I like to make homemade salad dressings. I usually prepare a specific dressing to go with a certain salad. Once we’ve finished the salad, the dressing tends to sit in the fridge, neglected and forgotten. To avoid food waste, I’ve started using my salad dressings as marinades. I do this a couple different ways:
If I buy a max pack of meat, I can divide up the meat into smaller packages, add dressing to the the package and freeze the meat with the marinade. Then I pull it out of the freezer on the day I am going to use it, let it thaw and put the meat with marinade in a pan and cook it.
If I have extra time when I get home from the store, I can use different dressings as marinades on the meat and batch broil the different flavored meats. Once the meat is done cooking, I can package it and freeze it which saves even more time on busy nights.
And sometimes, when I have no idea what to make, I rummage through the fridge for some leftover dressing, thaw some meat quickly in the microwave and improvise a new dish.
My Favorite Dressings to Use as Marinades:
Leftover salad dressing also makes a great replacement for mayonnaise on sandwiches and wraps.
Tammy of Tammy’s Recipes uses salad dressing as a replacement for mayonaise when making tuna sandwiches.
Even non-traditional salad dressings make a great dip for veggies.
My Favorite Dressings to Use as Dips:
Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette ( I stir in some raspberry yogurt to make it creamy)
How do you use your leftover dressing?
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Alison says
I love going through my fridge and using all of the dressings as marinates!! Some of the best surprises come from something that we didn’t like as a salad dressing like Vidala Onion and Asian Sesame. I am starting to make my own dressing and ditch the store bought but it makes a quick and easy marinate. I also bag and freeze with the marinate… super easy to throw on the grill. Thanks for the recipes. I can’t wait to try them.
Crystal's Cozy Kitchen says
Italian Dressing is one of my favorite marinades. It is amazing how much flavor a dressing can add!