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Creamy French Salad Dressing

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creamy french main

 

I just love when the summer vegetables start coming in from the garden! I love planting them, nurturing them, and spoiling them with “treats” of epsom salt and Miracle Grow! That stuff really does work, doesn’t it? My plants are HUGE this year already.

And lookie at my first tomato! One of the prettiest tomatoes I’ve grown since we moved to the east coast!

Which also inspired this salad dressing!

My hubby is NOT a big salad lover. He’s not big on veggies in general, let alone raw crudités! I don’t know that he’s ever even touched a raw carrot or came within 10 feet of a veggie tray!

But the one time of year that he sparks up over veggies, is when I start bringing in fresh, homegrown tomatoes and peppers straight from the deck!

 

 

tomato

 

So I promised to make him some spectacular salads that would change his mind about “rabbit food”!

The one mistake I was NOT going to do, was make a gorgeous salad and then pour bottled dressing all over it.

Yuck.

I just can’t do bottled dressings anymore. To me, they taste awful. REALLY bad.

So I asked my hubby what he loved as a kid. Especially when you went to a restaurant, you had about 3-5 choices and you always knew what you wanted. I was a Thousand Island kid, and he said he always loved French.

French is easy to make, so French it will be! 😀 I already had everything on hand, and you should, too, as there’s nothing in it that you have to trek to the store for. It’s stupid easy.

 

onion

 

6 simple ingredients plus salt and pepper, a blender or small processor, and you’ve got homemade French salad dressing. Not kidding.

There’s just no excuse not to just make it homemade.

It starts with half of a small sweet onion, sliced into wedges and then cut into thirds making large chunks. It’s hard to picture what someone means when they say a “small onion”, I know, so I took a pick of how much I used as I always just usually eyeball it.

Above is a rounded 1/3 cup of coarse-chopped sweet onion. Just make sure you use a sweet onion, or at least mild, and just don’t overdo it or it could end up tasting too strong of onion.

 

french in blender

 

Simply add all of your ingredients to your blender except the oil.

*I just use plain ol’ “salad” oil. A light canola oil. But you can even use vegetable oil, or half salad oil and half olive oil. If your olive oil is mild tasting, you can go whole hog wild and use all olive oil. But it can take on a  funky flavor if your oil isn’t super fresh and very mild tasting. So choose wisely. You shouldn’t be able to taste the oil in the end at all, so, regular salad oils are simply best for this. Expensive oils are a waste of money that’s unnecessary for this recipe.

 

french ready to blend

 

Give the first addition of ingredients a nice blend until very smooth and the onions have been completely processed.

 

french blended 1

 

Remove the little center piece on the lid, place the lid back on, and turn the blender on low. While the blender is running, slowly stream in the oil.

(*You may need to stop halfway, stir, and then continue on high until all of the oil has been added.)

 

french blended 2

 

And presto!

You have a decadent, clean and simple, classic creamy French salad dressing just like that! 😉

 

french done

 

Once you try this, and see how easy and economical it is, you’ll never buy another bottle again!

You’ll get a full 20 ounces of salad dressing that should be enough for 8 side salads! 10 if you’re light on the dressing, and 5-6 generous servings for (large) chef salads!

It really goes a long way!

And you won’t believe how delicious it is!!

 

french wide

 

It’s one of the quintessential dressings for summer salads, because there’s enough flavor that it tastes good, yet it isn’t overpowering, masking the wonderful flavors of the garden-fresh vegetables.

A perfect match!

 

creamy french main

 

I never cared for French dressing when I was a kid, and the only French I’ll eat to this day is homemade. Maybe it’s all the funky additives and preservatives that companies add that I’m sensitive to? Maybe too much vinegar? Short on flavor? Too watery??

I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’m glad.

Homemade is always better. No doubt about it. 😉

 

Creamy French Salad Dressing
Yield: 2 1/2 cups

Creamy French Salad Dressing

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup regular heavy mayonnaise such as Hellmann's
  • 1/2 cup ketchup, I prefer Heinz or Hunt's
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 of a small sweet onion, cut into wedges then thirds, (or a 1/3 cup well rounded) *see photo above for a visual idea of how much
  • 1/2 tsp. regular table salt
  • 1/4 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
  • 1 cup salad oil such as canola

Instructions

  • In a blender, place the mayonnaise, ketchup, vinegar, sugar, onion, salt and pepper; cover and process until smooth.
  • While blender is running, gradually add oil in a steady stream.
  • Let chill in fridge for about an hour before serving to let onion flavor mellow.
  • Serve over salad.
  • Refrigerate any leftover dressing.
  • Should keep for at least 2-3 weeks, but ours never lasts that long!

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    Patricia Gualdoni

    Friday 27th of December 2019

    Make this every year for Christmas. The whole family loves it.

    Andi

    Monday 10th of December 2018

    Just stopped by once again to get this recipe. It is my very favorite. Thanks again, Kelly!

    Kelly

    Tuesday 11th of December 2018

    Awww, thank you, Andi!! This was the salad dressing that convinced my hubby that salads are not evil!!! LOL!! ;) :D So glad you love it, too! :)

    Cheryl Burgess

    Friday 31st of July 2015

    My mother used to make this when I was a child. When I inherited her recipe box (the trusty shoebox), the recipe was missing. Thank you for this. Can't wait to make it once again.

    Kelly

    Saturday 1st of August 2015

    You are so very welcome! :D Happy that I could help!! :) Hope you enjoy! :D

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