This creamy salad dressing is my current favorite to pour atop my salads - It hides a sneaky ingredient that makes it nutritious, luscious, and lower in fat than the average creamy dressing!
Secret ingredient alert!
Is that still a big Pinterest teaser?
It was/is an alluring, yet irritating, description of recipes that hide an unusual ingredient. I almost always click on those darn recipes, either feeling 'wow-ed' or like, 'why would you do that?!'.
I'm not a fan of adding an ingredient just for the sake of adding it...i.e. kale brownies. No, just no.
Beans in desserts, however, are awesome! They often take the place of flour and add protein to the treat. Give me more!
The odd ingredient in my go-to salad dressing serves a major purpose, so I'm putting myself into the 'wow' category.
What is it, Lauren?!!
Zucchini!
If you've read my blog with any frequency, this is not necessarily new, as I have two other dressings with the same ingredient. Hehe.
I don't, however, feel that the addition of zucchini gets enough attention.
I see it added to smoothies, but have you ever tried it in a salad dressing? Not only does it add nutrition, it adds bulk, creaminess, and it allows you to lower your oil content.
I am one that likes my salad pretty much drowning in dressing, so being able to lower the fat content a bit serves me well.
This recipe is my most basic one to date. I concocted it when I was out of all my fresh herbs, so it's kind of a pantry-style dressing, if you will. It's delicious on its own, but I've included a few variations that I've tried since.
I hope you enjoy it if you try it!
My (Current) Favorite Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar OR lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 Tbsp shallot OR 1 scallion
- 2 medium zucchini sliced into rounds
Instructions
- Blend all the ingredients until silky smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
Notes:
A couple variations:
-Add in 1/2-1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
-Add in a small handful of your favorite fresh, leafy herb
Some of the items I use in this recipe include:
Alex
Sounds like such an interesting idea! I will have to give this a try next time I have some zucchini...
Sharon
Wow! I never would have thought of it. Just raw zucchini? Interesting.
Liana
Excellent idea. Thank you!