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Making homemade salad dressing is way easier than you might think. They are healthier, you know what's in them, and they taste a million times better! Try this Homemade Thousand Island dressing the next time you make salad, a reuben or just need a tasty dip!

close up photo of finished 1000 island salad dressing

Whenever I'm meal prepping salads for the week for my lunches, I always like to make a jar of homemade salad dressing. I like to know what ingredients are in my dressings. I also feel like it's a bit more healthy when I can pronounce all of the ingredients. Is that just me?

Why this recipe works and you must try it

This recipe is one of my favorites for not only salads, but sandwiches like ruebens and rachels (recipes will be on the blog in the near future!) and my Denny's copycat of a SuperBird. Yum!

One ingredient that's in Thousand Island dressing that makes it so much fresher than a bottle from a grocery store shelf is the chopped hard boiled eggs. You just cannot get that same flavor and texture from something made who knows how long ago.

Please try this homemade version and you won't ever want the store bought kind again!

What do I need to make this recipe

all ingredients shown that are needed to make homemade healthy thousand island dressing

mayo (vegan also works)
ketchup
sweet pickle relish
apple cider vinegar
minced dried onion
hard boiled egg
sweet chili sauce
pimientos

How do I make homemade Thousand Island dressing

To a medium sized mixing bowl, add the mayo, then the ketchup.

mayo in a bowl for base of salad dressing

Then add the sweet pickle relish, and then the chopped pimientos.

Then add the apple cider vinegar, and the sweet chili relish, then the dried, minced onions.

Whisk all of the ingredients together, then mix in the chopped hard boiled eggs.

And it's that easy! You'll have a super delicious, homemade healthy salad dressing that your family will beg you to make over and over!

all thousand island salad dressing ingredients mixed thoroughly in a bowl

FAQs

What's the difference? Russian vs Thousand Island dressing

I actually make both dressings quite frequently. They are both very similar, however, Russian dressing is a bit more strong in flavor and more bold.

A lot of the ingredients in the two dressings are similar, but I add some horseradish, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. And no eggs in the Russian dressing!

How long does Thousand Island dressing last?

Due to the fresh eggs in the dressing, I don't like to keep it longer than 3-4 days in the refrigerator. I will normally make enough that I know I'll use.

Another option to keep the dressing longer (up to a week), is to keep the hard-boiled eggs separate and only add them when you're about to use the dressing.

Or make the eggs fresh as you use the dressing if you're weird about eggs like I am sometimes. I just like them really fresh.

Can I use this dressing as a substitute for Russian dressing?

Absolutely! As I mentioned above, it's so similar they are often used interchangeably.

I'll have my Russian dressing recipe up on the blog soon anyway - so you will have both recipes at the ready!

Expert Tips

If you want to make this vegan, you can use vegan mayo and some chopped, drained extra-firm tofu in place of the eggs

Make a batch of this dressing to use for sandwiches! I love to add it to a grilled turkey, tomato and bacon sandwich on sourdough bread. Yum!

Use this dressing as a dip for fried mushrooms or onion rings - or anything fried for that matter!

If you don't have apple cider vinegar, regular white vinegar, or white wine vinegar will work just fine.

Try this homemade salad dressing with these recipes

Below are some other salads you can try out this recipe with! Just leave out the dressing in these recipes and use the salad base.

Rainbow Mediterranean Salad

Lemony Raw Kale Salad

📋 Recipe