Making Your Own Salad Dressings

For people with chronic kidney disease and failure, everything you eat is important. Every tiny ingredient has to be accounted for and measured to make sure it is safe for your body to process. Even something as simple as salad dressing needs to be accounted for.

Finding salad dressings that are safe for a renal diet can be difficult. Many salad dressings are full of sodium, phosphorus, and other ingredients that just aren't safe for your restrictive diet. You can still have salad dressing, however. The trick to finding the best kidney safe salad dressings is to make them yourself.

Making your own salad dressings is actually very easy. Here are a few tips and ideas to making salad dressings that are safe for your kidney disease diet:

Oil and Vinegar

Sure, it sounds too easy, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the most delicious. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil give a burst of flavor without covering up the natural deliciousness of the salad itself.

Honey Lime

For a touch of sweetness, mix together a couple tablespoons of lime juice, one tablespoon of honey, and two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. For a little extra spice, you can even add garlic or cilantro. For some heat, sprinkle in a tiny bit of crushed red pepper and let it sit for a few minutes before using.

Dijon Vinaigrette

Mix together ¼ cup of vinegar (either red wine or balsamic), two tablespoons of olive or canola oil, and two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. Add in some fresh ground pepper and a sprinkle of paprika.

Classic Italian

For a kidney safe version of this classic, blend together ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, ½ cup red wine vinegar, ½ teaspoon sugar, and Italian salt-free seasoning mix. To make your own seasoning, mix together the following dried spices: parsley, oregano, thyme, marjoram, celery seed, garlic powder, black pepper. You want about three tablespoons of seasoning mix. You can even add in a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese for an extra special touch.

Creamy Garlic Parmesan

Blend together ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, ¼ cup reduced fat mayonnaise, two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, one teaspoon of fresh minced garlic, and black pepper to taste. Refrigerate for a little while before using, and keep leftovers refrigerated as well.

Honey Mustard

Whisk together ½ up of reduced fat mayonnaise, ¼ cup honey, three tablespoons of yellow mustard, and one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Keep leftovers refrigerated

Even though each of these recipes are considered safe for a chronic kidney disease diet, keep in mind that how much you eat is often just as important as what you eat. Each of these recipes has at least a small amount of sodium, phosphorus, or other ingredients that should be strictly monitored. Keep your serving size to two tablespoons of any of these recipes, and you should have no problem fitting any of these options into your renal diet. Speak with your doctor or nutritionist if you have any questions about particular ingredients or if you have questions about what you should or should not eat.

For more tips on dealing with renal kidney disease click here.

Also published on Medium.