A good salad dressing can make a good salad even better. However, many salad dressings are bad for your health and can be full of fat and calories. Luckily for the health-conscious, there are many healthy alternatives for salad dressing that don’t lack flavor. Apple cider vinegar is a fermented apple cider that can be used as a base in several tasty salad dressings. If you’ve never considered using apple cider vinegar in a salad dressing here are some reasons you should consider it and how to use apple cider vinegar in salad dressing.
Why Apple Cider Vinegar Is Used In Salad Dressing
There are many reasons to use apple cider vinegar in making a salad dressing its taste is a blend of apple, vinegar, and acidic flavors making it an ideal base for salad dressings. Vinegar-based salad dressings are known for having a unique taste that doesn’t overpower the taste of the salad’s ingredients. Vinegar-based salad dressings are also lower in calories and fats than other richer salad dressings such as Thousand Island and Ranch. Apple cider vinegar can also be used to create several types of salad dressings including lemon-flavored dressing, mustard flavored, white wine, ginger, and plain varieties just to name a few.
Benefits Of Using Apple Cider Vinegar In Salad Dressing
There are many health benefits to eating apple cider vinegar however, there are many claims to be found online that sadly lack proper testing. The following advantages are backed up by known science and scientific review.
- Lower in Fat and Calories: a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar only contains three calories and no fat so when it is combined with other healthy ingredients (including healthy fats) you have a salad dressing that tastes good, goes well with your salad, and doesn’t add a lot of unhealthy fat and calories to your daily diet. Other dressings are quire rich in calories, for example, one tablespoon of regular ranch dressing has 73 calories and 7.72 grams of fat, and Caesar salad dressing has 78 calories and 8.48 grams of fat per tablespoon. Plus if you use multiple tablespoons of dressing on your salad these numbers quickly add up.
- May Help With Blood Sugar Levels: while the testing is still ongoing, there have been positive results showing that vinegars such as apple cider vinegar can positively affect controlling your blood sugar. One study showed that insulin sensitivity after a meal high in carbohydrates and another study reported that eating two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before sleeping resulted in moderated glucose levels the next day. While these are small sample groups the results are certainly encouraging for those with diabetes and other blood sugar-related issues.
- It Can Kill Harmful Bacteria: a study done in 2005 showed that when arugula that had been exposed to Salmonella had vinegar and lemon added the Salmonella growth decreased and its levels of detection went down. Naturally, you should always be careful with your food but additional protection from harmful bacteria is no bad thing.
How To Use Apple Cider Vinegar In Salad Dressing
An advantage of using apple cider vinegar in your salad dressing recipes is its versatility as an ingredient. A basic dressing can be something as simple as apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper, Dijon mustard, and honey. An important part of making an apple cider vinegar dressing is balancing the ingredients.
A good dressing will use the apple cider vinegar as the base and build around it. Fats should not make up too much of the dressing's ingredients while fats from olive oils can be healthy they shouldn’t be overused. A good dressing needs a bonding agent to bind the various oils together for home dressings mustards offer a healthy and tasty option with egg yokes being another commonly used solution. As noted apple cider vinegar dressings are versatile also you can add many other ingredients to create various flavor combinations including onions, fruit, herbs, maple syrup, yogurts, soy sauce, and more.
Final Thoughts
An apple cider vinegar salad dressing can be a unique addition to your diet and one that gives your salads a new flavor while also improving your diet and overall health. There are many flavors to choose from covering a wide assortment of salad types, ingredients, and tastes. If you’re looking to change up your diet or just make your salads more exciting an apple cider vinegar dressing can certainly help.
