Why homemade salad dressing is worth it. Our favorite homemade salad dressing – it’s simple, flavorful, and loaded with clean ingredients.

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One of the first ways I started eating healthier on a tiny budget involved condiments. We wanted to nourish our bodies with ingredients we could pronounce, and we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on expensive oils and vinegars.

In fact, we could barely afford any vinegar or oils. Only the really versatile and frugal ingredients made it into the kitchen.

Is Homemade Salad Dressing Worth It?

Your time is precious, and you probably don’t want to make everything from scratch if you can help it. For that same reason, we are very particular about what we make from scratch. Only the most important items make the cut.

Here is why salad dressing makes the cut for me: When we decide to eat healthy, most of us look to salad. But when you learn about real food and the power of natural ingredients, conventional salad dressing doesn’t fit. I want to eat food that I can pronounce, that isn’t full of oils I know are bad for me, added sugar, or harmful allergens.

So instead of taking my fairly healthy salad and drizzling it with a bunch of questionable ingredients, I want a salad dressing that tastes good and is made with simple, powerful ingredients.

Budget-Friendly Greek Dressing

Some stores carry salad dressings that are fairly good for you. But they cost a lot more. When you’re on a tight budget, you can’t afford to spend a lot of money on condiments.

You might not stock your kitchen with a huge variety of oils, vinegar, and spices either. Instead, we need a salad dressing we can make from just a few inexpensive ingredients we already stock in the kitchen.

This Greek dressing contains no pricey or difficult-to-find ingredients – in fact, you probably already have them all in your cupboard right now.

Allergy-Friendly Greek Salad Dressing

We have dealt with dairy and gluten issues over the years, and recently, one of our kids was diagnosed with corn and egg sensitivities. Our go-to salad dressings have to address that.

This Greek dressing is:

• Dairy-free
• Gluten-free
• Nut-free
• Egg-free

It’s also perfect for special diets like:

• Paleo
• Whole30
• Keto

Delicious & Versatile Homemade Salad Dressing

We use Greek dressing just like a good Italian dressing. It goes on green salads, pasta salad, tomato and cucumber salad, and we drizzle it over plates of Yellow Rice and Chicken (or Beef!) with steamed veggies (full recipe for that in Dinner for a Dollar).

Every family is unique, but in our house, we keep this, Greek dressing, and sometimes Creamy Caesar and Kate’s famous Ranch in our kitchen, and that’s it.

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and @cheapskatecook on Instagram.

Helpful Equipment for Making Salad Dressing

All you really need are some measuring spoons and cups, and a pint-size jar (I prefer wide mouth for easier cleaning).

However, to prevent messes and spills, (and children who pour out too much dressing) we use a salad dressing bottle we found at a thrift store. It works great, but I like this one better because it looks less like a 90’s kitchen thrift store find.

We blend our dressings in a small blender. You can use a Magic Bullet or Nutribullet (which is what we have). Or if you have a small-mouth canning jar, I’ve heard you can use them in your standard-size blender base. We have had both the classic Nutribullet and Nutribullet Pro, and we love both.

What You Can Do Now:

1. If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and tag a photo #cheapskatecook and @cheapskatecookon Instagram. Cheers, friends!
2. We also share cheap (like, actually cheap), real food menu plans every month for FREE with everyone who gets the Cheapskate Cooks’ 1-Min Email. Get the next one here.