Support your weight loss goals in a healthy way by choosing salad dressings that limit calories, added sugar, and sodium.
Salads make a healthy foundation for any diet, but it’s all too easy to make a bowl of greens sugar- and salt-laden (aka unhealthy) with the wrong toppings. At the same time, to support this healthy meal habit, you want choices that tantalize your taste buds, says Judy Caplan, RD, author of GoBeFull: Eight Keys to Healthy Living, who is in private practice in Vienna, Virginia.
Although it’s always the best option to whip up healthy salad dressings at home from vinegar, herbs, and a healthy oil, it is also easy enough to find a healthy, tasty store-bought kind — if you read the nutritional facts label carefully.
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First off, let’s talk fat. It’s not the enemy! The truth is, the body needs fat to function, and there are several fats used in the best salad dressings that provide amazing health benefits, including:
Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFAs) These are found in olive, canola, and peanut oil, as well as in avocados and most nuts, according to the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Polyunsaturated Fats (PUFAs) These are found in other plant-based oils, like safflower, corn, sunflower, soybean, sesame, and cottonseed oils, notes Harvard. Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that are necessary for proper cell function, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
On the flip side, the AHA recommends avoiding unhealthy fats, such as trans fat, and limiting saturated fat to 5 to 6 percent of your daily calories or less. Instead, choose those healthier MUFAs and PUFAs. Check the Nutrition Facts label and ingredient list when selecting your healthy salad dressings to make sure they contain good fats, but keep in mind the calorie counts.
All fats are more calorie-dense than carbohydrates and protein — fat of any type contains 9 calories per gram, while carbs and protein contain only 4 calories per gram, according to the AHA. Adjust your diet choices to use good fats instead of other foods — not as an addition to your daily menu.
Here’s what else to keep in mind:
Calories Aim for fewer than 45 calories per tablespoon (tbsp), suggests Caplan, that for the right kind of fat, you can go a bit above this threshold.
Added Sugar Shoot for fewer than 5 grams (g) of sugar per serving at maximum, says Caplan.
Sodium Kelsey Lorencz, RD, a nutrition coach in Saginaw, Michigan, suggests looking for a dressing with less than 5 percent of your daily value (DV) of sodium — that’s 115 milligrams (mg) — per serving. If the DV is higher, you may want to choose another dressing, or eat less than the serving size, she adds.
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Luckily, we’ve made choosing a healthy, weight-loss-friendly dressing easy for you. Here are eight registered dietitian–endorsed bottles to consider adding to your lunch rotation:
An Easy Way To Reduce Fat While Cooking
Bolthouse Farms Pomegranate Poppy Seed Is Creamy and Low in Calories
Normally, sweet and creamy dressings are packed with oil and sugar, but this yogurt-based version clocks in at only 50 calories and 4 g of sugar per serving, giving it Lorencz’s seal of approval. This dressing may have less sodium than many other low-calorie options, but the amount is still a bit high, “which can be important to pay attention to if you’re watching your overall sodium intake,” Lorencz says.
According to Bolthouse, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 50
Total Fat 3g
Saturated Fat 0.5g
Sodium 135mg
Sugar 4g (all from natural sources)
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Annie's Balsamic Vinaigrette Is All Natural and Heart Healthy
This is a full-fat healthy salad dressing and has the calories to prove it, but the fat comes from organic canola oil. "We all need to get some oils,” Caplan says. “You need fat to process vitamin Aand vitamin D, which are essential vitamins.” Indeed, according to Colorado State University, these as well as vitamins E and K are only absorbed well into the body with the presence of fat.
At 100 calories per serving, this dressing is almost too caloric for Caplan, so she advises cutting it with a little vinegar, or even water as long as the flavor still satisfies you, or simply have it in 1-tbsp servings.
According to Annie’s, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 100
Total Fat 10g
Saturated Fat 1g
Sodium 60mg
Sugar 1g (from natural sources)
Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Dressing Offers a Tasty Break
A dressing featuring healthy sesame oil, ginger, and other Asian-style spices will provide you with a tasty break to mix up your healthy salad dressing routine. “I have the belief that you should love what you eat," Caplan says. "It’s really important.” Trying new flavors can keep you on the diet straight-and-narrow. To bring the sodium down, add to your greens in moderation.
This option could also be used to flavor steamed veggies or marinate fish — excellent sources of nutrition that are staples in the disease preventative Mediterranean diet, as noted in an article published in September 2017 in Nutrition Today.
According to Newman’s Own, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 35
Total Fat 1.5g
Saturated Fat 0g
Sodium 290mg
Sugar 4g
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Tessemae’s Organic Creamy Ranch Puts a Healthier Spin on the Classic Dressing
Who doesn’t love ranch dressing? Unfortunately, the traditional version often packs a polyunsaturated fatty acid known as omega-6 fatty acids, says Mary Stewart, RD, a holistic life coach in Dallas. When balanced with omega-3 fatty acids (another type of polyunsaturated fatty acid), omega-6 fatty acids are part of a healthy diet. However, most Americans get too many omega-6 fatty acids in their diets, and not enough omega-3 fatty acids, according to a past review. “This imbalance can increase inflammation in the body and lead to obesity,” Stewart says. This imbalance can also contribute to heart disease, cancer, and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, according to the same review.
This creamy ranch dressing is different. Although it packs 19 g of fat per 2-tbsp serving, it’s mostly the good kinds, thanks to the high oleic sunflower oil. This type of oil is mostly made of monounsaturated fat, and may help improve cholesterol levels, though more research is needed, Stewart says. Past research shows that replacing foods high in saturated fat with foods rich in high oleic sunflower oil helped a small group of adults lower their levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood after 10 weeks.
This dressing also hits a trifecta you won’t find in most creamy dressings: It’s sugar-, dairy-, and gluten-free. “This can be especially important for those who have an allergy or sensitivity to these [types of] foods,” Stewart says. Those with celiac disease, who cannot process gluten, for example, may opt for this bottle.
Keep in mind that one serving of this dressing has quite a few calories. For that reason, Stewart recommends sticking to 1 tbsp.
According to Tessemae’s, here’s what’s in 1 tbsp:
Calories 85
Total Fat 9.5g
Saturated Fat 0.75g
Sodium 105mg
Sugar 0g
Marie's Lite Chunky Blue Cheese Has Lower Calories and Compelling Flavor
Traditional blue cheese dressing belongs on a “Most Wanted” poster, both for its compelling flavor (good) and its high fat and calories (not so good). Happily, the diet version is competitive with other dressing types in its nutrition profile, with slightly less than half the calories of the full-fat version — which has 160 calories, according to nutrition data supplied by Marie’s.
The beauty of blue cheese dressings (even diet ones) is that their flavor is very strong, so you might be able to get away with even less dressing than the serving size without feeling deprived. Still, shop carefully and be sure to compare nutritional profiles of different brands before you select a blue cheese dressing.
According to Marie’s, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 70
Total Fat 7g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Sodium 290mg
Sugar 1g
Newman's Own Light Caesar Has Great Taste and Lower Calories
Caesar salads, with their croutons, cheese, and fatty dressing, are notorious diet traps. Fortunately, a light Caesar dressing should provide you with the flavor you crave without any second thoughts. “Anytime you pick a lower-fat product, you’re decreasing calories,” says Melissa Joy Dobbins, RD, host of the Sound Bites podcast in Chicago, who likes this healthy salad dressing, which contains heart-healthy, tasty olive oil. And that can be a good thing if you’re trying to lose weight this way.
To make your Caesar salad even healthier, use flavorful toppings, like freshly grated Parmesan cheese. “With fresh grated Parmesan, you won’t need to use as much, and you’ll still get amazing flavor,” Lorencz says.
The same goes for croutons: If you simply can’t go without, find one that has a strong flavor and try breaking them up into smaller pieces. This way, Lorencz says, “you can use less and still get crunch and flavor in each bite.”
Overall, moderation is a good rule of thumb, especially with a dressing that contains more sodium than ideal, such as this one. “ I would suggest keeping an eye on portions for salad dressing and other ingredients for total calories, fat, sugar and sodium,” Dobbins says, “as they will all add up if you’re not mindful of them. That ‘healthy’ salad could add up to a high-calorie meal.”
According to Newman’s Own, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 70
Total Fat 6g
Saturated Fat 1g
Sodium 370mg
Sugar 2g
Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Has Healthy Fats
With this vinaigrette, you can score the sweet and savory flavor of honey mustard at less than half the amount of sugar you would get in a traditional honey mustard dressing, Lorencz says. According to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), traditional honey mustard has roughly 5 g of sugar in 2 tbsp, while this version has only 2 g. Use this versatile vinaigrette on salads, or as a marinade for grilled chicken.
At 110 calories per serving, the calorie count is a little high compared with other dressing options, but those calories are full of healthy fats (in the form of avocado oil). “The healthy fats will help keep you fuller longer, and make your salad that much more satisfying,” Lorencz adds.
According to Primal Kitchen, here’s what’s in 2 tbsp:
Calories 110
Total Fat 11g
Saturated Fat 1g
Sodium 180mg
Sugar 2g
Wish-Bone Light Italian Has Healthy Fat for Heart Health and Taste
“In general, the healthiest choices are oil and vinegar or a light vinaigrette,” Dobbins says. Still, she cautions that it is important to watch your portions because this dressing has a relatively high sodium-per-serving level.
According to Wish-Bone, here’s what’s in 2 tablespoons (tbsp):
Calories 35
Total Fat 2.5g
Saturated Fat 0g
Sodium 340mg
Sugar 2g