Homemade Italian Dressing. Photo: Anna Vocino.
Italian Dressing isn’t even Italian.
It’s Italian-esque…Italian-American, really…but we Americans know it and love it well. Especially if you were a kid in the 80s. Back in the day, we loved the Wishbone or Ken’s brand of Italian dressing in the bottle, and it was my favorite to pour on everything. Italian dressing was the way to make any raw veggies tolerable. More than tolerable.
Start with pure EVOO. Photo: Anna Vocino.
When I became an adult human person on my own, and then a married lady wife, I spent time in the Italian motherland and learned how to make all my dressings at home, from scratch. No more bottles of store-bought for me. Not for decades. I started writing my own homemade dressing recipes. Several of these are in my Eat Happy cookbooks: Balsamic Dressing, Ranch, Caesar, Thousand Island, Green Goddess, and many many more.
Use White Balsamic Vinegar or White Wine Vinegar. Photo: Anna Vocino.
So I was shocked when I saw a few years back when I scanned the dressing aisle in the grocery store for the first time in forever. The corresponding ingredient labels fully exposed the chemical shit storm that is the majority of store-bought dressings. Nasty seed oils. Added sugars. Thickeners. Chemicals. What even is Disodium Guanylate? And Polysorbate 80 is still a thing we’re doing? I thought that was a catchword from the 90s? (Please don’t write me and ‘splain me these weird ingredients. I own a web browser, I can figure it out.)
Photo: Anna Vocino.
Well guess what, my darling Happies? I’m finally posting my homemade Italian Dressing recipe that tastes even better than what’s pouring out of a Wishbone bottle. And it’s super easy to make, you will be shocked that you didn’t make it before. Enjoy.
Photo: Anna Vocino
Italian Dressing
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic or white wine vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon dried organo
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients together and serve.
I love this dressing recipe, especially that it doesn’t have to be refrigerated! I can take it with me when we go out to eat and easily stay NSNG anywhere now. I made a double batch and put it in the small glass jars Vinnie recommends from Amazon and took it on vacation with me!
ooh Katie, I hadn’t thought of bringing it to the restaurant or on vacation–that’s SUCH a great idea–I’m stealing that!!
Thank you for stopping by here, I always love seeing your name!!
XOXO
Anna
I started filling out my information for the free download or cookbook whatever and it stopped in the middle and I can’t get back to it
Try this link–it will definitely work! Those pop ups go away if they get dismissed…
https://annavocino.com/31daysofeathappy/
Thanks, Carolyn!
This is an amazing dressing! I use it on salads, marinades, and a dip! My mom uses it in here pasta salad now!
It’s one of my faves, too, so I’m glad to hear you and your mom thinks so as well!
XOXO
Anna