Our Favorite Healthy Salad Dressings

Here at AK, you know we’re in the anti-boring-salad club. Ambitious Kitchen salads are guaranteed to be bright, flavorful, and always satisfying.

One of the best parts of my salad recipes is the incredible homemade healthy salad dressings that go with them. Whether you’re craving a zesty vinaigrette, creamy peanut dressing, or are a ranch addict like Tony, I’ve got all of the dressings you could ever want.

How to make a healthy salad dressing

A delicious, homemade salad dressing requires a few key things to make it taste like your favorite bottle of Hidden Valley (kidding, kind of):

1. Fat: from oil, yogurt, or even buttermilk
2. Acid: from vinegar or citrus fruit
3. Plenty of seasonings: like your favorite spices and fresh or dried herbs

Ways to use homemade salad dressing (beyond salads!)

Yes, you’re going to want to whip up giant salads all week long just so you can make these incredible, easy salad dressing recipes. But the best part about them is that they make amazing marinades and even dips, too!

• Marinate your chicken or fish in any of the dressings to give it a boost of flavor and moisture
• Drizzle them on your favorite, veggie-packed grain bowls or tray of roasted vegetables
• Use them as a dip for fresh-cut veggies or homemade sweet potato fries!

How to store homemade salad dressings

Some of these healthy salad dressing recipes contain dairy, which means they’ll stay good in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for about 3-4 days. If they don’t have any dairy in them, they should stay good in the fridge for about 1 week!

Common tools you’ll need

• Whisk
• Mixing bowls
• Citrus zester
• Citrus juicer
• Blender

V = Vegan

DF = Dairy free

Get all of my delicious recipes

Cilantro Lime Dressing (V) try this in my Avocado Blueberry Quinoa Salad or my Strawberry Kale Salad.

Healthy Thai Peanut Dressing (DF) amazing in this Thai Quinoa Salad or in this Chopped Thai Chickpea Broccoli Salad

Avocado Lime Sauce: feel free to thin out with water to make it pourable! Perfect to use for chicken salad and great in a wrap, too!

Healthy Jalapeño Mango Cilantro Dressing (V) this is amazing over roasted sweet potatoes, or in my fiesta black bean quinoa salad!

Sesame Ginger Dressing (V) so good on my Sesame Chicken Cabbage Crunch Salad, and as a marinade for the Grilled Sesame Chicken!

Creamy Tahini Poppy Seed Dressing (V) is delicious on my Peach Brussels Sprouts Crunch Salad

Healthy Curry Tahini Dressing (V) SO good on this Curried Chickpea Couscous Salad or a fresh, crunchy chickpea broccoli curry salad

Healthy Greek Dressing (V) this actually makes the most perfect chicken marinade, or dressing for a Greek salad!

Jalapeño Green Tahini Sauce (V) perfect on fish tacos, chicken tacos, quesadillas, and MORE. I LOVE IT.

Jalapeño Cashew Cream Sauce (V) is a creamy, dairy-free dressing for my famous Damn Good BLT Pasta Salad.

Healthy Chipotle Ranch Dressing: I mean, I love using this on sandwiches or in my farmer’s market tuna wrap, but it’s also excellent when used for pizza dipping.

Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe (yogurt cucumber sauce!) — another great one to thin out to make pourable. Great with these chicken kabobs or thinned out and drizzled on a cucumber tomato salad.

Healthy Raspberry Balsamic Dressing (V) — love this on my strawberry spinach salad! Feel free to sub strawberry or blueberry jam for the raspberries if you’d like.

Spicy Green Cashew Dip (V) thin out with additional water to make pourable. SO good with pasta salad.

Healthy Lemon Basil Vinaigrette (DF) — I love this on my tomato, avocado, chickpea pasta salad and my Everything Spring Green Salad

The Best Creamy Tahini Sauce Recipe (V) this goes with EVERYTHING. Use it in my California Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad, or drizzle it on roasted veggies like carrots or sweet potatoes. YUM.

Healthy Greek Yogurt Ranch Dressing: I mean, who doesn’t love ranch on just about anything? Add it to this Spicy Ranch Chopped Chicken Cabbage Salad or my Grilled Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad, or dip your fresh-cut carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli.

Creamy Feta Yogurt Dressing (or dip!): tangy, salty, and so easy to make. Dip veggies and drizzle it on my famous Sheet Pan Moroccan Chicken.

Vegan Caesar Dressing: if you’ve been looking for a delicious, vegan & dairy-free sub for your fav caesar dressing — this is it! Don’t forget to try it with my crunchy, fresh Vegan Caesar Salad.

Sunshine Dressing: hello, gorgeous. This bright sunshine dressing is like my creamy tahini sauce went on summer vacation. Light, flavorful, and so delicious. Toss with this gorgeous Roasted Carrot Cauliflower Quinoa Salad with Sunshine Dressing.

I hope you love these easy, healthy salad dressings! If you make any of them, be sure to head over and leave a comment + a rating so I know how you liked it. You can also use the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram. Enjoy, xo!

This post was originally published on July 19th, 2020,, republished on June 19th, 2022, updated on July 30th, 2026, and republished on August 2nd, 2026.