We know that eating green salads is great for our health. First of all, they are full of greens that have boatloads of nutrition and are topped with crunchy raw vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, tomato, and cucumber. However, we’d probably also agree that it’s the dressing that makes the salad and this Creamy Oil-Free French Salad Dressing does not disappoint.
Before we talk about this delicious oil-free Fench dressing, let’s talk raw green salads a little more.
If you’re anything like me, even though I eat a whole-food, plant-based diet, I still sometimes don’t eat enough raw vegetables. Enter the idea to have a raw salad every day.
The easiest way to make this a habit is to chop and pre-prep the ingredients, store them in the refrigerator so they’ll be ready at your fingertips for making a big ol’ crunchy salad. We’re talkin’ meal prep, my friend, and here’s a link to my article, Meal Prep for Busy People: 5 Tips to Keep You Cooking, if you’d like to discover more.
In addition to the veggies I’ve already mentioned, carrots, bell peppers, tomato, and cucumber, you can also add chopped cauliflower, broccoli, green or regular onion, jicama, green or red cabbage, and celery.
Then there are quite a few choices for the greens. Arugula and Romaine are my favorites, but there’s kale, spinach, and a variety of loose-leaf lettuce greens such as butter lettuce, watercress, escarole, and red leaf to mention a few. Some can be harder to find.
Wow, that should be enough variety to keep you interested. I’d also like to mention sprouts because they are also quite nutritious, especially broccoli sprouts, my favorite. For the holidays last year, I gave my friends a broccoli sprout growing system so they all could grow them at home because they’re a bit expensive in the market. This system even has organic broccoli seeds. You’ll need a quart Ball jar to go with the set. They’re so easy to grow and I’ll go into that a bit more in a future post. 🙂
Oil-Free French Salad Dressing
This Oil-Free French dressing is not the classic French “dressing” that’s a vinaigrette made with oil, vinegar, and mustard.
It’s more like the kind you may remember purchasing from the market but even this gets confusing because it also resembles Catalina dressing which is also a beautiful orange color.
Whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious. Here’s the lowdown on how this Oil-Free Creamy French Salad dressing is made.
Side note: I opted for this creamy version, however, you can leave the raw cashews out of this recipe if you can’t eat nuts or are cutting back on fat. It will make the dressing thinner.
Other Ways to Use French Salad Dressing
While French salad dressing is delicious on salad greens, it can also be used as a condiment. Or, it can be used to dress whole-grain salads, roasted vegetables, or to top a baked potato!
French Dressing Ingredients
- 1/4 cup raw cashew soaked overnight or in boiling water for 15 mins
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup water plus 2-3 tablespoons
- 2 large Medjool dates (or 1 teaspoon coconut sugar)
- 1 small clove garlic peeled and rough chopped
- 1/4 cup low-sodium tomato paste or use regular if you can’t find low-sodium
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
The creaminess is created with raw cashews that have been soaked either overnight or for ten minutes covered in boiling water.
After discarding the water, add the cashews to a blender with vinegar, water, dates, and garlic. Blend until creamy. Add the remainder of the ingredients and blend again until smooth.
You may need to thin with water or adjust to your particular taste. Some people like a more tangy dressing with more vinegar and some may want it milder with a little more water.
If you have a smaller personal blender, it may be easier to make and remove from the blender.
It’s as easy as that.
Let me know what you think of this oil-free plant-based salad dressing and if you’re going to find a way to bring more salads into your life!
Salad Dressing Carafe
If you’re making more homemade salad dressing, you may be interested in this great little glass salad dressing shaker I found on Amazon. I actually gave this to my friend as a Christmas present a few years back, along with some of my oil-free salad dressings.
First off, it’s made of glass which I like better than plastic, and second, it has a metal ball that helps shake up the dressing. It’s a great way to keep your homemade salad dressing recipes.
More Oil-Free Salad Dressings
For more oil-free salad dressings try these:
- Oil-Free Ranch Salad Dressing
- Tahini Salad Dressing
- Green Goddess Salad Dressing
- Oil-Free “Honey” Mustard Salad Dressing
- Easy Oil-Free Vinaigrette
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Oil-Free French Salad Dressing! If you have a photo, post it on my Instagram page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking in your caption, and I won’t miss it!
Creamy Oil-Free French Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup raw cashew soaked overnight or in boiling water for 15 mins
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar (use more or less according to your taste)
- 1/2 cup water (plus 2-3 tablespoons to thin)
- 2 large Medjool dates (or 1 teaspoon coconut sugar)
- 1 small clove garlic peeled and roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup low-sodium tomato paste use regular if you can't find low-sodium*
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Drain the cashews and place them in a high-speed blender with vinegar, water, dates, and garlic. Blend until smooth, scraping the sides down as needed.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, the tomato paste, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Blend again to incorporate. Add more water to thin as needed.
- Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 7 days.
Notes
- Use more or less vinegar for your taste
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