olive garden salad dressing

[Elyz1214]

I *love* the salad dressing from Olive Garden and always get some to take home. It's the ONLY salad dressing I like!

But it has 8g fat in every 2 tbsp! I try to limit my intake of the salad dressing to 1 tbsp at most but it REALLY helps me eat that salad which I know is healthy.

My question is - has anyone had a low fat/fat free salad dressing that tastes similiar to this that you could recommend?

[Barb135]

I like Thousand Island dressing as well as the Italian.  

I found one made by Bolthouse Farms, made with yogurt.  It has 70 cal/2 tbs; 5.5 g fat w/1 g sat fat, 0 trans; 1 g protein.  

I found the dressing in the cooler section by the salad ingredients and I know there are other dressings made by the same company - I think there is an Italian version.  Might be worth checking into.  

[lucindamartinez]

Those sound yummy!  Maybe we should have a salad dressing recipe of the week!  Lol!

[Ranaesheart]

Keynote ~ That sounds YUMMY .. will definitely try it!

[Ranaesheart]

Hi Elyz1214 ... Welcome to the community and thank you so much for posting and being actively involved.

I am familiar with Olive Garden's salad dressing and am not sure of something that will taste identical.  Do know how difficult it is to find a salad dressing that tastes good and meets the calorie and fat amounts we are looking for.

Personally, I like Paul Newman's "Lighten Up" dressings and have found them to be quite flavorful and meets the calories and fat components I am looking for.  Just tasted the Light Lime Vinaigrette and find it similar to Olive Garden's but it does have a distinct lime flavor.  I like that, you may not.  2 TBSP is a serving and has 60 calories and 45 fat calories.  The total fat is 5 g (saturated fat 1 g and trans fat 0 g).  

Now I don't like most "diet" dressings and find they taste waxy or just plain "yucky".  This brand of dressings seem to be full of flavor and range in calories from 40 to 80-90 and generally run in the 4 to 5 g of fat range.

I also have a lot of salad dressing recipes if anyone is interested.  Let me know ...  

White Wine Dressing (orange, white wine, soy, dijon mustard) 1.2 g
Lemon Dressing (lemon, horseradish, pepper) 1.8 g
Pesto Dressing (spinach pesto, white wine, pepper) 1.5 g
Creamy Pesto Dressing (buttermilk, spinach pesto, pepper) 0.3 g
Mango Chutney Dressing (yogurt, mango chutney, pepper) 0.03 g
Feta Dressing (buttermilk, garlic, lemon, feta, pepper) 0.9 g
Cool Cucumber Dressing (yogurt, cucumber, garlic, pepper, dill) .01 g
Tarragon Buttermilk Dressing (buttermilk, onion, garlic, pepper, tarragon) 0.14 g

Analysis per 1 TBSP of dressing.

[Keynote]

I make a vinaigrette very similar. I use 1/2 Cup Olive oil, one cup red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon spicy mustard, 2 teasp garlic powder, one packet parmesian (from what the pizza guy leaves) salt to taste. I have put a pinch or 2 of sugar because it's pretty
sour but once on the salad, it's really good. It gets better the longer it sits in the fridge. Another good thing is a little bit goes a LONG WAY.

Some recipes call for same amount oil as vinegar. It's SO OILY I can't stand it. I like this
very well.The garlic and parmesian are what makes Olive Garden's so addictive I think.

Play with this recipe and see what you think.

[lucindamartinez]

I'm sorry, but I've not yet been to Olive Garden....believe it or not!  LOL!  We keep meaning to try them though...

I'll bet someone has some ideas.  Is it a traditional Italian type dressing....or maybe some other?