French Dressing

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French Dressing is definitely one of the outliers when it comes to salad dressings, being a lot more colorful and tangy than a lot of its dressing cousins like Italian or Thousand Island. It is also the most changeable, with different ingredients and variations existing all over the USA, so why not learn how to make a really good basic one yourself?

You can also try this dressing on a wedge salad or a tossed salad.

More Homemade Salad Dressings

I love a good homemade salad dressing! Try some of these reader favorites!

• Homemade Italian Dressing
• Homemade Russian Dressing
• The Real Green Goddess Dressing
• Blue Cheese Dressing
• Caesar Salad Dressing
• Asian Salad Dressing

French Dressing

French Dressing used to be the name for basically any dressing with other ingredients besides a regular vinaigrette for salads. Over the years, though, more and more things kept getting added until you eventually hit the sweet, salty, and slightly creamy type of French Dressing that we have today.

Here’s how to make a really great French Dressing that goes great with pretty much anything.

Ingredients for French Dressing

This is just a list of ingredients for you to skim over and see if you have them or need to shop, the exact amounts of ingredients are listed in the printable recipe card below!

• Olive oil (try and use a lighter one here, nothing extra virgin)
• Vegetable oil
• Ketchup
• Sugar
• Vinegar
• Lemon juice
• Dry mustard powder
• Paprika
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Onion

How to Make French Dressing

Making French Dressing is really easy to make yourself, as you only need to blend it all together in a food processor or a blender.

Just blend on medium speed all your ingredients until completely smooth.

How to Store Your French Dressing

French Dressing is essentially an emulsion of all the different ingredients, making it a bit unstable when compared to other sauces. This means you need to handle it pretty carefully, as well as making sure that you store it properly.

The best way to store your French Dressing is in the fridge in a covered container. You don’t want to leave it out on the counter for any longer than you have to, as it might start to curdle and separate.

In fact, even after being in the fridge for just a day, it might separate a little bit; just give it a thorough stir with a spoon before using it, and you should be completely fine.

How to Change Your French Dressing to Suit Your Tastes

French Dressing, just like pretty much every other kind of sauce, is completely and totally dependent on personal preference.

This means that you should use the ingredient list as a basic guide to getting started, but feel free to experiment, change, and shift whatever parts of it you like.

You might find that it needs more sugar, so it is sweeter, or that it needs more salt or vinegar. The best thing to do is to give it a taste and see what you think each time and adjust as needed.

More Homemade Salad Dressings

I love a good homemade salad dressing, so I have a few recipes, and definitely make sure to check out my other salad recipes!

• If you love a Classic Reuben Sandwich, why not try and make some Russian Dressing?
• A simple Italian dressing is easy to customize to your liking
• Homemade Caesar salad dressing – my son makes this all the time, even with the anchovy paste!
• Quick and easy herb vinaigrette
• Asian salad dressing is light, delicious and my favorite!

Enjoy! I hope you are all able to customize this one to your liking, let me know in the comments your additions and how you made it!

Love,

Karlynn

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