8 Delicious Salad Dressings to Last You All Summer

Summer is the time for light, fresh meals. It’s the time to take advantage of the colourful abundance of fruits and vegetables that grow this time of year, from peaches and strawberries to bright greens, asparagus, radishes, and green beans. The benefits of produce is wide-ranging, and it’s important to get as many colours as possible to benefit from their varying antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Vegetables that belong to the green family, like spinach, zucchini, and cucumber, offer different benefits than those in the red family – strawberries, red peppers, and cherries. Keep variety to get as healthy as you can!

This summer, can you incorporate more salads into your meals? They don’t have to be boring salads – they can be exciting, colourful, and delicious. There are lots of good salad recipes on our blog, in Janet’s new book Share Goodness, and in all of our Nourish magazines. And if you think all salads need to have a base of greens, think again! What about our Bean & Broccoli Salad with Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing from our latest Nourish magazine? Or try our Green Bean Potato Party Salad with Dijon Dressing. Both are packed with healthy vegetables and best of all, have delicious dressings!

After all, a salad is only as good as its dressing… right? Making homemade salad dressings is one of the best things you can as part of a healthy diet. Many conventional store-bought dressings are loaded with sugar, preservatives, and artificial colours and flavours. Making your own allows you to control the ingredients going in, so you don’t end up ruining the health of that salad you just created. And it doesn’t have to just be olive oil and balsamic vinegar—though that is a great quick, easy, and healthy dressing to make! You can get creative with your dressings to add different flavours and health benefits to your salads.

Some of our favourite dressing ingredients include:

• Apple Cider Vinegar: we love this so much that we have a whole blog post dedicated to it! Check out 10 Reasons Why You Need Apple Cider Vinegar in Your Life.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: a great source of healthy fats. Just make sure you get the cold pressed organic olive oil in a dark glass bottle. You don’t want a clear glass bottle as this can let the light oxidize the oil.
• Herbamare: this is a special blend of sea salt along with different sea vegetables to add tons of nutrients and flavour to any dressing (or any food, for that matter!)
• Honey: a great low-glycemic sweetener that is much healthier than sugar. Anti-bacterial, too!
• Lemon Juice: alkalizing, pH balancing, detoxifying, and a delicious sweet and tangy flavour.
• Garlic: garlic is best known for its immune-boosting effects, but it can also reduce blood pressure and lower the risk of heart disease. Plus, it adds awesome flavour to any dressing

Check out our favourite 8 salad dressings to last you all summer long. These dressings can be used on a variety of salads to complement their tastes and ingredients. Make some up, keep them in mason jars, and be ready whenever you throw together a salad. Which one is your favourite?

Apple Cider & Honey Dressing

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Herbamare
1 Tbsp honey

Blend ingredients well in a blender so that the honey mixes in with the oil and vinegar. Use this dressing with our Bean & Broccoli Salad!

Dijon Garlic Dressing

¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ tsp Herbamare
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine dressing ingredients in a blender and blend well. Try this with our Green Bean Potato Party Salad!

Balsamic & Lemon Dressing

¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Herbamare

Combine dressing ingredinets and stir or shake to combine. This pairs well with our Chickpea & Cherry Tomato Salad.

Creamy Avocado Dressing

2 medium organic avocados
1 lemon, juiced
½ cup olive oil
½ cup water
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp honey
2 tsp parsley (dried or fresh)
salt & pepper, to taste
cayenne, to taste

Add all dressing ingredients into a food processor, except the olive oil and water, and process. While the food processor is running, drizzle in oil and water and mix well. (If you don’t have a food processed, mash the avocados first and use a blender to mix all dressing ingredients together.) This would go great on our Cabbage & Carrot Detox Salad, or on a pasta or chicken salad for a healthier creamy dressing.

Creamy Bacon Chive Dressing

2 Tbsp cooked diced bacon
2 Tbsp chopped chives
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp Herbamare
1 tsp honey
¼ cup hemp seeds

Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and puree on highest speed until mixture is creamy. Try this with our Kale & Beet Cobb Salad, or a chicken Caesar salad!

Camelina Dill Dressing

2 cup fresh stemmed dill
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp greek yogurt
½ cup Three Farmer’s Camelina Oil

Toss dill, yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, and honey into a blender. Blend until smooth. Slowly add oil while blending. This goes great with our Beet & Kale Salad, but you could use it on nearly any salad and love the fresh dill flavour.

Apple Cider Vinegar & Poppy Seed Dressing

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp honey or agave
1 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp poppy seeds
2 Tbsp brown sesame seeds
2 Tbsp onion flakes

Whisk together dressing ingredients. Use it to dress our classic Strawberry & Spinach Salad or try it on nearly any salad that would be good with a sweeter dressing.

Simply Olive Oil & Basil Dressing

½ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh basil leaves
1 tsp Herbamare
¼ cup lemon juice

Use a hand blender to blend dressing until basil leaves are incorporated. The fresh basil flavour is delicious on our Tomato & Feta Salad!