Bring your salads to life with this sweet and savory Sugar Free French Dressing! It has all the tanginess and flavor your tastebuds crave.
It can come as quite a shock to discover how much sugar is in some of our favorite store-bought foods. Take salad dressing, for example. Even the ones we think of as completely savory can contain added sugars.
I grew up loving Catalina salad dressing, as did my father. He always had a bottle on the go in the fridge and we used it liberally on our salad. It never occurred to me that this tangy sweet condiment was so full of added sugars until I went low carb. In fact, sugar is the first ingredient on the bottle. Yikes!
Readers love my homemade dressings such as Sugar Free Honey Mustard and Chipotle Ranch Dressing. Several people have recently asked me for a healthier Catalina, so here it is! You will love this Sugar Free French Dressing.
Why you will love this recipe
Sometimes I don’t know why we bother with bottled dressing at all, since it’s so easy to make at home. This sugar free salad dressing takes all of about 5 minutes to make!
I played with the ratios of ingredients until I got just the right tangy sweet flavor. I found most recipes online were too heavy on the oil and didn’t have quite enough vinegar. I also added a little Dijon mustard to help emulsify the ingredients.
I used tomato paste rather than bothering to make ketchup, but then I added some of the spices that give ketchup its unique flavor. I then used other seasonings typical of French dressing.
As for sweetener, you can adjust this one to taste. I opted for liquid allulose but you can really use any sweetener you like best.
Ingredients you need
- Tomato paste: Classic French dressing takes ketchup, and you could make or purchase some sugar free ketchup. But it’s even easier to simply add tomato paste and some of the spices directly into the dressing.
- Red wine vinegar: Red wine vinegar is standard in French dressing, although you can replace it with apple cider vinegar if you wish.
- Avocado oil: You want a neutral flavored oil, so don’t use extra virgin olive oil. You can use avocado oil or light olive oil, which has been further refined so it has less flavor.
- Sweetener: You have a lot of options for sweeteners in this sugar free salad dressing. I used liquid allulose, as it helps make it a little thicker. But you can use granular sweeteners as well. Just make sure to shake the dressing enough to dissolve the sweetener.
- Mustard: A little Dijon mustard helps emulsify the dressing and keep the oil from separating out.
- Seasonings: French dressing typically takes celery seed, garlic, onion, and paprika. I also added a touch of allspice to mimic the ketchup flavor, as well as a little herbes de Provence.
- Water
How to make Sugar Free Salad Dressing
You hardly need step by step directions for this recipe. You simply place all of the ingredients in a jar and shake until well combined!
I have seen recipes for homemade Catalina that use a blender, which seems like overkill. You can get the same results from shaking it in a jar, and then you don’t have to dirty a blender.
You can also store it in the same jar you made it in!
Expert Tips
If you do happen to have some store-bought keto ketchup, feel free to use that. Just don’t add the allspice to the dressing.
For sweeteners, try to choose something that will dissolve easily. As you may be aware, granular erythritol sweeteners like Swerve don’t dissolve well. You can still use it but you may need to shake it for quite a while. Powdered Swerve (Confectioners) will work fine.
Allulose dissolves easily so you can use granular allulose in this recipe, or you can use the liquid kind. I find the liquid version to taste less sweet, but you can taste the dressing after mixing and adjust as you see fit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Classic French dressing is high in added sugars and in carbohydrates. A typical 2 tablespoon serving of Catalina has 9g of carbs, so it is not considered keto friendly. However this sugar free version has only xg of carbs and is appropriate for low carb and keto diets.
Most dressing can be stored in a jar in the fridge for up to a week. If it is a creamy dressing with fresh ingredients like sour cream or mayonnaise, it is best to use it up within a few days.
More delicious recipes
Sugar Free French Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp (32.46 g) tomato paste
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup (118.29 ml) avocado oil, or another neutral flavored oil
- 1/3 cup (78.86 ml) red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup (78.86 ml) liquid allulose, (see Expert Tips for alternatives)
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp ground celery seed
- 1/2 tsp herbes de Provence
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a jar and seal the lid. Shake vigorously to combine.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
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This is a definite MUST-MAKE recipe! French and Catalina being my absolute favorite salad dressings (and although possibly/probably strange, dips for pizza, breadsticks, etc.) for many years, I found myself giving them up immediately upon being diagnosed with T2 diabetes a year ago. I cannot express how terribly I have missed them, but I won’t have to anymore, thanks to you!
Thanks so much for this recipe! We have to cut down on sugar in our family, and two people love French dressing! I had to up the allulose (granular because that’s what I had, worked fine) to 1/2 cup because they really like it sweet. It worked great!
Excellent Dressing! I tripled it and used 1 c of Stevia for my sweetener.
Carolyn, I just want to say I am so impressed with every one of your recipes. There is not one that I have made baked whatever that has not been absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for all the work you put into this , an amazing follower of yours!!!
Thank you!
I just love this dressing! It’s sweet and tangy ! I always loved the store kind, but this tastes even better!! Thank you! My salads are so much better now 😊
Thank you!
I’ve always loved French dressing, so was happy to find this! It’s delicious!!
I’m not sure why my comment disappeared so I will comment again.
We loved this dressing. The flavour was amazing and way bottle than the bottle version I loved before.
The only problem was that when it went in the fridge with leftovers, it hardened.I did manage to bring it back to life with my immersion blender, but wondered why this happened? The recipe states I can store it in the fridge for up to a week.
The only modification I used in the recipe was to use sugar free ketchup instead of tomato paste.
The taste is absolutely amazing!! Hubby loved it. My only problem was that is solidified in the fridge. I had to use my immersion blender to bring it back to life. It has separated a bit too! It said you could store it in the fridge for up to a week?
Just store in a sealed jar and shake it when you need to pour it. That’s what I do!
I made the French dressing yesterday and it is delicious and has rich flavor! I used a sugar free ketchup and no allspice.
Thank you, Carolyn!
This is fantastic!! I made it with sugar free ketchup (french’s). I wasn’t going to add the water because it was good without, but I decided to make it as per the recipe and the water made it perfect! Thank you for this lovely dressing Carolyn!
Delicious! I remember my mom’s favorite Milani 1890 dressing. Back then the only nutrition inofrmation on the back was the calories, so I kidded myself for a while.
This takes me back to those days, I love this recipe. I found it to be a bit spicy, so I added a tad more oil and water, but it’s a keeper for me.
this recipe is very nice. It was a really welcome to change from the normal plain balsamic vinegar. definitely a keeper recipe
Thanks so much!
So glad you liked it!
Absolutely delicious!
I used the sugar free ketchup because I didn’t have any allspice. If doing that, I would leave out the water until everything is shaken together. Then decide how thick you want your dressing and add water to your liking.
Good tip!
I am going to make this to serve with our taco salad (and because I miss French Dressing!)
If I skip the tomato paste (and the allspice), and use SF ketchup instead, do I change the amount of water?Because the viscosity of the tomato products are different?
I read the blog post several times but didn’t see that addressed.
Thanks for this! I had some liquid Allulose and don’t use it very often, so this was a good way to try something new. I’m going to make it and have it tonight and have all the other ingredients.
Would this also work good for a meat marinade?
Tastes absolutely delicious, and took just a few minutes to throw it together.