Mom’s Salad Dressing

Mom’s Salad Dressing ~ This salad 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. 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. Try swapping 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