Zesty and bursting with flavor, NanaJo’s Oil-Free Italian Dressing is perfect for many types of salads and especially good on a pasta salad.
My mom (aka: NanaJo) has been making her own Italian dressing for most of my life. This was our go-to dressing for taco salad and was an often requested recipe by family and friends. The original recipe used olive oil, so when we started on our whole food, plant-based way of eating, we had to come up with a way to replace the oil.
After several different tries with various substitutions, we found our favorite version. A simple mix of cornstarch and water, boiled to the desired thickness did the trick.
Let’s make some dressing! Gather the ingredient and measure everything out.
There are variations with the spices and the sweetener, so choose what you like.
The Menudo Mix is the original spice that my mom used. It can be found with the international spices in your grocery store. It has a bit of heat to it, so if you are sensitive to spicy flavors, you can use the alternate spices that I list in the recipe.
I am lucky to have a Meyer’s Lemon tree that keeps me supplied in delicious lemons. Meyer’s lemons are a bit less acidic and slightly less tart than regular lemons. So keep that in mind if you are using regular lemons. You might want to add a touch more sweetening.
Start by making the thick water. Add the cornstarch to the water and heat on medium heat. Whisk it constantly as it begins to simmer. It will thicken as it cooks. I stop cooking it when it is slightly thicker than oil. When you add the lemon juice it will thin it out a little bit.
Remove the thick water from the stove and add the seasonings and stir it in. Let it cool.
When it is cool, add the lemon juice, any sweetener that you are using, and the garlic.
Taste and adjust seasonings to suit you.
Stir well and pour it into a bottle with a lid.
Store this in the refrigerator and shake well before using each time.
Zesty and bursting with flavor, NanaJo's Oil-Free Italian Dressing is perfect for many types of salads and especially good on a pasta salad.
- 1 cup water
- 3 tsp cornstarch
- 1-2 tsp seasoning salt or salt-less seasoning blend
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning or Menudo Mix seasoning
- 1/2-1 tbsp sweetener of choice (date sugar works well) Adjust to your taste. Different sweeteners will require different amounts. I like tangy, so I don't use much.
- 1 tsp onion powder (not necessary if using Menudo Mix)
- 1-2 tsp minced garlic (I like lots of garlic, so I use 2)
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
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Start by making the thick water. Add the water and cornstarch to a saucepan and heat over medium heat. As it simmers, whisk it constantly. Continue to whisk until it starts to thicken. I like to get it a little thicker than oil consistency because the lemon juice will thin it out a bit.
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Remove it from the heat and add the dry seasoning and sweetener of choice. Whisk well. Allow this mixture to cool a bit.
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When it is cool (doesn't need to be really cool, just not hot) add the garlic and lemon juice.
Whisk it well.
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Pour into a bottle with a lid and shake well.
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Store in the refrigerator and shake well before use.
What can I substitute for cornstarch ?
Arrowroot will work!
If you will fertilize your lemon tree next year’s crop will have fewer seeds. Citrus trees seed plentifully when their system is stressed from not having ample nutrients. A neighbor with a tangerine tree told me this. His tangerines were so seedy that they could hardly be eaten.
Thank you ever-so-much for this wonderful solution to the fat in salad dressings. When salads are as fattening as the Big Mac it is due to the oil in the salad dressing. This is a great way to lubricate one’s salad and stay slim.
I have see Oil-Free salad dressing in the stores and wondered how they accomplished that. This must be the way! Thanks again!
You’re so welcome! My mom is getting such a kick out of sharing her recipe. Replacing the oil was a trial and error process. The commercially produced fat-free dressings have so many questionable ingredients, don’t they? I hope you love it like we do.
I do fertilize but maybe not enough? I’m not at all bothered about the seeds that we do have though, because I generally juice the lemons and the seeds remain in the basket. Thanks for the info!
I’ve been looking for something like this! Can’t wait to try it. Thank you.
Let me know what you think!
How long is this good for in the fridge please? Cannot wait to make this as it sounds fabulous
We haven’t ever tested it, but it seems to last several weeks. We usually use up the batch within about 2-3 weeks, but I’m sure it will last beyond that. Let me know if you leave some in the fridge for an extended time and how it holds up.
I made this today, and it’s absolutely wonderful! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I can’t wait to use this later today to make summer spaghetti salad.
Thanks for letting me know you like it! It is definitely one of our family favorites. Spaghetti salad sounds delicious!
This sounds delicious and I can’t wait to try it because I’ve been looking for an Italian dressing and I think I finally found it! I do not use any oil whatsoever, however, I would like to know what kind of oil and how much oil your mother put in her original recipe because when I go to a church function people like oil in their Italian dressing.
Hi! We used to use olive oil for this dressing. Originally it was slightly more olive oil than lemon juice, but as the years went by we were making it with equal parts of each. I hope your friends like it so much they don’t even think of adding oil! 😉
What seasoning salt/saltless-seasoning blend do you use!
We’ve used a few different ones. Spike is one that we like, and Benson’s Table Tasty is another. Any that you like will be good!
This sounds good, but, olive oil is plant based and if you purchase a “safe” brand, its a whole food ingredient, so why sub it out, other than fat calories.
I follow an oil-free diet based on the advise of prominent plant based doctors like Dr. McDougall, Dr. Greger, Dr. Ornish, Dr. Esselstyn (cardiologist). Oil is not a whole food. It is the fat from a whole food, that has been striped on most of it’s nutrients and all of the fiber. You can learn why all oils (even olive oil) are inflammatory by going to YouTube or Google and listening to any of these doctors. It was life changing for me and my mom (91) when we switched to a whole food, plants only way of eating. Feel free to email me with any questions.