The Best Pre-made Salad Dressings

Just because you're eating a salad, doesn't make you healthy! Often the amount of calories, fat, carbohydrates, and sodium found in "healthy" salad dressings is the same as the infamous junk food you're trying to stay away from.

This could literally be sabotaging your well-intended diet plan. The best way to get around this dilemma is to make your own dressing. We have some delicious recipes you can whip up in minutes. Our light balsamic vinaigrette & light buttermilk ranch give grocery store brands a run for their money!

However, when things get hectic it can be near impossible to make salad dressing from scratch. That is why we have hand-picked some healthy pre-made options that you can have on hand for when you need them.

Blue cheese dressing is one of the worst perpetrators when it comes to unhealthy salad dressings. It can easily have as much fat and calories as a Big Mac. Luckily, Bolthouse Farms Chunky Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing is the perfect alternative! To put it in perspective, typical blue cheese dressing has 140+ calories per serving. Bolthouse's has only 35 calories per serving. This is a no brainer!

Balsamic vinaigrette is one of the healthier dressings you can put on your salad. However, it does contain a lot of fat and calories (although it's the healthy kind that comes from olive oil). Also, balsamic vinaigrette often contains soybean oil that is chalk full of GMOs. If you're looking to cut fat and calories, try this organic lightened up version: Newman's Own Organic Lite Balsamic Dressing. Plus, Newman's Own is a great company that donates all its profits to charity. If you're looking for a sweeter version, try Annie's Fat Free Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Ranch is a staple of most families' pantries. This is because ranch is SO versatile—it can be used as a dressing, dip, or as part of a recipe. There are two problems with ranch; it's typically high in fat and calories and is often full of trans-fats and MSGs. Yuck! Time to switch to Simply Dressed & Light Ranch. Their light ranch cuts the calorie count in half!

Caesar dressing is what makes THE Caesar salad. Caesar salads are one of our favorite choices for lunch or dinner. It's such a classic salad that everyone seems to like. Although Caesar dressing tastes great, it often has tons of mayo. This is sure to pack on the pounds. Two good alternatives are Marzetti's Light Caesar Vinaigrette or Whole Food's 356 Organic Light Caesar Dressing.

Italian dressing is already a smart choice for your salads as it leaves behind the creaminess that often shoots up calorie and fat content. It also contains olive oil and Vitamin K, which help reduce the risk of cardiovascular problems. The dilemma comes with the quality of oil and high sugar content. Wishbone Light Italian is a good choice with only 35 calories per serving and only 2g sugar.

Thousand Island dressing is made of two main ingredients: mayo & ketchup. Mayo is loaded with fat and calories. Ketchup is often loaded with high fructose corn syrup. This is not a dressing you want to use, especially when trying to lose weight. Walden Farms makes a Thousand Island dressing that is calorie free, sugar free, fat free, carbohydrate free, gluten free, and cholesterol free. Amazing!

French dressing is a great choice when you're trying to stay fit. The worst part of French dressing is the high fructose corn syrup, the trans-fat, and the nasty additives and preservatives. Try Organicville's French dressing. It is the healthiest we could find. The first ingredient is tomato puree instead of the usual sugar, phew! It has no added sugar and is naturally sweetened with agave nectar.

Now that you know the truth about the high amounts of hidden fat, calories, and sugars in your "healthy" salad dressing, you can make a switch to these healthy alternatives and make your diet even more effective!