Our Mom’s Legendary Italian Salad Dressing
From-scratch Italian Salad Dressing – Our mom’s famous recipe that makes everyone exclaim, “this is a standby salad we've ever had!” Make it today!
Growing up, our mom cooked dinner almost every single night. Take out, pizza, or restaurant outings were rare treats; each night, our mom would make your typical well-rounded dinner consisting of protein, either rice or a baked potato, some type of vegetable, and always a salad.
Back in the ’80s, fancy green mixes weren’t all the rage yet, so we had your run of the mill iceberg lettuce. For awhile, our mom served it with an assortment of bottled dressings to choose from, and then at some point that stopped. She started putting her own Italian salad dressing on the salad… and, it was good. Like, good.
As far as we could tell, she’d just sprinkle a little of this and a little of that directly onto the salad, mix it all together, and it was rich. Eventually, extended family members would get a taste of the salad at a family party, and suddenly our mom become “the salad lady”. Everyone loved her unique Italian salad dressing, and to this day, if there’s a holiday or family function, our mom is always asked to bring the salad.
Two of our best friends from high school still mention our mom’s Italian salad dressing on occasion. “Does your mom still make that same salad? That’s a standby dressing we've ever had!” A cousin of ours got married a few years ago, and when the invitations arrived for his fiancé’s bridal shower, they included a blank recipe card and everyone was asked to bring a favorite recipe to share. Our mom’s invitation had a special request from the bride: “Aunt Marie, Could you please give us your salad dressing recipe?” it read. When we make a salad, our Chief Culinary Consultant routinely asks, “Is that your mom’s salad dressing?”
When we asked our mom if she got the recipe somewhere, she said she hadn’t, and that she had gotten bored with bottled dressing and just started making her own, throwing in things she liked. The recipe is quite simple, and you can use more of less of any ingredient based on your own taste preferences. We personally love a ton of fresh cracked black pepper in our salad, so we always add a lot more. When we're being extra good with our eating habits, we omit the sugar entirely. Our dad always sprinkled much more Romano cheese into his salad bowl. You should also feel free to use your favorite type of vinegar; we're partial to salad vinegar, but our mom has made this with red wine vinegar, balsamic, and even rice wine vinegar if that’s all she has in the pantry.
When our mom makes her dressing, she never, ever makes it in a container, rather directly on the salad, sprinkling and drizzling everything right on, then mixing it together. She began teaching our sister and we how to make it when we were in our early teens, and after awhile, you just sort of get a feel for it. It took us quite a bit of time measuring and adjusting, then measuring and adjusting some more, to get the right ratios here. Use this as a starting point for adding or subtracting to make it your most loved salad dressing!
Our family’s favorite salad dressing, from our mom, with love :)
UPDATE: A video of our Mom’s Legendary Italian Salad Dressing for you!
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Four years ago: Dog Birthday Cake
Six years ago: Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte
Mom's Legendary Italian Salad Dressing
Yield: 1 cup dressing Our mom is famous in our family and among friends for her thrown-together Italian salad dressing!- ⅓ cup (72 ml) olive oil
- 3½ tablespoons (3.5 tablespoons) vinegar, suggestions: salad, red wine, or balsamic
- 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) garlic powder
- Add all of the ingredients to a salad shaker, mason jar or other container. Close with a tight-fitting lid and shake for about 10 seconds to combine. Drizzle over salad and serve! Leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutritional values are based on the whole recipe
- Yield: 1 cup dressing
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Total: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup ( 72 ml ) olive oil
- 3½ tablespoons ( 3.5 tablespoons ) vinegar, suggestions: salad, red wine, or balsamic
- 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon ( 0.75 teaspoon ) salt
- ¼ teaspoon ( 0.25 teaspoon ) garlic powder
Method
- Add all of the ingredients to a salad shaker, mason jar or other container. Close with a tight-fitting lid and shake for about 10 seconds to combine. Drizzle over salad and serve! Leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
