Creamy Italian Dressing has all the classic Italian flavors and tastes fantastic on a garden salad. It can be whipped up in just 5 to 10 minutes and will keep in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days.
Ingredients
Mayonnaise, olive oil, and white wine vinegar form the base for this dressing. Freshly grated Parmesan cheese adds flavor and helps thicken it up. Garlic and Italian seasoning add more flavor. I add just a little sugar to tame the sour flavor of the vinegar.
How To Serve
I like to serve this dressing with a green salad full of chopped romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, and croutons. For extra flavor, I grate more Parmesan cheese over the salad and it tastes just like the yummy salad at Olive Garden.
For this Creamy Italian Dressing, the ingredients get blended together in either a blender or a food processor. The recipe can easily be doubled. It also makes a great dressing for pasta salad.
What I love about this Creamy Italian Dressing is it has some of the zestiness of an Italian vinaigrette, but the mayonnaise tames it some and makes it so creamy and delicious.
Tips For Making Creamy Italian Dressing
- You can use honey instead of sugar if you wish.
- Red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar can be used instead of white wine vinegar.
- For best flavor, make in advance and refrigerate to give the flavors time to blend together.
You really can’t beat the flavor of a homemade salad dressing. Plus there are no preservatives or other ingredients you don’t want to put in your body.
Try These Other Homemade Salad Dressings
- Maple Mustard Dressing
- Creamy Parmesan Dressing (Carrabba’s copycat)
- Ginger Salad Dressing
- Buttermilk Garlic Dressing
- Hot Bacon Dressing
- Red Pepper Jelly Vinaigrette
Creamy Italian Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove,, minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a small food processor or blender and process until blended.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Fantastic! I prefer thicker dressings so I did as others suggested and skipped the water. Thickness after chilling was perfect for me. Thanks!
Love this, didn’t have parm so I used blue cheese and it was fabulous
i substituted plain yogurt for the mayo & it was delicious!!!
Absolutely delicious but the added water makes it quite thin and I found myself having to add more Mayo to rethicken it! I say skip the water and only add at the end if you feel it’s necessary!
A very nice creamy Italian dressing! I tried doubling the Italian seasoning, adding a 1/4 tsp of Dijon mustard, and a pinch of crushed red pepper…….it’s a winner!
Yum. One of my favorite creamy dressings. I add extra garlic (using a garlic press) because that’s how I roll. I would hold back on the water and the sugar and add it at your discretion. I don’t like thin or sweet dressings. I didn’t use a blender. I just whisked by hand; it was faster that way and just as good in my opinion.
I wouldn’t add any water. Makes it too thin