The best low calorie salad dressing can really turn a diet around. Put down that forkful of undressed lettuce, because we found a bunch of good, light salad dressings that are significantly less caloric than their full fat, full cal counterparts in the condiment aisle.
What counts as a light or low calorie dressing?
Well, there isn’t really an agreed upon standard, but we decided to look for salad dressings with 80 calories or fewer in a serving of 2 tablespoons. Some of these are still a touch high in fat, but that’s salad dressing for you (especially the creamy kinds).
In a recent taste test, we set out to find the best low calorie ranch dressing and the best low calorie blue cheese dressing and found good examples of each. The rest of the low cal dressings on this list were drawn from other taste tests, which means that they stood out enough among their full calorie equivalents to make our ranking.
Here are the best low calorie salad dressings, listed from lowest to highest cal.
The best salad dressing we tried in our oil free salad dressing taste test is packed with sesame seeds, which means it’s not a low cal option despite the absence of oil. But our second favorite oil free dressing tastes great and only has 15 calories per serving. Bragg’s Oil Free Vinaigrette is bright, zippy, and just a little bit sweet, with bits of onion in the mix that make it seem homemade. This stuff would obviously taste great on some mixed greens, but it would work really nicely on pasta salad, too.
If your ideal salad involves walnuts, berries, and some stinky cheese (we’re thinking gorgonzola), this is the best low calorie salad dressing to have in the fridge door. Like a lot of Kraft dressings, this is a very no-frills option, but it has everything you love about fancier raspberry vinaigrettes—sweetness, tang, and a nice light consistency. Buy this if you’re a sweet salads guy.
Paul Newman isn’t just a legendary babe; he also posthumously markets some of our favorite salad dressings, including what we’d say is the best low cal salad dressing for Asian-inspired salads. It’s fruitier and more acidic than a lot of sesame ginger dressings, but going light on the sesame oil is probably what allowed this one to make our list. Grab some canned mandarin oranges, almond slivers, and crispy wonton strips, and you’re in business.
This dressing has a bit of a cult following and we can totally see why. In addition to being fat free and low cal, it’s just a really good, downhome french dressing—sweet, tangy, and a little sour, too. Mix this with the best light mayo and you’ve got yourself a damn good sandwich spread. Read the full ranking of the best French dressing
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon
Rating:
8.5/10
Sporks
Best Low Cal Italian Dressing
Ken’s Steak House Lite Northern Italian with Basil & Romano (50 cal, 4.5g fat)
Ever since we discovered this Ken’s dressing during our very first Italian dressing taste test, it’s been a staple in my fridge. It’s oily, zesty, and packed with herbs and cheese. It’s one of the best low calorie salad dressings because it’s nearly indistinguishable from other Italian dressings—you have my word and I’m a board-certified professional food taste tester (no, that’s not actually a thing).
Prior to putting together this list, we hadn’t found a light ranch we liked enough to include in our ranking of the best ranch dressing, but this low cal ranch dressing changed things. I was dubious because I don’t personally love Hidden Valley Ranch, but their light ranch deserves a shoutout. It definitely has that signature flavor—and it also has a rich, fatty mouthfeel that other light ranch dressings lack. This is the best low calorie ranch dressing for salads (duh), but it’s also great for (cauliflower) pizza crusts and (air fried) chicken wings.
Okay, now we’re getting into the salad dressings that perhaps stretch the definition of “low calorie,” but look at it this way: While Caesar Cardini’s Light Caesar has 80 calories a serving, the brand’s traditional Caesar dressing has 140 calories a serving. That’s not nothing when you’re calorie counting. And anyway, the flavor makes this one worth the splurge. It has umami, zippy tang, and great chunks of black pepper. And it’s still plenty thick and creamy, too. The best low calorie salad dressing should taste like its full cal counterpart and this one really does.
We absolutely love Bob’s Blue Cheese dressing, and the light version has a lot of the original’s good qualities. It’s VERY thick and has a luscious, fatty flavor. This one definitely has less actual blue cheese in the mix, but those little salty lumps are in there.
Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks.
Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown.
What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction.
Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home.
Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.
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Gwynedd Stuart
Will Morgan
