Dairy Free Salad Dressing Recipe: Creamy Garlic

Dairy free salad dressing can be hard to find, but this creamy garlic salad dressing recipe is simple and easy to make. It’s versatile and goes great with most green salads. It doubles as a yummy dip!

We make this same basic dressing every week and mix up our salads with different homegrown salad ingredients, such as lettuce, spinach, kale, cabbage, carrots, pea shoots, radishes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, kohlrabi, beet greens, arugula, snow peas, cilantro and green onions.

This dairy free salad dressing is substantial l enough to go with stronger tasting veggies and greens. Best of all, my preschoolers love it and actually like to eat our salads!

 

Dairy Free Salad Dressing

The secret main ingredient for dairy free salad dressing is mayonnaise! You’ll find the brands I recommend (Spectrum or Coconaise), as well as a recipe for homemade mayonnaise at the bottom of this article!

While the other herbs can be fresh or dried, I’d definitely recommend going with fresh, raw garlic for this dairy free salad dressing. It not only tastes better, but you’ll get all the awesome health benefits from the raw garlic!

Disclaimer: this page contains affiliate links, meaning if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

 

Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing Recipe

• 1 cup mayonnaise (I use Spectrum, Coconaise, or the homemade mayo recipe below)
• 4-6 T olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1-3 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 T fresh chives or 1 tsp dried chives
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• Optional: fresh herbs to mix it up and match your main dish, such as thyme, basil, rosemary, oregano or sage

Finely chop garlic and herbs. Put all ingredients in a pint-sized mason jar. Start with the smaller amount of olive oil and adjust to the consistency you prefer. The type of mayonnaise you use will affect how thick the dressing is.

Give it a good stir and it’s ready to serve!

Note: if you are using extra virgin olive oil, the garlic dressing will thicken more when refrigerated. If it gets too thick in the fridge, just set it out to “thaw” 30-60 minutes ahead of your meal. If the dressing separates in the fridge, just give it a good stir before serving.

 

 

Homemade Mayonnaise Recipe

You can make your own mayonnaise in just a few minutes with this easy recipe. You’ll need a blender with a “low” setting. A Vitamix works well for this.

• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup oil (you can use any oil, but a strong flavored oil will make a strong tasting mayo. I use expeller pressed coconut oil that is organic but not raw, which gives a milder flavor that isn’t coconutty)
• 1 T prepared dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon juice

To make mayonnaise, blend the eggs, dijon and lemon juice on low until the mixture turns slightly lighter in color. This should take less than 1 minute.

Now, leaving the blender on low, very slowly drizzle in the oil a little at a time. If you are using coconut oil there is no need to melt it, just drop in a small spoonful at a time.

If you drizzle the oil slow enough, the mixture will be thick and smooth by the time the oil is all incorporated. Turn the blender off and you are done!

Homemade mayonnaise or dairy free salad dressing made with it should be used within 1 week.

If you prefer to buy mayonnaise, the two natural brands I like for dairy free salad dressing are Spectrum and Coconaise. I actually buy mine from Vitacost when they have a sale, but I’ll include Amazon links for all you Amazon fans!