Recipes for salad dressings made from heavy cream?

[Punkin]

Hi Everyone. I am really struggling with making salad dressings. I don't eat mayonnaise, so I have been experimenting with heavy cream as a base. I usually use 2 - 3 tbsn of the cream to start, but then it falls apart from there. Does anyone have any recipes that use the heavy cream? I would really like to have a ceaser as well as a ranch, but really I am desperate so I'll take any recipe thanks.

[LindaSue]

I think you might have better luck using sour cream as the base and using cream to thin it down.

[EllaP]

My go to homemade dressing is from Maria's Nutritious and Delicious blog... also one of my go to blogs for recipes and nutritional information.

Maria's Healthified Ranch

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup chicken or beef broth
1/2 tsp dried chives
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp Celtic salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

In a blender or a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, broth, chives, parsley, dill, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving (it will thicken up as it rests). Makes 12 servings.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Ranch = 153 calories, 1.1 carbs, 0 fiber
KRAFT Fat Free Ranch = 50 calories, 11 carbs, 0 fiber
"Healthified" Ranch = 66 calories, 0.75 carbs, 0 fiber
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I make this pretty often in my Magic Bullet or Nutri Bullet. It does work best if your cream cheese is nice and soft and I prefer chicken broth to the beef broth. I sometimes make it in half batches, too. I also don't always have all of the spices/herbs and just use those that I have and it still comes out just fine. I suppose if you wanted to use a prepackaged Ranch mix (not as good for you) you could just add that to the broth and cream cheese and it would be good.

[buttoni]

I guess I missed that on her site. Sounds delicious! I'll have to try it soon. Thanks so much for posting it here, Ella.

Another thought, you could make any mayo recipe you come across, sub in heavy cream and just thicken it up a wee bit with the tiniest sprinkle of glucomannan powder or xantham gum.

Like you, I hate commercial mayo and salad dressings. Always have. But once I tasted homemade, I had to (pardon the pun) eat my words. I just LOVE homemade mayo and have been making it for 15-20 years exclusively for myself now (hubby eats the commercial stuff, bleh!) Homemade mayo is truly creamy and light, like heavy cream, not tart or eggy tasting, and a totally different animal from what they sell in a jar. You can trust me on this. I often use lemon juice in mine to avoid the tartness of vinegar, which is I think why I didn't like the commercial stuff. If you've never tried it, you might make a batch some time and see if you don't agree it tastes nothing like commercial mayo.

[Strawberry]

I agree re: using sour cream. Another alternative would be Greek yogurt. Adding some lemon juice or vinegar will help, because the cream is missing the "tang" of mayo, so your dressings are going to taste very bland.

[Mistizoom]

Originally Posted by Strawberry

I agree re: using sour cream. Another alternative would be Greek yogurt. Adding some lemon juice or vinegar will help, because the cream is missing the "tang" of mayo, so your dressings are going to taste very bland.

That's a good idea...DH hates mayo, sour cream, cream cheese, and any salad dressing including vinegar-based ones (except homemade honey mustard, which is not low carb), but for some odd reason he is ok with yogurt. Not sure if he'll eat it mixed with savory flavors rather than sweet, but it might be worth a shot mixed with lemon juice.

[Strawberry]

I have been making salad dressing with greek yogurt and mashed up (pureed) avocado as a base, thinned with buttermilk. To make a ranch dressing, you then add lemon juice, chives, dill, parsley, garlic powder, salt+pepper. Or if you want to make it more mexican, use lime juice and add japenos and cilantro.
(if you Google "avocado salad dressing", there are many variations.

My grocery store makes the most awesome Greek feta dressing with Greek yogurt, feta cheese, lemon juice, dill, parsley, mint, garlic... and I'm not sure exactly what else without looking at their ingredient list... but its delish! Its intended to be a dip for their falafel.

[JMCM1]

I've made this several times and we love it. I add a little more buttermilk to thin it out for a dressing. The amount of mayo is so small you could sub with extra sour cream, or whatever suits your fancy.

This is from Pooticus on this site; from her Fluffychix Cook blog.

Homemade Ranch Dip

Ingredients
½ c. Greek Yogurt, plain (Regular Yogurt works fine here.)
¼ c. Sour Cream
¼ c. Buttermilk, Full Fat preferred
1/8 c. Mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip, homemade preferred)
1 tsp. Lemon, juiced from fresh
2 Tbsp. Parsley Flakes, dried
½ tsp. Granulated Garlic Powder
¼ tsp. Mustard Powder, dry
¼ tsp. Onion Powder
1/8 tsp. Thyme, dried
1 pinch Dill Weed, dried
1/8 tsp. Black Pepper, freshly ground
1/8 tsp. Kosher Salt

Mix everything together and store in an air tight container in the fridge. Adjust thickness with buttermilk. If it’s too thick, add a splash more buttermilk or simply add water.

[Punkin]

Thanks everybody, I will switch to sour cream and/or plain cream cheese. I liked the heavy cream because it sticks to the veggies and has no carbs, but it does lack the flavour of the other too. I really appreciate your feedback.

[Dottie]

Heavy cream does have carbs (6g per cup) but I doubt you're eating a cup at a time