Nonna’s Tuscan Salad Dressing

  4.2 – 64 reviews  • Salad Dressing Recipes

a cake with a whipped cream frosting on top and a blackberry frosting made with frozen berries in the middle and Key lime curd on the outside. The cupcakes I prepared for my wife just before we started dating served as the inspiration for the cake I made for my wedding. The final recipe was a tremendous success at the wedding despite the fact that it took a few tries to get the tastes just perfect.

Prep Time: 5 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
Servings: 8
Yield: 1 cup

Ingredients

  1. 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  2. ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
  3. ⅓ cup water
  4. 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  5. 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  6. 3 tablespoons olive oil
  7. 1 small clove garlic, minced
  8. ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  9. ¼ teaspoon dried basil
  10. ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Place mayonnaise, vinegar, water, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, oregano, basil, and black pepper into a blender. Blend for 2 minutes, then pour into a salad dressing container and refrigerate, at least 1 hour. Shake well before using.
  2. White vinegar may be used, but the taste will be sharper. Balsamic gives a smoother flavor. If you feel the vinegar is too sharp for your taste, blend in 1 tablespoon light corn syrup.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 91 kcal
Carbohydrate 1 g
Cholesterol 3 mg
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Protein 1 g
Saturated Fat 2 g
Sodium 49 mg
Sugars 0 g
Fat 10 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Russell Jones
Unfortunately, I did not see the review by the recipe submitter which states that the recipe should have 1/3 cup water, not 1/2 cup water. Well, I followed the recipe and made it with 1/2 cup water, and what I ended up with was a dressing that had w-a-a-a-a-y too much water, the flavor was diluted, and all of the dressing rolled right off the greens sinking to the bottom of the bowl. Ten ingredients is a lot for a salad dressing, this went down the garbage disposal and will not be made again even with 1/3 cup water. I have to wonder if 1/3 cup water would even give a proper consistency? Unhappy and disappointed.
Christopher Johnson
My friend and I made this dressing for a meal we put on. We followed the recipe, the the addition of chia seeds to thicken it. It was loved by all.
Amanda White
Really tasty and light. I used basalmic vinegar and equal parts water as the author suggested.
Jill Walton
made it with maybe 3 tablespoons water and it was very good! used it first on a cabbage and broccoli slaw with ham and sunflower seeds and that was very tasty indeed. thank you!
Joshua Lopez
I was looking for an Italion inspired salad dressing, tired of just vinegar and oil. I made this dressing this evening, ingredients as listed. I did not use a blender, just shook it up very well. Served it over a mix of baby greens with crunchy veggies(celery, red pepper, cucumber) kalamata olives and gorgonzola cheese. While it is very runny, the flavor is really nice.(I used 1/2 a cup of water, and served it within a few minutes -not the hour wait) I’m happy to read that it will thicken as it ages and chills in my refridgerator.
Mark Jenkins
I was looking for a dressing for a bean salad and this was perfect. It was easy to make and the bean salad turned out delicious.
Eric Rice
A tasty recipe that’s easy to make.
Jorge Butler
Too thin — WAY too much liquid! I had high hopes for this, but I should have slowed down and just eye-balled the amount of liquid. I made and reviewed the Creamy Italian Dressing I on this site. That had 1 cup mayo and ONLY 2 tblsp red wine vinegar! Maybe it’s personal preference? I like dressing thicker, not thin and liquidy, when it comes to creamy Italian-type dressings. All the ingredients here are good. Unfortunately, I had to toss the remainder; tried draining some liquid off and adding mayo, but it did not work. I may try again and just cut back on both water and the vinegar.
James Thomas
I only like tart, not sweet, salad dressings, but this way too sour!I made it exactly as directed, including using the lesser amount of water, but it was like drinking vinegar straight out of the bottle.
James Conway
Should have used a balsamic vinegar, would have used ¼ cup of water instead of ½ cup. The dressing was lacking a flavor, maybe a little anchovy would have helped.
Erica Williamson
I made it exactly as stated, and even read her note about the water being only 1/3 cup, instead of the 1/2 cup. It still came out watery and with an odd taste. I tried to make it more creamy by adding extra parmesan cheese, but all that did was make more crumbles in the bottom of the dressing bottle.
Kevin Deleon
Really liked the flavors in this, so good! I found it too runny even with the water reduced, so next time I’ll be sure and make it in advance and see if it thickens up in the fridge. I like that it stores for quite a while.
Jenna Herrera
It didn’t fit our taste for salad dressing.
Danielle Michael
This dressing has become my favorite. I eliminated the parmesan cheese because I usually use it with a Greek salad featuring feta cheese. I also cut back on the water to about 1/3 cup.
Brandi Bell
I have made this recipe many, many times. Only changes that I made were to drop the water altogether and split the vinegar 50/50 with balsamic. Added a bit of sugar to reduce the bite. Garlic – usually I add a bit extra. This is my standard salad dressing and everyone loves it.
Monica Frank
Not great. Way too watery. I’ll make it again but try leaving out the water and adding extra mayo oil and parmesan.
Lori Thomas
Made exactly as stated. Way too thin and vinegar tasting for me. I liked the spices. I used the leftover as a marinade for chicken.
Timothy Patrick
I have not made this yet…but I LOVE vinegar and this sounds perfect to me…
Jennifer Armstrong
Very good. My guests really liked it. Just play around with the seasoning/vinegar to get to your liking. I added a little honey to mine instead of the corn syrup.
Susan Dominguez
I followed the recipe except I didn’t have red wine vinegar so I substituted white balsamic vinegar since it’s a wine vinegar, and my husband doesn’t like lemon so I substituted lime. I didn’t change any of the amounts. This was exactly what I was looking for and will now be the recipe I use for Italian dressing.
Barbara Horton
I used high quality balsamic, but 1/3 cup took this way out of balance, far too much acid. Photo posted of the dressing looks creamy in color, mine came out brownish-purple. Will definitely try this recipe again, but will mix everything but the vinegar and add 1 tbsp at a time.

 

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