Gluten-free Salad Dressing: Types & Brands

Find out what types of salad dressing are safe for a gluten-free diet (and dairy-free diet). Plus which brands to look for at the store.

Gluten Free Salad Dressing: Types and Brands

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What’s a great salad without a delicious salad dressing to add some life and flavor to your dish? Salad dressing is a great way to elevate your salad fixin’s and give your fresh greens and veggies a whole new flavor profile.

If you’re following a gluten-free diet, you know that fruits and vegetables are always safe to enjoy. But what about the other ingredients that you like to add to your salads? Some salad ingredients are a little more pesky when it comes to hidden gluten than others.

Salad dressing is one of those pesky ingredients. Gluten can hide in a number of places in bottled salad dressings, which is why we’re going to talk about all things gluten-free salad dressing in this post.

We’re going to talk about which kinds of dressings are most likely to be okay for a gluten-free diet, which ones you’ll want to be aware of and give a second look at ingredients lists, and we’ll also go over specific salad dressing brands.

Of course, since I also follow a dairy-free diet in addition to gluten-free, I’ll make notes along the way as to which dressings are safe if you avoid dairy as well.

Let’s get our greens – and hold the gluten!

What kind of salad dressing is gluten-free?

In general, there are a handful of salad dressings that are most always going to be gluten-free.

These are the ones that are generally considered “safe,” but of course you’ll want to double check ingredients lists and look for gluten-free labels on each package you buy just in case recipes change or a certain brand makes it differently than others.

These types of salad dressing are generally safe for a gluten-free diet:

Vinaigrette

Vinaigrettes are made with an oil, usually olive oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil and vinegar. The vinegar used in a vinaigrette can be any type of vinegar, like red or white wine vinegar, distilled vinegar, balsamic vinegar, or even flavored vinegars like raspberry vinegar or citrus infused vinegar.

The next layer of a vinaigrette are the spices and seasonings. Herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper are the most common ingredients, but some brands also have dried onion or other spices in their recipes to give the recipe a unique flavor.

The only time you’ll want to be wary of a vinaigrette is if the ingredients list has malt vinegar, which comes from barley, a gluten-containing grain.

Italian dressing

Italian dressing is similar to a vinaigrette and is made with vinegar or lemon juice, oil, bell peppers, garlic, salt and pepper, and spices. Recipes can vary, but you’ll notice that Italian dressing is a little thicker than a vinaigrette in texture.

You can buy or make your own Italian dressing at home to make sure it’s safe for your gluten-free diet.

Read on: Is Italian dressing gluten-free?

Caesar salad dressing

Caesar salad dressing is made using mayonnaise, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, dijon mustard, parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. It has a unique flavor and is generally considered safe for a gluten-free diet, depending on the brand.

Read on: Does Caesar dressing have dairy?

Mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise based dressings

Mayonnaise isn’t necessarily a salad dressing on its own, but it can be used as a flavorful base for many different salad dressings. Mayonnaise contains no gluten, and if you have to avoid eggs in your diet, you can also use vegan mayonnaise.

Read on: Is mayonnaise gluten-free?

Yogurt or buttermilk-based dressings

Salad dressings that use a base of yogurt or buttermilk are also gluten-free, assuming the other ingredients used are also free of gluten. Greek yogurt dressing, ranch dressings, or yogurt based Caesar dressings are all going to be gluten-free.

Ranch dressing

Ranch dressing is usually made with buttermilk, garlic, onion, mustard, herbs, salt, pepper, and spices. You can also find ranch dressings made with a base of yogurt, mayonnaise, or sour cream. All these ingredients are gluten-free, making most ranch dressings safe for a gluten-free diet.

Read on: Does ranch have dairy?

Read on: Is ranch gluten-free?

Read on: 5 best dairy-free ranch dressing brands

What kind of salad dressings are dairy-free?

Now that you know which salad dressings are generally safe for a gluten-free diet, let’s go through the list one more time and see which ones are going to be both gluten AND dairy-free.

Vinaigrettes
Italian dressing
Mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise based dressings

If you make your own dressing at home, it’s possible to still enjoy the other types of dressing, as long as you use dairy-free alternatives or omitting dairy ingredients.

For Caesar salad dressing, you’d want to omit the Parmesan cheese in the recipe.

In yogurt or buttermilk dressings, you’ll want to use dairy-free yogurt or make your own buttermilk using dairy-free milk and lemon juice as an alternative.

For ranch dressings, you can find some brands that are dairy-free, where they don’t use any dairy at all. Or you can try your hand at making it at home using my gluten-free dairy-free egg-free ranch dressing recipe.

Now that you know generally which salad dressings are good options for your gluten-free diet, let’s go more into what ingredients you’ll want to avoid in bottled salad dressings.

Read on: Is balsamic vinegar gluten-free?

Read on: 75 Gluten and Dairy-free Salad Recipes

Read on: Gluten-free croutons

Gluten free Ingredients In Salad Dressing

Gluten ingredients to avoid in salad dressing

In addition to knowing which salad dressings are generally going to be safe for your gluten-free diet, it’s also important to know what ingredients you’ll want to look for in order to avoid them.

You can look at the back of any bottled salad dressing and look for these ingredients. If you find them, you’ll know you’ll want to avoid this product and look for something different that is gluten-free.

Malt vinegar
Blue cheese (maybe)
Food starch
Ground spices
Malt
Modified food starch
Flour
Flavorings
Artificial flavorings
Natural flavorings
Artificial color
Dextrin
Soy sauce
Spice blend

Some of these ingredients may be an indication of gluten in the product, while sometimes it isn’t.

Read on: Is blue cheese gluten-free?

For example, modified food starch CAN be made from gluten, but it isn’t always necessarily made from gluten.

Modified food starch can also be made from corn, and if the packaging shows “modified food starch (corn),” you’ll know that ingredient is gluten-free, as corn doesn’t contain gluten.

Read on: Is modified food starch gluten-free?

The main thing to keep in mind is that if you see one of these ingredients in an ingredients list, they may contain gluten.

If there are details about that ingredient, like more ingredients within parentheses, and these don’t contain any gluten-containing ingredients, then you can feel okay about that product being gluten-free.

One of my little secrets is that I carry around a copy of my GFDF Take Along Cards so that I always have a point of reference when I can sneak a peek at the ingredient list of a food.

>> Get your copy of the GFDF Take-Along Cards to make this easy on you.

Do I need to look for a gluten-free label on salad dressing?

Depending on your level of sensitivity to gluten, you may want to look for a gluten-free label before buying any salad dressing you’re looking at when shopping at the store.

A gluten-free label on any packaged food product will show you that the brand has tested their product and, as required by the FDA, can only contain less than 20ppm of gluten in that product. That is trace amounts or less of gluten.

It can be helpful to have that extra note of assurance that the product is gluten-free, but if you’re good at reading ingredients lists, know the names of gluten, and you know your level of sensitivity isn’t super high, then you may also be able to get away with eating a food that doesn’t have that label.

You will need to determine what you’re comfortable with when it comes to gluten-free labeling based on what you know about your body and your reactions to gluten.

Gluten-free Salad Dressing Brands

There are so many different salad dressings on the market, but let’s get a short list together so that next time you’re shopping for salad dressings, you have a nice go-to list you can pull straight off the shelf.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of all gluten-free salad dressing brands available, but a jumping off point for you to find an option next time you’re at the store.

These are the brands and flavors that are safe for a gluten-free diet. I’ve noted those flavors that are also dairy-free with an asterisk (*).

Annie’s

Organic Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette*
Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Organic Cowgirl Ranch Dressing
Organic Honey Mustard Vinaigrette*
Tuscany Italian Dressing*
Organic Thousand Island Dressing*
Organic Oil & Vinegar Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Organic French Dressing*
Organic Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette*
Organic Red Wine & Olive Oil Vinaigrette*
Organic Chili Lime Vinaigrette*
Lite Raspberry Vinaigrette*
Organic Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Cowgirl Ranch Dressing*
Lite Goddess Dressing
Organic Green Goddess Dressing
Lite Poppy Seed Dressing*
Organic Papaya Poppy Seed Dressing*
Roasted Red Pepper Dressing*
Organic Green Garlic Dressing*
Lemon & Chive Dressing*

Brianna’s

Organic Apple Cider Vinaigrette*
Organic Mango Vinaigrette*
Organic Honey Ginger Vinaigrette*
Organic Red Wine Vinaigrette*
Organic Rich Poppy Seed*
Organic Real French Vinaigrette*
Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing*
Rich Poppy Seed*
Blush Wine Vinaigrette*
Creamy Cilantro Lime
Italian Vinaigrette
New American Creamy Balsamic*
Classic Buttermilk Ranch
Asiago Caesar
Chipotle Ranch
Real French Vinaigrette*
Dijon Honey Mustard*
Champagne Vinaigrette*
Creamy Blue Cheese

Cardini’s

The Original Caesar Dressing
80 Calorie Dressing
Red Jalapeno Caesar Dressing
Garlic Lemon Caesar Dressing
Three Cheese Caesar Dressing
Balsamic Vinaigrette*
50 Calorie Vinaigrette
Caesar Vinaigrette

Drew’s Organics

Organic Chipotle Ranch Dressing & Quick Marinade
Organic Thousand Island Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Thai Coconut Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Tahini Goddess Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Shiitake Ginger Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Rosemary Balsamic Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Romano Caesar Dressing & Quick Marinade
Organic Roasted Garlic Peppercorn Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Poppy Seed Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Creamy Ranch Dressing & Quick Marinade
Organic Orange Sesame Ginger Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Honey Dijon Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Greek Olive Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic French Dressing & Quick Marinade*
Organic Classic Italian Dressing & Quick Marinade*

Girard’s

Champagne Vinaigrette*
Champagne 60 Calorie Vinaigrette*
Raspberry Vinaigrette*
Creamy Balsamic 50 Calorie Vinaigrette*
Vin Rouge Red Wine Vinaigrette*
White Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Caesar Dressing
Caesar 80 Calorie Dressing
White French Dressing
Bacon Sweet Onion Vinaigrette*
Olde Venice Italian Dressing*
Greek Feta Vinaigrette
Original French Vinaigrette*

Hidden Valley

Original Ranch Homestyle
Original Ranch
Original Ranch Easy Squeeze Bottle
Avocado Ranch
Bacon Ranch
Buffalo Ranch
Cilantro Lime Ranch
Cracked Peppercorn Ranch
Cucumber Ranch
Plant Powered Ranch*
Buttermilk Ranch Light
Cucumber Ranch Light
Original Ranch Homestyle Light
Original Ranch Organic
Original Ranch Fat Free
Original Ranch Light
Original Ranch Light Easy Squeeze Bottle
Coleslaw

Read on: Is Hidden Valley Ranch gluten-free?

Ken’s Steakhouse

Lite Caesar
Lite Honey Mustard*
Lite Country French*
Italian*
Creamy French*
Chunky Blue Cheese
Russian*
Thousand Island*
Caesar
Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil*
Creamy Italian
Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Greek
Lite Northern Italian
Buttermilk Ranch
Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Lite Blue Cheese
Ranch
Zesty Italian*
Italian with Aged Romano
Country French with Orange Blossom Honey*
Honey Mustard*
Creamy Parmesan with Cracked Peppercorn
Sweet Vidalia Onion*
Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette*
Creamy Caesar
Three Cheese Italian
Peppercorn Ranch
Balsamic with Honey*
Lite Ranch
Lite Buttermilk Ranch
House Italian
Creamy Wisconsin Blue Cheese
Simply Vinaigrette Balsamic*
Simply Vinaigrette Italian
Simply Vinaigrette Olive Oil & Vinegar*
Simply Vinaigrette Caesar
Lite Italian*
Lite Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil*
Lite Olive Oil Vinaigrette*
Lite Sweet Vidalia Onion*
Lite Creamy Caesar Dressing
Fat Free Raspberry Pecan
Chef’s Reserve Parmesan & Peppercorn
Chef’s Reserve Blue Cheese with Gorgonzola
Chef’s Reserve Farmhouse Ranch with Buttermilk
Chef’s Reserve Ranch
Chef’s Reserve Russian*
Chef’s Reserve Honey Balsamic
Chef’s Reserve Italian with Garlic & Asiago Cheese
Lite Thousand Island*
Poppy Seed*
Apple Cider Vinaigrette*
Garlic Parmesan
Chef’s Reserve Honey Dijon*
Simply Vinaigrette Garlic & Basil
Chef’s Reserve Raspberry Walnut*

Read on: Does honey mustard have dairy?

Gluten-free Dairy-free Salad Dressing Brands

Maple Grove Farms

Asiago & Garlic Dressing
Citrus Vinaigrette*
Creamy Balsamic*
Fat Free Cranberry Balsamic Dressing*
Fat Free Greek Dressing*
Fat Free Honey Dijon Dressing*
Fat Free Lime Basil*
Fat Free Poppyseed
Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette*
Fat Free Vidalia Onion*
Fat Free Wasabi Dijon*
Ginger Pear Dressing*
Honey Mustard
Strawberry Balsamic*
Sugar Free Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Sugar Free Raspberry Vinaigrette*
Sugar Free Tomato Basil Dressing*
Sweet ‘n Sour Dressing*

Marie’s

Chunky Blue Cheese
Super Blue Cheese
Lite Chunky Blue Cheese
Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
Red Wine Vinaigrette*
Mango Chardonnay Vinaigrette*
Greek Vinaigrette
Italian Vinaigrette*
Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Raspberry Vinaigrette*
White Balsamic Shallot Vinaigrette*
Garlic Parmesan Italian Vinaigrette
Creamy Ranch
Creamy Chipotle Ranch
Creamy Avocado Poblano
Asiago Peppercorn
Sesame Ginger*
Poppy Seed*
Honey Mustard*
Coleslaw*
Creamy Caesar
Thousand Island
Creamy Italian Garlic
Caesar

Read on: Does thousand island dressing have dairy?

Marzetti’s

Classic Ranch Dressing
Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Supreme Caesar Dressing
Sweet Poppyseed Dressing*
Ultimate Blue Cheese Dressing
Honey French Dressing*
Sweet Italian Dressing*
Light Slaw Dressing*
Thousand Island Dressing*
Bold Blue Cheese Dressing
Slaw Dressing*
Light Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Cilantro Avocado Dressing
Light Classic Ranch Dressing
Light Honey French Dressing*
White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Light Poppyseed Dressing*
Roasted Garlic Italian Vinaigrette
Asiago Peppercorn Dressing
Sweet Onion Dressing*
Light Caesar Vinaigrette
Light Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Olive Oil & Vinegar Vinaigrette*

Newman’s Own

Avocado Oil & Extra Virgin Olive Oil Caesar Dressing*
Avocado Oil & Extra Virgin Olive Oil Ranch Dressing*
Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Caesar Dressing
Citrus Splash Dressing*
Classic Oil & Vinegar Dressing*
Creamy Caesar Dressing
Family Recipe Italian Dressing
Greek Vinaigrette
Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette*
Honey Balsamic Dressing*
Honey Mustard Dressing
Lime Vinaigrette*
Organic Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Organic Caesar Dressing*
Organic Italian Dressing*
Organic Oil & Vinegar Dressing
Organic Ranch Dressing
Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Dressing
Parmesan Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
Poppy Seed Dressing*
Ranch Dressing
Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette*
Red Wine & Vinegar & Oil Dressing*
White Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Zesty Italian Dressing*
Light Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Light Caesar Dressing
Light Italian Dressing*

Organicville

Olive Oil & Balsamic Dressing
White Balsamic Dressing
French Dressing
Herbs de Provence Dressing
Sundried Tomato & Garlic Dressing
Non-Dairy Ranch Dressing
Miso Ginger Dressing

Read on: Is miso soup gluten-free?

Primal Kitchen

Ranch Dressing*
Caesar Dressing*
Green Goddess Dressing*
Balsamic Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Greek Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Italian Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Dreamy Italian Dressing*
Vegan Ranch Dressing*
Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Lemon Turmeric Vinaigrette & Marinade*
Thousand Island Dressing*
Cilantro Lime Dressing & Marinade*
BBQ Ranch Dressing & Marinade*
Avocado Oil and Vinegar Vinaigrette & Marinade*

Skinnygirl

Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Buttermilk Ranch
Poppyseed*
Honey Dijon*
Raspberry Vinaigrette*
Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette*

Thrive Market

Green Goddess Dressing & Marinade*
Ranch Dressing & Marinade*
Caesar Salad Dressing*
Honey Mustard Dressing & Marinade*
Greek Dressing & Marinade*

Wish-Bone

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing*
Buffalo Ranch Dressing
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Dressing
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Creamy French Dressing*
Creamy Italian Dressing
Fat Free Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Fat Free Italian Dressing*
Fat Free Ranch Dressing
Garden Herb Vinaigrette Dressing*
Garlic Basil Vinaigrette Dressing
Greek Vinaigrette Dressing
Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette*
House Italian Dressing
Italian Dressing*
Italian Herb Vinaigrette*
Italian Three Cheese Dressing
Jalapeno Lime Vinaigrette Dressing*
Lemon Herb Vinaigrette*
Light Buffalo Ranch Dressing
Light Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing
Light Creamy French Dressing*
Light Honey Dijon Dressing*
Light Italian Dressing*
Light Parmesan Peppercorn Ranch Dressing
Light Ranch Dressing
Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing*
Light Sweet & Spicy French Dressing*
Light Thousand Island Dressing*
Ranch Dressing
Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing*
Russian Dressing*
Strawberry White Balsamic Vinaigrette*
Sweet & Spicy French Dressing*
Sweet & Spicy Honey Mustard Dressing*
Thousand Island Dressing*
Zesty Robusto Italian Dressing*

Are Kraft salad dressings gluten-free?

Some Kraft salad dressing flavors contain no gluten, however Kraft does not test for gluten in their dressings, and you won’t find a gluten-free label on their packaging.

Some flavors have no gluten-containing ingredients, but they may be exposed to cross contamination during processing.

Are Wishbone salad dressings gluten-free?

Many of the dressings from the Wishbone brand do not contain any gluten ingredients. However, this brand does not label their products as gluten-free, nor does their website mention any gluten-free certifications.

There may some gluten due to cross contamination during manufacturing with this brand. If you follow a gluten-free diet, use your best judgement based on what you know about how your body reacts to gluten, review ingredients lists, and be cautious before choosing this brand.

If you love eating salad for lunch or as a meal in the warmer months, I hope this list of information about salad dressings helps you “dress up” all your future salads.

Whether you avoid gluten and dairy, or just gluten, I hope you have found a brand and option that will work well for all your salad munching needs!

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