Making salad dressings at home is so fun, and a great way of know what is in your food! You’ll want to smother our Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing over EVERYTHING (especially tacos!) and try our Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing for a classic you’ll come back to again and again! Have you tried Catalina Dressing before? It’s sweet, salty, tangy, and SO addictive! When I set out to make my own version, I found a few very interesting things. 1. I already had all of the ingredients (how often does that happen?!), 2. It tastes so much better than store-bought, and 3. It was ready in just 5 minutes. Five minutes for an incredible easy and flavorful salad dressing is a win-win to me! Even more, this homemade Catalina Dressing can be kept in the fridge for 2 weeks or more! It’s perfect for lunches. Meal prep some chicken and salad at the weekend and have lunch ready in 5 minutes throughout the week with this dressing on the side. So easy! This Catalina Dressing can also be used as a dip recipe. It goes incredibly well with meats like grilled shrimp, chicken tenders, and beef bites, and on the other hand, baked or fried appetizers are just perfect to dip in this sauce. Homemade Egg Rolls and Homemade French Fries are definitely calling my name when I use this as a dip.

What is Catalina Dressing made of?

Ketchup: Ketchup is such a versatile pantry staple to have on hand! It adds sweetness and saltiness as well as a tomato flavor. It also provides a beautiful, classic red color!Sugar: Catalina Dressing is a sweet dressing so white sugar is added to achieve the best level of pure sweetness.Vinegar: Red wine vinegar provides the dressing with a lip-smacking tart kick, as well as helping to thin the dressing out a little.Seasoning: Onion powder, paprika, celery seeds, and garlic powder create an amazing vegetable flavor, and the paprika also enhances the red color. Salt and pepper are added to taste.Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire sauce is one of the best sauces out there, flavor-wise! It’s loaded with different spices and seasonings and provides even more savory-sweet tartness to this Cataline Dressing.Oil: Oil is added to dressings whilst blending to thicken them up, i.e. emulsify them. That’s exactly what I use vegetable oil for in this Catalina Dressing recipe! You can use other oils like olive oil or avocado oil as well, however, they may result in a different flavor.

How to Make Catalina Dressing

What can I serve this with?

Here are a few options this Catalina Dressing recipe will pair well with:

Tex-Mex Doritos Taco SaladPersimmon, Pomegranate, and Spinach SaladGrilled Cajun Chicken Salad (replace the cajun dressing)On Juicy Grilled Turkey Burgers

As a dip for:

Zucchini FriesCrispy Baked Sweet Potato FriesFried Green TomatoesHomemade Egg RollsSouthern Hush PuppiesCrispy Loaded Potato SkinsHomemade French Fries

Is there a difference between French and Catalina Dressing?

Yes! Although quite similar, French dressing is creamier and lighter in color – more of an orange than a red color. It also has different ingredients like mustard in it. Catalina dressing, on the other hand, does not.

Where does Catalina Dressing Come from?

Most will say that Kraft Foods initially invented Catalina Salad Dressing, however, some say that it originated in Catalonia region in north east Spain, where they’re known for for their sweet and savory foods.

More Salad Dressing Recipes Like This

Olive Garden Salad Dressing RecipePapaya Seed DressingCreamy Parmesan Peppercorn DressingAsian Slaw with Ginger Peanut DressingThe BEST Strawberry Spinach Salad with Creamy Poppy Seed DressingGrilled Cajun Chicken Salad with Creamy Cajun DressingSummer Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Poppy Seed Dressing

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