caesar dressing
 

Ok, I've done my research and seem to find a little bit of conflicting information. I eat a Caesar salad from a different restaurant each day at work. It looks like there is about 1 carb per tablespoon, but I swear it tastes sweeter than that. (I'm comparing it mentally to Blue cheese dressing which has similar carbs). Also, how much dressing do you think is used on an average salad? Any insight or guesses appreciated, and i do realize that it will vary from restaurant to restaurant. Is there a dressing I should switch to that might be more consistent? Thanks!

I'm wary of all commercial dressings. Carbs aside, soybean oil is frequently linked to weight gain and other health problems. My first choice is olive oil and vinegar (and I do have to double check that it's olive and not just "oil and vinegar"). Second choice would be blue cheese and pray it contains more buttermilk and less oil.

For all of these reasons, I'd take careful control of the quantity. 1 tbsp for a side salad, 2 tbsp for an entree. If you toss it enough you can flavor every bite with a surprisingly small amount. Carbs are actually the least of my concerns. :p

It 'looks' like 1 carb per T? I doubt that you can tell how many carbs by the 'look' of the dressing. You might ask the restaurant if they have that information, but you'd also need to know how much they use in the salad.

I usually avoid all commercial salad dressings, but if I order a Caesar salad in a restaurant, I always ask for the dressing on the side so that I can control how much I use.

But I typically don't order salads in restaurants because I am very sensitive to MSG, and many restaurants sprinkle it on their greens to keep them looking fresh--and I also can't trust the dressings either.

You could just ask the restaurants for their nutritional information for the whole salad or for the dressing... I believe they have to have that info available by law now, unless they are a very tiny "mom and pop" type single restaurant. And even if they are "mom and pop" unless they are making it from scratch, they can easily take a gander at their jug of dressing.