Substitution for Mayonnaise in Salad Dressings

Asked by misspinkedout. Answered on 7th June 2011

Full question

i have been wanting to make my own salad dressings and have most of the ingredients on hand. My main problem is that many recipes call for mayonnaise, which is something my husband and I despise. What can I use instead? The current recipe only calls for 2 tbsp (30 ml) but some casear dressings call for much more. Thank you! Loving fan Sonja

Our answer

There are plenty of dressings which do not require the addition of mayonnaise, apart from a good vinaigrette with olive oil we would suggest looking at the recipe for home-made salad cream which is part of the Old-Fashioned Tomato Salad recipe in Forever Summer (p53). It is creamy and slightly tangy and goes well with salad leaves as well as tomatoes. For small amounts of mayonnaise in a dressing recipe you could try substituting plain Greek-style yogurt though the consistency of the dressing may be slightly runnier than one made with mayonnaise.

If you like blue cheese we would suggest the Universally Useful Blue Cheese Dressing from Kitchen (p125) and the Quick Chick Caesar Salad from the same book (p230) has a more traditional Caesar salad dressing made with olive oil, garlic oil and egg which is more robust and less creamy than one made with mayonnaise (the egg is uncooked so we don't recommend this for the very young, elderly, pregnant women or anyone with a weakened immune system).