Catalina French Salad Dressing Recipe (Sugar Free)

Catalina French Salad Dressing Recipe (Sugar-Free) is tangy and delicious. Easy to make, you'll have this dressing made in a flash. Use this healthy sugar-free french dressing on salads, as a marinade for meat or veggies - or even as a dip!

Recipe Video

Sugar Free French Dressing Recipe

"If you are looking for a delicious healthy french dressing recipe, this is it! It's easy to throw together and tastes absolutely delicious. This version is a tasty cross between catalina and french. Yum." 🙂 -Kori

Easy

There is little comparison to the taste you get from making your own homemade salad dressing. Even the healthier keto bottled versions don't compare to how fresh this is. The best part? It's easy to make too.

There are 12 simple ingredients in this recipe (including salt and pepper). You basically throw everything in a bowl or a lidded jar and mix it up. I love to refrigerate it for a bit to allow the flavors to blend, but you don't have to.

Flavorful

There is so much flavor in this healthy french salad dressing recipe! I love that it's a perfect blend between tangy and sweet.

If you are a catalina french dressing lover who likes it sweeter, then definitely add more sweetener to taste. It a very adaptable recipe, so you can adjust it to your liking. 🙂

Healthy Sugar Free Salad Dressing

This is a keto, gluten-free, sugar-free, and low carb french dressing recipe. So, on top of being easy, it's also quite healthy. There is no skimping on taste, so no one will know it's healthy. Perfect!

If you follow a low carb and keto diet, this healthy french dressing is a great way to add healthy fat with minimal carbs - only 1.4 g net carbs!

While the full nutritional value is provided at the end of the recipe card, here are the most important if you're following a low carb keto diet:

7.1 g fat | 1.4 g net carbs | 0.1 g protein

If you are interested in keto be sure to get our FREE keto food list and shopping list!

How To Serve

Need easy serving suggestions? Here are some ways that you can serve your french salad dressing (sugar free):

• It's an amazing marinade for chicken, turkey, pork, even seafood! Whether you bake, grill, broil, pressure cook, or air fry your meal this marinade will work.
• Toss some vegetables with marinade then grill or roast them, delicious!
• Drizzle over a nice fresh green salad.
• Dip for raw vegetables - get the full list of keto vegetables here

Ingredients

Here are the French dressing ingredients and tools you'll need:

• Olive Oil - use extra virgin olive oil.
• Vinegar - I used white wine vinegar but you could just as easily use red wine vinegar, coconut vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or even plain white vinegar.
• Ketchup - use unsweetened ketchup. If you have sugar-free (sweetened) ketchup then you will need to reduce the amount of sugar called for in this recipe slightly.
• Sugar Substitute - to make this salad dressing sugar free use a granulated sugar substitute with a 1:1 sugar ratio. If you are not following a sugar-free, low carb, or keto plan then by all means use regular sugar.
• Onion - I used finely chopped red onion, but you could also use a yellow or sweet onion if you want.
• Lemon Juice - fresh squeezed lemon juice is always best but if a bottle's all you've got that will work too.
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Dry Mustard
• Paprika
• Celery Salt
• Kosher Salt or Sea Salt
• Black Pepper

Equipment

Equipment you will need to make this recipe:

• Measuring spoons
• Small Mixing Bowl or a 2 cup mason jar with a lid
• Whisk
• Juicer - to juice the lemon

Variations

There are several ways you can vary or make substitutions to this catalina french dressing recipe:

• Play around with different types of herbs.
• Make it spicy with a little hot sauce.
• Add a little minced garlic.
• Substitute shallots, green onion, yellow, or sweet onion for the red onion.
• Make it a creamy French dressing by substituting 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 1/4 cup sour cream instead of the olive oil. Whisk all ingredients together and place in the refrigerator for the flavors to blend. Adjust salt and pepper if needed.
• If you prefer a smooth dressing instead of some small onion pieces, use a blender or food processor to blend and smooth the dressing.
• Using different kinds of vinegar will give you different tastes. You can adjust the tanginess of this dressing by using more or less vinegar and lemon juice.
• This dressing is moderately tangy, increasing the sweetener to your liking.

Instructions

Here's how to make sugar free low carb french dressing - it's VERY EASY!!

Add all ingredients to a bowl or a lidded jar. Whisk or shake until blended. If you've got the time I recommend that you refrigerate the dressing 1 to 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste, serve.

Top Tips

• Use the freshest ingredients and spices for the best flavor
• Save time and use a jar with a lid to mix and store your dressing.
• Adjust sweetener, salt, and pepper to your liking.
• Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
• This recipe serves 16. If you don't need that many servings, feel free to half the recipe.

FAQs

How do you store keto low carb french dressing?

Store in an air-tight pourable container with a tight lid that you can use to shake the dressing before serving.

Catalina vs French Dressing

There are some subtle similarities between Catalina and French Dressing.

The first is color. Catalina is usually a reddish-orange while French is a light orange.

Second, French dressing is typically slightly sweeter and creamier while Catalina is slightly sweet but somewhat tangier.

Of course, there are many variances and interpretations between Catalina and french dressing - much like our recipe, which is a combination of both - moderately tangy French without the creaminess, and the color is on the red-ish side.

How long can you keep homemade french dressing?

How long your homemade french dressing will keep depends on what you have added to. Because this recipe uses fresh onion, it will keep up to 1 week.

Do I have to make this salad dressing sugar free?

No, you do not have to make this salad dressing sugar free. 🙂 Swap real sugar for the sugar substitute. So easy!

Is french dressing gluten free?

This sugar free french salad dressing recipe is gluten free, but other recipes and store-bought bottled dressing may contain gluten. Always check the bottle to make sure!

Is french dressing keto friendly?

This french dressing recipe is keto friendly and has only 1.4 carbs in total.

How do I make creamy french dressing?

To make this recipe creamy simply swap the 1/2 cup olive oil for 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 1/4 cup of sour cream. If you don't like sour cream use all mayonnaise. Whisk or blend in a processor until desired creaminess is reached.

How many carbs in french dressing?

The carb content of salad dressing can vary wildly, but this recipe only contains 1.5 g carbs, 0.1 g dietary fiber, and 1.4 g net carbs.

Can you make this french dressing ahead?

Yes, this keto Italian vinaigrette dressing can easily be made ahead. Store it in an airtight jar that you can use for serving as well.

More Sugar Free Salad Dressings

Here are a few more salad dressings you might like! All are easy and healthy, sugar free, gluten free, low carb, and keto.

• Creamy Dill Salad Dressing (Sugar Free Low Carb)
• Low Carb Keto Italian Dressing Recipe
• Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
• Thousand Island Dressing
• Avocado Dressing
• Tzatziki Sauce

Salad Recipes

Looking for delicious healthy salad recipes? You'll love these keto and low carb recipes:

• Italian Antipasto Salad Platter Recipe
• Best Greek Salad Recipe (Keto Low Carb)
• Thai Peanut Salad Recipe (Low Carb Keto Salad)
• Layered Salad (Layered Overnight Salad)
• Low Carb Coleslaw (Dill Pickle Slaw)

📖 The recipe.