When I graduated college and was suddenly responsible for all my meals, all the time (goodbye, sweet sorority house), I was overwhelmed. There were so many things I wanted to make—homemade cakes and pies, my Granny’s goulash, breakfast casseroles and coffee cakes, the broccoli/chicken/cheddar dish I grew up on, and fresh, from-scratch salad dressings. And it all intimidated me. How did my mom and grandma make it look so easy?!

At that transitional time in my life, I was starting to take responsibility for my health and rethinking what I was putting in my body. I was reading books like Grain Brain, The Autoimmune Fix, and The Medical Medium. I followed all the gluten-free, dairy-free Instagram girlies, inspired and ready to learn. Hidden sugars, gluten, chemicals, and unwanted additives seemed to hide in… well, everything, it felt like. Whipping up my own mayo, muffins, salad dressings, and weekly meals was a daunting undertaking. 

If you are anything like that frozen, intimated yet eager and hopeful girl, let me demystify the homemade salad dressing for you. I can’t promise it’s easy to make every single thing in your kitchen from scratch, but I can speak to the salad dressing process. Let me shed some light on how simple it is—it takes less than five minutes!—and encourage you to try it for yourself. Here are my top three reasons to grab your olive oil, red wine vinegar, and seasonings, and go to town throwing together your own tasty, zesty, tangy, and/or rich dressings. Plus, my top three go-to dressing recipes (if you could even call them recipes, ha). 

01. The ultimate reason for me is this: When you make your own salad dressing, you can be certain you’re avoiding gluten, sugar, soy, natural flavors, MSG, and more.

It can be easy—not to mention disappointing—to think you’re doing your body a service by ordering a salad at a restaurant only to discover the dressing it’s marinating in is full of toxic traits. It’s impossible to remove every single additive from our life if we want to eat out (AKA not spending 40 hours in the kitchen every single week), but we can whip up our own delicious, savory salad dressings in a flash. One small step at a time. Nourish your body and your family’s health with this easy alternative to Hidden Valley, or even some of the “cleaner” options that still sneak in too many of the inflammatory ingredients and chemicals. 

02. Making a salad dress is so easy.

I promise. It’s not as complicated as I once made it out to be. The key is figuring out what you like, and the benefit is also getting to customize each concoction to your preferences. If you use an immersion blender (which I highly recommend—don’t worry, it doesn’t add much time or cleanup to the process), I think you’ll be surprised by how tasty the results are. 

03. Once you start enjoying your homemade dressings, you’ll most likely start preferring them to the goop-filled, mainstream options.

And from there, at least for me, I started appreciating and preferring whole, clean ingredients in all my dressings, sauces, soups, salads, and recipes. My husband has even said he can’t eat Hidden Valley Ranch anymore (and all of Heaven rejoiced). Truly delighting in simple homemade food has helped me continue the pursuit of clean eating and living. My salad dressings make me feel good, and I believe that’s what food is all about—giving us good energy. Once you feel it, it’s hard to go back to compromising for anything else. 

As promised, below are three of my basic, go-to dressings. I would headly call these recipes, though—they are more of a starting block. Dive into them and see what tickles your fancy, what pools of flavor you enjoy floating in. You can kick off with these ingredients and then add a little more of whatever you’re craving.

BASIC BALSAMIC

¾ cup Olive oil

¼ cup Balsamic vinegar

1 t Minced garlic

1 t Dijon mustard

2 t Maple syrup 

½ t Salt

TANGY ITALIAN

¼ cup Red wine vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar

⅓ cup Olive oil

1 T Dijon mustard

1 T lemon juice

1 t garlic powder

1 t Onion powder

1 t Chili powder

2 t Maple syrup

½ t Salt

¼ t Pepper

SUPER SIMPLE & STRESS-FREE DRESSING

¾ cup Olive oil 

3 T apple cider vinegar

2 T lemon juice

1 t Minced garlic

1 t salt

½ t Pepper