Creamy Italian Dressing Recipe (Light, Easy, and Dairy-Free!)

Forget the vinaigrette! This creamy dressing uses naturally allergy-friendly dressing mix, but blends it with two basic, plant-based ingredients to make a dairy-free creamy Italian dressing in minutes! It’s great over greens, pasta salads, or fresh cut veggies.

Light & Easy Creamy Italian Dressing made Dairy Free

This “cheat” recipe uses a shortcut – Italian dressing mix. Many dressing and dip mixes do contain milk, but Italian dressing mix is often dairy free, and it’s available in most major grocery stores. Here are a few brands that are made without dairy, and are fairly easy to locate.

Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix – This classic, popular, mainstream seasoning mix is dairy-free, and it’s even certified kosher pareve. But it does contain wheat and soy.
Simply Organic Salad Dressing Mix – In this case, organic means a simpler, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly ingredient list. They are sold in major stores, but easier to find online.
Hellmann’s Italian Salad Dressing Mix – This is another mainstream option, but this one is also vegan, gluten-free, and made without top allergens.

What Milk Beverage is Best for Dressing?

In terms of flavor, be sure to use an Unsweetened variety, or a Plain variety that isn’t too sweet. A little light or natural sweetness should still meld with the recipe. In terms of type, most will work fine, but I do like to use richer versions, and I usually skip soymilk in recipes like this one, which are already soy heavy, to better balance the flavors. My first choice is usually unsweetened plain coconut milk beverage, but most types will work well.

Special Diet Notes: Easy Creamy Italian Dressing

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian. Be sure to pick the milk beverage and seasoning mix that suit your dietary needs.

Dairy-Free Creamy Italian Dressing

Prep time

3 mins

Total time

3 mins

It doesn't get much easier than this salad dressing. It has a creamy finish that's lighter, healthier, and purely plant-based. See the post above for mix suggestions. This recipe makes quite a bit, but you can half it for a smaller batch.

Author: Alisa Fleming

Recipe type: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Serves: about 2¼ cups

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened plain dairy-free milk beverage
1 (12-ounce) package firm silken tofu
2 (.7-ounce) packages dairy-free dry Italian dressing mix (see post above for suggestions)

Instructions

Add the milk beverage, tofu, and seasoning mix to your blender, and puree until smooth.
Use immediately and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

Note: If you want a little more zing to the dressing, you can add a squeeze of lemon, or a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar, to taste.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 2 tablespoons Calories: 21 Fat: .8g Saturated fat: .1g Carbohydrates: 2g Sugar: .2g Sodium: 136mg Fiber: .1g Protein: 1.4g