Mom’s Salad Dressing This dressing is so delicious! It’s my mom’s recipe that she made when I was growing up. I think it’s how she got me to eat salads as a kid
It’s well balanced with sweet and savory. And, it’s perfect on a salad, not only at holiday time, but any night of the week!
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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.
Make ahead
This dressing keeps well in the refrigerator, so you can make it ahead for a party. Or, (affiliate link) store any leftovers for a few weeks so you can have salads often.
Oh, and the dressing does tend to separate a bit when left in the fridge. Just give it a good stir or a good shake, and it’ll come back to its glory.
What kind of oil should I use?
Mom’s recipe called for “salad oil”. I believe Salad oil is another term for vegetable oil. And, I was able to find salad oil available for sale.
Rather than having to buy another oil, you can use just about any light tasting oil that you like in Mom’s Salad Dressing.
You can use oils like vegetable, grapeseed, canola, safflower, corn, peanut, or other light flavored oils. You’ll want to stay away from oils that give a lot of flavor to a dish.
I have found that olive oil, even light olive oil, tends to solidify if stored in the fridge. So, if you’re going to store the dressing in the fridge, I’d recommend not using olive oil.
I generally use grapeseed oil in most of my cooking, so that’s what I choose to use.
What kind of vinegar should I use?
I like the simplicity of white vinegar for this dressing. It is, after all a simple dressing.
However, I also think apple cider vinegar is great in the dressing. It, well, dresses it up a bit. You could also use a red or white vine vinegar here.
Spinach salad
She always made a spinach salad for holiday meals. She used a couple of bunches of spinach, fresh bean sprouts, canned water chestnuts, some crumbled bacon, and toasted (in butter) slivered almonds. Oh my gosh, that salad was awesome.
Now if mom makes the spinach salad, she keeps the bacon and the almonds in separate bowls so that people with different dietary needs can add them or leave them off as they see fit.
Ok, now what about those ingredients
This is possibly the elephant in the room.
Yes, I know these ingredients seem very odd. Downright perplexing.
I know. Normally I would shy away from a salad dressing like this. But, I swear to you, this is so delicious!
And, I also know that if I saw this recipe I’d move on.
Stay; make this recipe. Eat the recipe. It’s so yummy. It’s sweet. It’s savory. It’s well balanced. I swear, it’s delicious!
Changes to the recipe
I’m sure that some experimenting with the recipe could yield some great results. Maybe cut back on the amount of oil. Maybe swap the ketchup for tomato paste. Maybe increase the amount of vinegar and decrease the amount of sugar.
Yes, maybe some experimenting. But, for now, this is Mom’s Salad Dressing Recipe. It’s been a favorite of mine for a long time.
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Mom’s Salad Dressing Recipe
Mom’s Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup salad oil
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup vinegar
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons dried minced onion
- large pinch of salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well to combine. Or place all ingredients into a medium bowl, and whisk well to combine. Them, pour into a dressing bottle or pitcher.
The only thing I would change is the sugar. I would use splenda half and half, the one for baking or cooking
I’m going to make this with Pyurue…it doesn’t leave that licorice after taste in your mouth !!!
I don’t like ketchup but I like french dressing so I’m going to try this recipe, seems like it would be very tasty. Thnks for sharing.
This is absolutely fantastic home made dressing and it will be my “house dressing” from here on out. I used avocado oil and only 1/4 cup sugar and it was perfect. The flavors blended so well together. I used it on a Romain salad with onion, red, orange and yellow peppers with Cranberries and glazed walnuts (store bought) and it was the highlight of our evening meal. Thank you so much for sharing your Mom’s salad dressing.
Catherine, I like those changes. I told my mom a couple of days ago that her recipe was doing well on my blog, and she told me she even cut down the sugar from the original recipe she had. Wow! I love your changes. Thanks for the comment!
just made this. i’m a southern girl, and you just made your momma proud with this post! it’s yummy!
I just made this and love it. it was very thick but i can live with that but i couldnt get the sugar to disolve, so it tasted a little gritty. is there a trick to that
Carol, I’ve never had the problem of it not dissolving. I’d say that you probably just need to shake or stir a bit more. You could also try stirring the sugar into the vinegar until it’s dissolved and then adding the rest of the ingredients. That should work.