I love making my own salad dressings. It is so easy and they taste SO much better than store-bought dressings. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about making your life easier if you can outsource some work in a Zero Waste way. However, salad dressing is so simple, I encourage anyone who hasn’t yet to give it a try.
This nutritional yeast salad dressing is one of my favorites, but be warned, the taste is definitely DIFFERENT from your traditional vinaigrettes and honey mustards. It’s a love it or hate it sort of thing, but if you love it, it can be addictive. Which is great, because nutritional yeast is an excellent source of protein and vitamin B12 (and getting enough B12 is especially important if you follow a plant-based diet). It’s also pretty easy to find in the bulk food bins if you’re fortunate enough to have bulk foods at your grocery store, and if you don’t, most grocery stores do carry it these days.
Now back to my salad dressing addiction. I use this dressing on salads and as a dip for flatbreads and crudites. I put it on sandwiches. I haven’t tried it on pizza yet but I bet it would be delicious. Note to self: Go home and try drizzling this dressing on pizza.
So how do you make it?
Like I said, it’s easy. All you need is:
½ cup nutritional yeast
⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup tamari
⅓ cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, grapeseed, etc...I have used olive oil but the taste comes through a bit stronger)
1 clove of garlic minced.
A blender
A jar or repurposed salad dressing bottle to keep it in.
Put all of the ingredients in a blender, liquids first.
Blend on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
Pour it into a jar or bottle.
Make a salad & try it out!
And that’s really all there is to it. The great thing about making it yourself is you can tweak the recipe a bit if you prefer. Prefer a more acidic taste? Add a bit more apple cider vinegar. Need more saltiness? Add a touch more tamari. If you don’t have a blender, you can whisk it by hand, just be ready to really whisk the heck out of it.
If the dressing is too thick for your preference, add water 1 TBS at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency. It will sometimes thicken up a bit in the fridge, so just add a little bit of water or apple cider vinegar to thin it back down again. It can store for around 10 days in the refrigerator, but I doubt it will last that long.
That really is all there is to it. If you try this recipe, let me know in the comments! Are you in the love it or hate it camp?