5 Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes to Top Your Leafy Greens

It’s leafy green season. We’ve got kale, buttercrunch salad, spinach, and more — all ready to blow your taste buds away with delicious green salads galore. In other words, you’re going to need some healthy salad dressing.

Try these 5 homemade healthy salad dressing recipes to top your leafy greens.

Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing

It’s essentially a healthier ranch dressing. This healthy salad dressing recipe is perfect for any kind of salad and appeases taste buds of all ages. It’s a dream atop that buttercrunch lettuce!

INGREDIENTS:

• ¾ cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• ¼ cup fresh minced parsley
• ¼ medium onion, diced (about 2 Tbsp)
• 2 Tbsp fresh minced chives
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• Juice of a ½ lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
• ¼ cup – ½ cup buttermilk

HOW-TO:

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until well combined. Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes (preferably 2 hours!) before serving.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

We couldn’t do a salad dressing post without giving you a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. It’s the ultimate healthy dressing, and it’s a total chameleon so it will work atop any combination leafy greens and almost any protein. PRO TIP: Add berries to this salad—the sweet flair will set this balsamic off perfectly!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ cup olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

HOW-TO:

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, mustard, and garlic. Add the oil in a slow steady stream, whisking constantly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Chili Lime Dressing

Ranch and balsamic may be classics, but this is the salad dressing we might use the most. Try it on your spinach with salmon and carrots. You’ll love how the flavors interact!

INGREDIENTS:

• Zest and juice of 2 limes (about 4 Tbsp juice and 3 tsp zest)
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp salt

HOW-TO:

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until well combined. Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Sesame-Ginger Salad Dressing

This healthy salad dressing recipe is perfect for your Asian-style salad. In fact, if it has anything to do with kale, this is the dressing you want. These fresh ingredients are balanced perfectly—they’ll satisfy the whole family.

INGREDIENTS:

• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• ¼ cup of seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp peeled and grated fresh ginger

HOW-TO:

Combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, shake until well combined. Refrigerate and let flavors blend for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Looking for salad recipes to put your homemade dressing on? Try our unique coast-to-coast recipes or this delicious no-cook crunchy garden salad (at the bottom of post).