There’s nothing like Italian salad dressing on your salad, especially when you’re eating Italian, like pizza or pasta. But Italian salad dressing has to be one of the most underrated and underused “condiments” around! Here are just a few of the other ways I’ve found to use Italian salad dressing when cooking.
Meat – Marinade
Chicken, steak, pork – it doesn’t matter – Italian salad dressing will make it better!! I generally marinate chicken for 2-4 hours, beef for 4-6 hours, depending upon the cut. Pork chops or pork tenderloins are usually just marinated to taste. Fish? Try baking it in foil after marinating it with Italian salad dressing. Yum!
Here is my absolute FAVORITE use for Italian salad dressing! Mix a tablespoon of Italian salad dressing into hamburger patties before frying or grilling them. Great flavor, so tender, and they don’t dry out! With the Italian salad dressing mixed into the meat, you really don’t need to salt/pepper/garlic salt the outsides of the patties.
Vegetables – Stir Fry, Grill, Saute
Ok, so maybe not as healthy as your typical stir fry oils, but Italian salad dressing will really add terrific flavor to just about any vegetable. I particularly love it when I’m sautéing tomatoes and onions for a pasta dish (add a little garlic, a little pepper … heaven!!).
If you’re a baby boomer … or from the South … you’ve probably heard of (and tasted) “wilted lettuce.” Again, this is not such a healthy use of lettuce, but it is very tasty. The original recipe for wilted lettuce goes something like this: Fry up some bacon, remove and crumble it over a bowl of lettuce. Mix water and vinegar (about a 1/3 cup each), a couple of tablespoons of sugar, salt and pepper. Pour it into the bacon drippings and heat to a boil. Pour over lettuce, add onions if you wish, serve immediately. I’m sure you can see how Italian salad dressing could be substituted for the bacon drippings mixture … maybe toss in some Bacos if you really want that bacon flavor.
Another great use of Italian salad dressing is to blend it with mayonnaise, and pour it over sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, tossing to blend.
Potatoes – The Works!
Try blending Italian salad dressing with sour cream, or even just margarine, for a great Italian-flavored topping for your “loaded” baked potatoes.
Bread – Dip That!
Ok, so you’ve been in the Italian restaurant where they pour seasoned olive oil into a little dish and give you a basket of breadsticks to dip into the oil? Try this with Italian salad dressing – plain or mixed with sour cream, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, mayonnaise … you get the idea.
Blend Italian salad dressing with a little margarine and spread on slices of French bread for a unique and delicious version of “garlic toast” … add a little Parmesan cheese if you want something really special. And … if you are BAKING bread … add some Italian salad dressing to the dough for an incredible loaf of Italian bread!
Miscellaneous
Dice your miscellaneous into small cubes … sorry, couldn’t resist that stupid joke! Here are just a few other ideas for incorporating Italian salad dressing into your recipes:
- Sandwich topping – sprinkle Italian salad dressing on a submarine sandwich, or mix with mustard, mayonnaise or even catsup for a delicious variation on the usual condiments.
- Stuffed bell peppers – mix Italian salad dressing in with the beef mixture.
- Pizza – mix a little Italian salad dressing into the hamburger, sausage or other toppings before baking.
- Pasta salad – pasta, veggies, Italian salad dressing – doesn’t get much simpler than that!
In all recipes where you are using Italian salad dressing, make sure that you SUBSTITUTE the Italian salad dressing for whatever oil is already in the recipe. Adding addtional oil to the recipe in the form of the Italian salad dressing will only result in some soggy, icky, not very tasty dishes.
Dessert??Nope, I’m not going to go there!! But if anyone is brave enough to try it, and finds something that’s pretty tasty, just add it to the Comments section below!
