiches.

Chipotle dressing: Any conversation around global cuisine is incomplete without Mexican delicacies. Besides the tacos and enchiladas, Mexican cuisine has gifted the world chipotle, a smoke-dried ripe jalapeno chilli pepper. A chipotle dressing can add a kick to your bland salad. If you want to temper the strong flavours, you can add a bit of honey.