Discover 20 healthy salad dressing recipes that fit every diet. From creamy to zesty, these easy, homemade dressings are perfect for the Monthly Nourish Challenge and can be adapted to your unique health needs.
Welcome to this month’s Nourish Challenge inspiration – This month, we’re diving into one of the simplest but most transformative kitchen experiments — discovering the perfect salad dressing to suit your diet.
(And yes, you can start this at any time of year — salads aren’t just for summer!)
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent years trying to adapt recipes to fit my ever-changing food needs — with varying levels of success.
Some worked beautifully… others, let’s just say, ended up as “learning experiences.
While shop-bought dressings are convenient, they often include ingredients we’re trying to avoid, added sugars, refined oils, artificial flavours, or preservatives. So this month, let’s explore how simple and satisfying it can be to make your own.
How This Month’s Inspiration Fits the Nourish Challenge
The Monthly Nourish Challenge is all about trying one new healthy recipe each week, and learning to adapt it to your unique health needs.
Each month, I’ll share a theme for inspiration, like this collection of homemade salad dressings, to help spark your creativity in the kitchen.
You can:
- Choose a recipe that already fits your dietary needs, or
- Get creative! Combine the flavour ideas from one recipe with ingredients that suit your diet from another.
You can also pick any healthy recipe that inspires you this week, the aim is simply to experiment, adapt, and discover what nourishes you.
Why Salad Dressings?
Homemade dressings are one of the easiest ways to make healthy eating more enjoyable. They bring life to salads, roasted veggies, grain bowls, and wraps, and they’re a wonderful way to include more nourishing oils, herbs, and spices in your diet.
I personally found that salad dressings can transform boring repetitive salads – and often add a boost of extra nutrition!
The goal is to find combinations that make you look forward to eating more fresh veggies, while discovering what works best for your body.
Featured Recipes from Food Bloggers
I’ve put together a collection of inspiring recipes for salad dressings from talented food bloggers to help you get started.
Carrot Ginger Dressing
From loveandlemons.com easy ingredients, sweet and tangy
Ingredients include roasted carrots, ginger, rice vinegar and olive oil
Chickpea Flour Mayonnaise
From powerhungry.com a vegan (egg-free), nut-free and soy-free mayonnaise
Ingredients include chickpea flour, lemon juice, neutral oil, and dijon mustard
Almond Butter Sesame Dressing
From paleorunningmomma.com this dressing is included in her Paleo Chinese Chicken Salad.
Ingredients include medjool dates, coconut aminos, sesame oil and rice vinegar
How to Make the Most of This Month’s Theme
- Meal-prep tip: Whisk up a batch on Sunday to keep your salads exciting all week.
- Storage idea: Store in a glass jar and shake before serving — most dressings keep for 4–5 days.
- Self-care moment: Take a mindful pause while preparing your dressing; notice the colours, scents, and textures.
- Set an Intention as you make your dressing to Nourish your body and health Levels.
- Give a moment of appreciation for the nourishing ingredients
17 Creative Salad Dressing recipes for Every Diet
Vegan – Dairy-free, Egg-free Dressings
Creamy Vegan Cucumber Dressing
From foodforthesoul.com vegan, raw food, dairy-free, egg-free
Ingredients include cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil
Homemade Egg-free Mayonnaise
From mommyshomecooking.com vegan, egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free
Ingredients include aquafaba (chickpea water), oil and lemon juice
Vegan Sour Cream
From mypureplants.com is vegan, egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free
Ingredients include sunflower seeds, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar
Mediterranean Dressings
Mediterranean Salad Dressing
From thespanishradish.com super easy to make
Ingredients include extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar and herbs
Ladolemono: Greek Salad Dressing
From themediterraneandish.com a truly multi-purpose lemon vinaigrette
Ingredients include extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
Greek Yoghurt Salad Dressing
From foolproofliving.com a good source of protein
Ingredients include Greek Yoghurt, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice
Dressings for Special Diets
Ginger Lime Tahini Dressing
By lowhistamineeats.com and is low histamine and fodmap
Ingredients include tahini, coconut aminos, maple syrup
Creamy Garlic Dressing
By nourishinghope.com is Dairy-Free, Nut-Free, Egg-Free, Low oxalate, Paleo, SCD/GAPS
Ingredients include Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower butter, lemon juice.
Low fodmap Italian Dressing
By alittlebityummy.com low-fodmap, dairy-free, gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free egg-free
Ingredients include Garlic infused oil, Red wine vinegar, Herbs
Low Fodmap Poppy Seed Dressing
By fodmapeveryday.com low-fodmap, dairy-free,
Ingredients include poppy seeds, minced scallions, Dijon mustard
Alkaline Salad Dressing
By mealraculous.com no-oil, alkaline, low-fat
Ingredients include avocado, parsley, basil pesto
Creative Healthy Dressings
Creamy Herby Hemp Dressing
By feastingathome.com is both vegan and keto, it is nut-free and soy-free
Ingredients include Hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, herbs
Orange Miso Ginger Dressing
By EatPlant-Based.com vegan and oil-free
Ingredients include orange juice, rice vinegar, white miso
Pumpkin Seed Cilantro Dressing
By eatwellenjoylife.com good for nervous system and adrenals
Ingredients include pumpkin seeds, cumin, lemon juice,
Superfood Vinaigrette
By tasteloveandnourish.com turn an ordinary salad dressing into a superfood party!
Ingredients include apple cider vinegar, chia seeds, Maple syrup
5-minute Creamy Raspberry Dressing
By shahzadidevje.com – vinegar free! Vegan and diabetes-friendly
Ingredients include Raspberries, lemon juice and olive oil
Creamy Almond Curry Sunshine Dressing
By hummusapien.com to make your veggies pop!
Ingredients include almonds, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and warming spices
✨ Ready to start?
Pick one new healthy recipe to try this week — and discover how a simple recipe can make healthy eating truly delicious.
Everything You Need to Start Today
Let’s be honest — most of us love reading about self-care more than we love doing it.
(Don’t worry, you’re in good company — I have a whole library of forgotten Pinterest boards too.)
But reading about self-care won’t get you results — your body only learns when you experience something new.
That’s why I created the Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit — to help you turn ideas into action with simple, nourishing steps you can start today.
Free Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit
Turn inspiration into lasting results — with a simple system that helps self-care finally work with your body, not against it.
If you’ve been reading along and thinking, “I’d love to try this myself one day…” — you don’t have to wait, or wonder where to start.
The Free Self-Care Start-Up Toolkit gives you the gentle structure to make your first challenge easy, personal, and effective.
It’s the same step-by-step approach I use when following the challenges alongside you — so you’ll feel supported every step of the way.
Inside, you’ll find:
🌿 A gentle Before Assessment to pinpoint what your body truly needs — so you can stop guessing and start seeing real results
🌿 Step-by-step guidance (plus short video walkthroughs) to choose the right self-care challenge for your needs — and actually complete it.
🌿 Printable planners, reflections, and trackers to help you stay consistent
🌿 Access to our private community (coming soon!) — for gentle accountability and encouragement
You’ll also receive:
💌 Weekly self-care reminders, new challenges, and encouragement in the Make Self-Care Simple newsletter
🪴 Access to our free private community — where women share progress, celebrate wins, and remind each other we’re not alone
Real self-care is about listening to yourself.
Because being healthy isn’t always easy — but it can be made simple.
Make Self Care Simple shares general self-care education for inspiration only. I’m not providing medical advice — always check what’s right for you with a qualified health professional.
©2025 Make Self Care Simple.