This vs. That: Salad Dressings

Look, we get it. 

A salad is a great way to get your greens and veggies in but let’s get real: a salad without dressing is just - dry. It’s also chewy, and your jaw might ask to tap out by the time you’re on your third forkful. 

But what makes a salad dressing both good and healthy? Because the most common problem with salad dressings off the shelf is that they are often loaded with sodium, high fructose corn syrup, dyes, and preservatives no one knows how to pronounce. 

Fear not. We’ve taken the hard work out of it for you with our list of five salad dressings we recommend and five we suggest you avoid if you want to stay on track with your health and fitness goals.

But before we dive into our list, it’s essential to remember that just because we say it’s the healthier alternative doesn’t mean you can drown your salad in it. Even healthy salad dressings typically have an oil base, which is calorie-dense. So keep your portions in check. 

1. Primal Kitchen (any of them): For starters, Primal Kitchen has 15 varieties to choose from, and all of them are dairy-free, refined sugar-free, and contain no artificial flavors, colors, dyes, or chemical preservatives. If that isn’t enough, their dressings use avocado oil (a known fighter against obesity and diabetes) and eggs as their bases, along with organic vinegar, herbs, and spices. It’s just a win across the board. 
2. Annie’s Caesar Dressing: We love a Caesar salad as much as the next person, but the dressing is one of the unhealthiest. Especially if you’re buying it off the shelf, where most brands pack their Ceasar dressing with unhealthy fats and high sodium levels. That’s why we love Annie’s: it’s organic, egg-free, low sodium, and non-GMO, with simple ingredients, but it still packs a flavor punch. 
3. Braggs Vinaigrette: If you know anything about Bragg’s, you know they are the leaders in all things apple cider vinegar. Why does that matter? Because apple cider vinegar is linked to weight loss and appetite suppression, and it’s the first ingredient in this vinaigrette. Plus, it’s lightly sweetened with organic honey and liquid aminos, with a dash of black pepper for a low-sodium delight that’s about as good as it can get.
4. Bolthouse Farms (all eight): Bolthouse Farms has eight salad dressings that we love. Four are vinaigrette, while the others are creamy with a healthy yogurt base, and all are sweetened with natural fruit juices. Now, if you love blue cheese as much as we do, we can’t recommend enough the Bolthouse Farms Chunky Blue Cheese dressing. 
5. Organic Girl Avocado Cilantro Vegan Vinaigrette: If you haven't figured it out, we love avocado oil. What we love about this avocado oil-based dressing is it has a kick thanks to jalapenos and lemon juice. Plus, it packs a flavor punch, is low in sodium, and has healthy unsaturated fats. Something else we love to do with this dressing is to get some fresh avocados and add some of this dressing to the mix for a quick, delicious guacamole. 

1. Hidden Valley: Yes, we know it’s the classic, but it’s time to let it go. Hidden Valley dressings (especially the infamous Ranch) sneaks in appetite-inducing MSG along with ingredients that mainly consist of artificial flavors and countless preservatives. 
2. Kraft: Kraft dressings can often come off as a healthy choice. Sure, the calories might be low, but have you checked the sodium content? Don’t even get us started on the number of preservatives.
3. Wish-Bone: Another classic that it’s time to retire. Wish-Bone no longer adds high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors to their dressings, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a healthy choice. Take a look at the sodium and often the sugar content of their dressings, and you’ll see why. Because while it might say 5 grams of sugar per serving, which is typically a tablespoon, ask yourself when was the last time you put only a tablespoon of dressing on your salad? Exactly. That 5 grams quickly becomes 20.
4. Brianna’s Homestyle: We will be the first to admit that we fell for the simple labeling of these salad dressings. But as one should never judge a book by its cover, you should also never judge a salad dressing by its label. These dressings have an unnecessarily long ingredient list and boast high sodium content (one dressing has 270 mg of sodium per serving). So put this one back on the shelf and move on. 
5. Ken’s Steakhouse: Ken’s dressings are a familiar sight to most of us at salad bars in restaurants across America, but familiar doesn’t always mean healthy. Ken’s can do without all the sodium, unnatural dyes, and preservatives. And so can you.