My Mom’s Legendary Italian Salad Dressing
Homemade Italian Salad Dressing – My mom’s famous recipe that makes everyone exclaim, “this is the best salad I’ve ever had!” Make it today!
Growing up, my mom cooked dinner almost every single night. Take out, pizza, or restaurant outings were rare treats; each night, my mom would make your typical well-rounded dinner consisting of protein, either rice or a baked potato, some type of vegetable, and always a salad.
Back in the ’80s, fancy green mixes weren’t all the rage yet, so we had your run of the mill iceberg lettuce. For awhile, my mom served it with an assortment of bottled dressings to choose from, and then at some point that stopped. She started putting her own Italian salad dressing on the salad… and, it was good. Like, really good.
As far as I could tell, she’d just sprinkle a little of this and a little of that directly onto the salad, mix it all together, and it was delicious. Eventually, extended family members would get a taste of the salad at a family party, and suddenly my mom become “the salad lady”. Everyone loved her unique Italian salad dressing, and to this day, if there’s a holiday or family function, my mom is always asked to bring the salad.
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Two of my best friends from high school still mention my mom’s Italian salad dressing on occasion. “Does your mom still make that same salad? That’s the best dressing I’ve ever had!” A cousin of mine got married a few years ago, and when the invitations arrived for his fiancé’s bridal shower, they included a blank recipe card and everyone was asked to bring a favorite recipe to share. My mom’s invitation had a special request from the bride: “Aunt Marie, Could you please give me your salad dressing recipe?” it read. When I make a salad, my Chief Culinary Consultant routinely asks, “Is that your mom’s salad dressing?”
When I asked my mom if she got the recipe somewhere, she said she hadn’t, and that she had gotten bored with bottled dressing and just started making her own, throwing in things she liked. The recipe is really quite simple, and you can use more of less of any ingredient based on your own taste preferences. I personally love a ton of fresh cracked black pepper in my salad, so I always add a lot more. When I’m being extra good with my eating habits, I omit the sugar entirely. My dad always sprinkled much more Romano cheese into his salad bowl. You should also feel free to use your favorite type of vinegar; I’m partial to salad vinegar, but my mom has made this with red wine vinegar, balsamic, and even rice wine vinegar if that’s all she has in the pantry.
When my mom makes her dressing, she never, ever makes it in a container, rather directly on the salad, sprinkling and drizzling everything right on, then mixing it together. She began teaching my sister and I how to make it when we were in our early teens, and after awhile, you just sort of get a feel for it. It took me quite a bit of time measuring and adjusting, then measuring and adjusting some more, to get the right ratios here. Use this as a starting point for adding or subtracting to make it your most loved salad dressing!
Our family’s favorite salad dressing, from my mom, with love :)
UPDATE: A video of my Mom’s Legendary Italian Salad Dressing for you!
One year ago: Chipotle Chicken and Corn Chowder
Two years ago: Peanut Butter Blondies
Three years ago: Apple & Cheddar Pupcakes for Einstein’s 4th Birthday!
Four years ago: Dog Birthday Cake
Six years ago: Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte
Mom's Legendary Italian Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup (72 ml) olive oil
- 3½ tablespoons (3.5 tablespoons) vinegar, suggestions: salad, red wine, or balsamic
- 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon (0.75 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) garlic powder
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a salad shaker, mason jar or other container. Close with a tight-fitting lid and shake for about 10 seconds to combine. Drizzle over salad and serve! Leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
The picture of the dressing looks light, but the video seems very dark.. should I use white vinegar to get the look in the initial pictures?
Hi Vee, You can use salad or red wine and it will be light in color. The video isn’t an accurate portrayal and I’ve been meaning to remove it. My apologies!
Hello Michelle, what kind of olive oil do you use for this recipe? I have read they are not all equal. Thanks in advance!!
Hi Patrick, I’m not sure if you’re referring to brand or “type” – I’ve always preferred a “light” olive oil in my salad dressings, as regular olive oil always tastes a little too heavy to me. As for the brand, I buy California Olive Ranch. I hope that helps!
Easy and very tasty
I just made this dressing and it was horrible. I have the best ingredients and followed the recipe to a tee. It was too sweet and needed spices. The sugar completely ruined it. I made my own and it turned out great.
I Love it!!
Thanks for this! Is the cheese necessary?
It’s a nice addition, but not necessary.
Hi, would this work as a cold pasta salad dressing?
Hi Lesley, Yes, absolutely!
Can’t remember the last time I bought salad dressing. It’s so quick and easy, plus fresher tasting and already have the ingredients around. Will try your mother’s
Hi Michelle – I would like to try this with salad vinegar but my local stores don’t carry it. Have you ever tried to make the vinegar from scratch? I know you mentioned other vinegars but I want to try it the way you recommend it first before making it with the other types of vinegar. Thanks!
Hi Sheila, I’ve never tried to make my own salad vinegar; I would probably just sub apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
I tried this dressing for the first time on our chopped salad of “gourmet medley” tomatoes, cucumber, celery, red onion, and yellow pepper. Excellent! No changes! A real “KEEPER”! Thank you.
Thanks, Michelle, for this recipe. It reminds me of the salad I grew up with. My mom learned it from my Italian grandmother :)
I wasn’t crazy about this recipe. Italian Dressing is my favorite salad dressing of all time, so I was excited about trying this recipe. The first time I tried it, I read the directions wrong and used 1/2 cup of olive oil, and it had such an “oily” taste. I re-made it the next day with 1/3 cup olive oil, and it still had that “oily” taste. I will have to try another recipe. The other ingredients were perfect, but I couldn’t taste them much because of the oily taste.
This dressing is the best! It’s my go to recipe Thank you!!
Made your mom’s salad dressing recipe using Balsamic vinegar today. I used it to dress a pasta salad. Excellent dressing recipe! Thank you for sharing your family recipe!
I was looking for a simple (good!) Italian dressing recipe for a pasta salad. This was fantastic. I’ll definitely be making it again. No more bottled dressing for me! Thanks for sharing. :)
The dressing was easy and delish! Thanks!
Have you ever brushed this dressing on sandwiches? I do with my own family vinaigrette and it’s amazing.
LOVE THIS!!! So easy and so tasty! Thank you!
Hi Michelle, thanks for your mom’s recipe, I like Italian Dressing in restaurants, now I can make my own.
Can you give me an idea on what kinds of vegetables will be good with this dressing ??? Or what salad combination would you suggest. Thanks.
Hi Ela, My mom uses this for whatever salad she is making – you can put anything on it, really.
I can’t wait to make this. I see the recipe calls for olive oil- do you mean regular or extra virgin? Do you have a brand preference as well?
Hi Jackie, You can use any type – I’ve made it using extra virgin, light, regular, etc. I don’t have a brand preference when it comes to olive oil… I buy all different kinds!
Hi, I found your recipe and tried it with a spaghettisquash salad (instead of pasta) for the first time on Super Bowl Sunday. I loved it! I took some to work for lunch and shared with my assistant and she wants me to make her some! I made the salad again last night and added more chopped vegetables, spaghettisquash, cucumber red & green peppers, red onion, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. Loved it! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Michelle – I look forward to making this very easy recipe for Italian dressing. It sounds so delicious. I will let you know how I like it. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Sincerely, Jay
I just made this recipe and it is incredible!!! Thank u for sharing!
I was looking for a good dressing and I must say this was delicious. I added a little parsley and oregano… Perfection, thanks so much for you and moms for sharing. Happy Holidays!
I made this tonight to go with a simple salad we had with my MIL’s family-recipe pasta. She took one bite and got tears in her eyes–she said it reminded her of her beloved Italian grandmother’s dressing. Thanks SO much for sharing!
Very good! Just ate this on iceberg lettuce with our pasta. My kids had 2 helpings! Used red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and freshly grated Romano. Thanks for a great recipe!
question on the Romano — do you use out of a can (the shaker stuff) or fresh Romano, grating it yourself? When I use Parmesan, I always use fresh, and grate it myself, but your recipe didn’t specify, so want to double-check before I make this.
Hi Jan, You could use either. Growing up, fresh Romano wasn’t as readily available as it is today, so my mom usually used the shaker kind.
great recipe, I used a 16 oz salad dressing bottle, doubled the ingredients, then flushed the last of the grated cheese through the funnel with a splash of Vella Sangria…just fantastic on an Iceberg lettuce wedge…right?
Great recipe! This is now my go-top dressing! I use white wine vinegar and skip the cheese, absolutely love it.
sugar? SUGAR?
I’ve NEVER used sugar in a sallty recipe. NEVER!
No sugar in salty italian recipes. Maybe some salt in sweet recipes.
The Italian dressing for a salad is: Olive oil, vinegar, salt. STOP.
No chees, no sugar, no garlic powder. Black pepper is ok.