There are several dressings and sauce recipes spread throughout the meals on Project Meal Plan, so I’ve put them together into The Dressing Directory! Find all our dressing, sauces and dips with recipe pairings on this delicious list!
In this post, you’ll find:
- all the sauce and dressing recipes on Project Meal Plan
- recipes and meal ideas that go with all of them
- common supplies and ingredients used to make dressings and sauces
Why Homemade Dressings & Sauces Rock:
Once you’ve got a few common dressing ingredients stocked, it becomes really easy to put them together in different proportions to make all kinds of dressings and sauces. Instead of running to the store to buy a bottle of dressing, you can whip one up in your kitchen.
More reasons to love homemade dressings:
- taste and adjust to your own preferences when you make the sauce or dressing
- make smaller amounts when needed, instead of a whole bottle
- if you already have common sauce ingredients stocked, it can be cheaper to make up a sauce instead of buying a whole bottle
- most homemade dressings and sauces just taste better
Most common dressing and sauce ingredients:
Here are the ingredients that I use in sauces and dressings most often. If you keep these on hand, you can whip up a tasty salad dressing or dipping sauce in seconds.
- extra virgin olive oil – A lot of salad dressings have an olive oil base. I buy this at Costco for a more cost effective option.
- honey or maple syrup – Most dressings and sauces need a little bit of sweetener to balance either the spicy ingredients, the acidic ingredients, or both. Usually, you can swap honey and maple syrup or use whatever you have on hand.
- lemon or limes – Adding some citrus brings flavor and acidity to dressings and sauces. I generally opt for fresh, but bottled is better than nothing.
- mayonnaise – For a creamy and non-dairy base, mayo works wonders. It’s really good at adopting the flavor of whatever else you put into it. I use avocado oil based mayo, but most kinds will work.
Equipment Needed for Homemade Dressings:
For most sauces, you can whisk everything together in a bowl. Or, my preference, put everything in a mason jar, put the lid on, and shake! Some dressings will need to be emulsified. In that case, you’ll need an immersion blender, or food processor.
- small sauce cups – When meal prepping most foods, you’ll want to keep the dressing or sauce separate from the rest of the food. To do this, you’ll need a small sauce cup with lid, like when you get food to go from a restaurant and they put the sauces on the side! A full seal is important. I like these salad dressing containers (affiliate link!), but any will work!
- mason jars – For most dressings and sauces, I put the ingredients in a pint sized wide mouth mason jars (affiliate link!) and then shake with the lid on, or use the immersion blender. I especially love this because you can store in the same container. Just put the lid on and stick it in the fridge.
- immersion blender – If you want to make smooth soups or sauce, an immersion blender will come in super handy. You can also use it directly in mason jars for emulsifying dressings! This Cuisinart Smart Stick Immersion Blender (affiliate link!) is a solid choice.
- tiny measuring cup – I’m mildly obsessed with this tiny measuring cup. Sauces and dressings often needs amounts in the 1-4 tablespoon range, and this OXO mini angled measuring cup (affiliate link!) does the trick perfectly!
How long do homemade dressings last in the fridge?
Generally, sauces and dressings kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator should be good for up to 5 days. However, if dressings are oil-based and do not have any fresh ingredients, they should last up to a month or so. You can tell by the smell if it’s still good.
Here are all of our homemade sauces and dressings from recipes across Project Meal Plan. If a dressing looks good, you can find the original recipe it comes from, plus some additional food pairing suggestions!
The Dressing Directory
