14 Low Sodium Salad Dressing Recipes to Make at Home

9mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 8

Bottled Italian is a fridge-door regular in a lot of homes, and it's usually one of the saltier dressings on the shelf. This homemade version gets its flavor from white wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, dried oregano and thyme, grated garlic, and a spoonful of nutritional yeast for a savory, almost cheesy note.

A little maple syrup and Dijon mustard round it out, and there's no salt anywhere in the ingredient list. It comes together in about five minutes start to finish and has 9mg sodium per serving.

13mg sodium · 10 minutes · serves 24

Where the Italian leans on dried herbs, this vinaigrette leans on sweetness. Balsamic vinegar and honey give it a rich, sweet-tart flavor, while a diced shallot and fresh thyme keep it from tasting like dessert.

The recipe does call for salt, but only a small amount, and it's spread across a big batch made with grapeseed oil. Plan on about 10 minutes from start to finish, and each serving has 13mg sodium.

19mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 6

The balsamic dressing makes enough for weeks of salads. This one is a small batch, and it's for anyone who misses the maple apple cider vinaigrette served on a popular fast food kale salad.

Olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, black pepper and garlic powder are all it takes, with no added salt. It's ready in about five minutes and has 19mg sodium per serving.

28mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 32

Maple shows up again here, this time in an Asian-style dressing. The usual problem with sesame and ginger dressings is soy sauce, one of the saltiest things in most pantries.

This recipe keeps the soy sauce to a couple of teaspoons of the reduced sodium kind, adds a small amount of kosher salt, and gets the rest of its flavor from toasted sesame oil, ground ginger, garlic and apple cider vinegar. It's ready in about five minutes and has 28mg sodium per serving.

58mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 16

The sesame dressing borrows from East Asia, and this one heads to the Middle East. Nothing gets cooked. Olive oil and fresh lemon juice are mixed with za'atar, ground sumac and lemon zest, and in about five minutes the spices turn plain oil into something tangy and herby.

Its salty edge comes from olive brine plus a little kosher salt, so it sits higher than the vinaigrettes above it. It's still well under our low sodium limit, with 58mg sodium per serving.

32mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 4

After five clear vinaigrettes, this is the one for people who can't decide between a vinaigrette and something creamy. It starts like the others, with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey and lemon juice, then a spoonful of Greek yogurt makes it thick enough to coat sturdy greens.

Whole grain mustard adds bite and a little sodium, but there's no salt added. It takes about five minutes and has 32mg sodium per serving.

7mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 4

That spoonful of yogurt becomes the whole base here. Creamy dressings usually start with mayo or sour cream, and bottled versions add salt on top of that.

This one uses nonfat Greek yogurt instead, then adds olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, a little honey, fresh dill and grated garlic. It's ready in about five minutes, and with no salt at all, it's the lowest on this list at 7mg sodium per serving.

8mg sodium · 10 minutes · serves 6

Grating the cucumber is the only real prep for this one, and it's what sets it apart from the Greek yogurt dressing above. Finely grated English cucumber melts into the yogurt, and fresh mint joins the dill for a cooler, brighter flavor.

It uses just a teaspoon of olive oil, so it stays light at 22 calories. Give yourself about 10 minutes start to finish, and expect 8mg sodium per serving.

49mg sodium · 10 minutes · serves 8

Tzatziki and ranch share a yogurt base, but ranch is all about the seasoning. Store-bought ranch gets its flavor from a salty seasoning mix, so this version makes its own from unsalted pistachios, nutritional yeast, paprika, dried dill, onion and garlic powder, and a little cayenne.

The seasoning goes into nonfat Greek yogurt with fresh chives and rice vinegar, and the yogurt gives each serving 4g protein. There's a little kosher salt in the mix, but the whole dressing is ready in about 10 minutes and has 49mg sodium per serving.

120mg sodium · 5 minutes · serves 8

Ranch and blue cheese tend to show up side by side, and blue cheese is the harder one to make low sodium, since the cheese itself is salty. This recipe uses reduced fat blue cheese crumbles and stretches them with nonfat Greek yogurt, a spoonful of light mayonnaise, lemon juice and white wine vinegar.

No salt is added, and it's ready in about five minutes. It's the saltiest dressing here and still comes in under our low sodium limit, with 120mg sodium per serving.

14mg sodium · 10 minutes · serves 24

Raw cashews are what make this one creamy, so there's no dairy in it at all. They go into the blender with fresh spinach, a half cup of dill, green onion, garlic, shallot, lemon juice and olive oil, and nutritional yeast adds the savory, cheesy note that a dressing this green usually gets from anchovies or Parmesan.

The whole thing is one step. Everything goes in the blender at once, and thinning it with warm water is the only adjustment you might need. It's vegan, gluten free and takes about 10 minutes, with 14mg sodium per serving.

10mg sodium · 30 minutes · serves 4

The last three dressings on this list use both the oven and a blender, and this one shows why that's worth the effort. Tomatillos and garlic are roasted first to soften them, then blended with Greek yogurt, cilantro, parsley, lime juice, jalapeño and onion into a tangy, spicy sauce.

Plan for the longest wait on this list, about 30 minutes start to finish. With no salt in the recipe, it has 10mg sodium per serving.

17mg sodium · 20 minutes · serves 8

Carrots get the oven treatment in this take on the bright orange dressing served at Japanese steakhouses. Grated carrots and garlic roast until soft, and roasting draws out the carrots' natural sweetness.

Everything then goes into the blender with fresh ginger, rice vinegar, olive oil, orange juice and zest, and a little maple syrup. There's no soy sauce or salt in it, and it's ready in about 20 minutes with 17mg sodium per serving.

54mg sodium · 20 minutes · serves 6

Tahini gives this one its body, thinned with water and lemon juice and sweetened with a little maple syrup. Sesame makes it nuttier and more savory than the cashew-based green goddess, and it clings to grain bowls and roasted vegetables better than a thin vinaigrette would.

Garlic, olive oil and black pepper fill out the flavor, with crushed red pepper as an optional kick. Like the two dressings before it, it uses the oven and blender and takes about 20 minutes. The recipe includes a little kosher salt and has 54mg sodium per serving.