Fat Free Dijon Salad Dressing is so rich and creamy and full of the sweet and tangy Dijon dressing tastes that you love but without any fat. There is a secret ingredient to thank for that!
If you love a variety of homemade dressings on hand in your fridge, then you’ll want to try my Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing, my Orange Poppyseed Dressing, or my Creamy Tomatillo Ranch.
I love dressings. Strike that. I love condiments. Dressings, sauces, dips, salsas, you name it, I love it. I am one to pour dressing on everything from salads to sandwiches and use it for dip for veggies, French fries, and even chips. But Dijon dressing might just rank up there as one of my top three favs in the condiment category.
Dressings are just an easy way to add more flavor to whatever it is you’re eating and they’re easy to keep in your fridge for when such an occasion occurs. While I keep a pretty wide variety in my fridge at the ready, I realized I didn’t really have anything that was fat free or available for those of use who are watching what we eat. Plus, this version packs an additional nutritional/protein punch by using beans as a thickener! What, what!?
Yep, that’s right, you don’t even need any oil at all to make dressing, just a can of beans and some water (well, and a few other things to make what would otherwise be bean water tasty).
HOW DO YOU MAKE FAT FREE DIJON SALAD DRESSING?
Making this dressing is super easy. If you find yourself with someone with special dietary needs or are just looking for alternative ways to make a healthy salad dressing, you can make this in about 10 minutes (and that includes hunting through the pantry and trying to locate your blender).
In a blender or food processor, blend or pulse together the beans, mustard, honey, salt and pepper, and vinegar. Once it’s good and smooth, add one tablespoon of water at a time and keep blending in between additional tablespoons of water until you reach the consistency you want in your dijon salad dressing.
HOW DO YOU STORE FAT FREE SALAD DRESSING?
To store this fat free salad dressing recipe, all you need is an airtight container and a fridge. That’s right. Pour this dressing into a container with a tight seal (Mason jars work great!) so that you can shake it back up as necessary if anything settles. Put the jar or container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
WHAT TO USE INSTEAD OF OLIVE OIL TO MAKE A SALAD DRESSING FAT-FREE?
For this tasty salad dressing recipe, I used beans instead of oil to make a smooth consistency. If you aren’t down with the beans, here are some other alternatives you can try. Experiment until you find one that works best for you — that’s the best part!
- Juice
- Broth
- Fat-free sour cream
- Avocado
- A creamy cheese like feta or goat
- Tahini
- Plain Greek yogurt
- Vinegar and juice together (like lemon or orange)
- Nut butters
- Cooking oil leftover from cooking pasta or beans
- Fruit purees
- Silken tofu
WHAT CAN I SERVE WITH FAT FREE DIJON SALAD DRESSING?
As I mentioned before, I like to dress up so many things with dressing. Here are some to get you started:
- Any salad of course, but it works particularly well as a substitute for my Cobb Salad.
- Try it over fish or grilled salmon (you can warm it up in the microwave if you prefer). For a salmon recipe, head to my Baked Honey Cilantro Lime Salmon in Foil.
- Or try it as a topping on Healthy Grilled Pork Tenderloin. Poured right on top or to add more flavor to a slider or other sandwich, this Fat Free Dijon Dressing is sooo good on pork tenderloin especially.
- As a dipping sauce for chicken or sausage. (For more dipping sauces for sausage, head to my 3 Easy Grilled Sausage Dipping Sauces recipe.)
- Put an ample bowl of this dressing out in a dish in the middle of a fun veggie crudite platter. Great to take to parties or to put out when you have a lot of house guests.
- This dressing also works great as a dipping sauce on soft dough pretzels as well.
I think you’ll discover this dressing really delivers all the taste with none of the fat. Get creative with how you use it!
Fat Free Dijon Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup canned cannellini beans - drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup dijon mustard
- ¼ cup honey - or agave
- 1 teaspoon salt - or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper - or to taste
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar - or rice vinegar
- 4-6 tablespoons water - as needed
Instructions
- Combine beans, dijon, honey, salt, pepper, and vinegar in a blender or food processor. Pulse until very smooth.
- Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each, until dressing is smooth and pourable. Store chilled in an airtight container up to 5 days.
You’re my hero. This is so delicious and using a high powered blender the consistency is so silky and creamy. I had some garlic infused white balsamic so I used that for the vinegar and added some lemon juice. Next time I’m going to use rice vinegar and add some ginger and soy sauce. Maybe some powdered pb? The possibilities are endless!
You’re so sweet! Haha I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe! Great ideas for alterations!
This dressing is amazing! I had pinto beans on hand so that’s what I used. Next time I’ll do only 1/4 c agave as it’s quite sweet but creamy and super tasty!
Fantastic idea to use beans!!! My imagination is spinning right now.
I used greek yogurt instead of beans. If you don’t add something the dressing is too runny. It tasted so good, my husband couldn’t notice it was low fat! This will be my new go to for Dijon honey dressing! I couldn’t believe how good it was! No water was needed! Sensational!
Hi Tiffany! I was wondering if beans are essential for this dressing?
Yes, I would say so!
Far too much Dijon! It must be a miss print. To compensate, I tripled everything else but doubled the honey. Still too much mustard
Can you use chickpeas in stead or must it be cannellin beans?
I haven’t tried that substitution before, but I think it might work! I’d love to hear the results if you gave it a try.
I love a good French dijon vinaigrette and was looking for a fat free option. The use of the beans is genius. I did cut the honey way back, as I wanted something authentically French tasting. I might eliminate it next time just to see, but I love the secret ingredient. Opens up so many doors! Thank you
How many calories per tablespoon? Looks good! Thanks
use nutribullet. this will givea very smooth consistency
I just whipped this up using a single serve container of Fat free plain Greek yogurt instead of the CANNELLINI BEANS, and white wine vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar– this dressing is so delicious! I’m currently using myfitnesspal to track my macros, and was thrilled to see that a 2 Tbsp serving of this dressing (as I PREPAREd it) only came to 29 calories, 6.7g carbs, 1.4 g protein, and of course no fat. The flavor is better than any store bought FAt free dressing I’ve ever tried, and a little goes a long way.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Apologies for the odd capitalization… the text box shows all caps or I would have fixed it. 😂
You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Great for me as I am dieting and I love savoury food. THe fat free dressing is fab and fat free
Delicious and easy
would Maple syrup work in place of Honey/agave for This?
I have not tried using that for this recipe, but I do think it will change the flavor profile quite a bit. Let me know how yours turns out if you give it a try!
There is tons of fat in avocado, goat cheese, feta cheese, tahini and nut butters. That list is very misleading. Non fat yogurt, tofu and broth or juice are the only true options on the list. Bottom line is always check the fine print on labels.