Wonderfully tangy, barely sweetened with raw honey, this easy tomato salad dressing is perfect drizzled over fresh greens, mixed into pasta salad, or used as a marinade for steak or chicken! Nothing mixes together more quickly than a homemade vinaigrette!
Need a super quick and easy dressing for your fresh summer salads?
This Tomato Salad Dressing is just the thing! Tangy tomato flavor with a hint of sweetness mixes up quickly with just a few pantry ingredients.
Why should you make your own salad dressings instead of buying from the grocery store?
For one, you save money. Pre-made salad dressings are convenient, but that convenience costs extra.
Another reason to make your own is the health factor. Since you control what goes into your salad dressing, you don’t have to worry about unwanted and unhealthy ingredients — like inflammatory oils, preservatives, artificial flavors and colorings!
Store-bought dressings also typically add refined sugars for sweetness. These refined sugars can cause inflammation in the body (and here’s 5 more reasons to ditch refined sugar).
It goes without saying, we use natural, whole food sweeteners instead.
Sweetening Tomato Salad Dressing Naturally
This super easy tomato salad dressing reminds me a bit of Catalina dressing. It’s wonderfully tangy, but that tanginess needs just a bit of sweet for balance.
What can you use instead of regular sugar? How about honey?
Raw, local honey is a wonderfully healthy, whole food sweetener. Add as little or as much as you like.
Is This Tomato Salad Dressing Trim Healthy Mama Friendly?
While honey is not encouraged during the weight loss phase of the THM plan, a little bit now and then typically is not problematic for most people. A small amount of this dressing on occasion should be fine.
However, if you find yourself wanting this dressing on a regular basis (totally understandable), you’ll want a non-glycemic sweetening option.
You can easily swap the honey for pure stevia extract or a stevia and sugar alcohol blend. I find 1/16th teaspoon of pure stevia extract just the right amount of sweetness. This is 2 “doonks” – the little measuring spoons from THM.
This dressing is made with a good amount of extra virgin olive oil, so it falls into the THM:S category. Additionally, because of the tomato in it, this dressing is not suitable for Deep S meals.
Enjoy With More Than Just Lettuce!
While you’ll certainly enjoy this easy vinaigrette on a salad, don’t limit yourself to just a large bowl of leafy greens. Here are a few ideas to help you get creative with your tomato salad dressing.
- Pasta salad side dish – make it quickly with cooked pasta, thinly sliced red onions, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Toss with the dressing, fresh herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Marinate chicken before cooking.
- Marinate steak before grilling.
- Pour over a beef roast and slow cook.
- Try this instead of oil and balsamic vinegar on a Caprese salad (fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil).
- Make sloppy joes.
- Try using some tomato dressing as part of a homemade barbecue sauce.
I’ve even added a dash of a dressing like this into sauces and stews. Sometimes, when a dish seems to be lacking something, you need either a bit of acid or sweetness to bring the flavors together. This has both!
Tangy & Sweet Tomato Dressing
Wonderfully tangy, barely sweetened with raw honey, this easy tomato salad dressing is perfect drizzled over fresh greens, mixed into pasta salad, or used as a marinade for steak or chicken! Nothing mixes together more quickly than a homemade vinaigrette! Enjoy! Makes about 3 cups.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup pure water
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1-1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons raw honey or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2-1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Instructions
-
Blend all ingredients thoroughly in high-powered blender such as the Vitamix.
-
Pour into glass jar or dressing container.
-
Refrigerate.
Recipe Notes
Trim Healthy Mama tips:
While honey is not encouraged during the weight loss phase of the THM plan, a little bit now and then typically is not problematic for most people. A small amount of this dressing on occasion should be fine.
However, if you find yourself wanting this dressing on a regular basis (totally understandable), you’ll want a non-glycemic sweetening option.
You can easily swap the honey for pure stevia extract or a stevia and sugar alcohol blend. I find 1/16th teaspoon of pure stevia extract just the right amount of sweetness. This is 2 “doonks” – the little measuring spoons from THM.
This dressing is made with a good amount of extra virgin olive oil, so it falls into the THM:S category. Additionally, because of the tomato in it, this dressing is not suitable for Deep S meals.
Homemade salad dressings bring so much flavor and nutrition to your meals!
Do you need more healthy, real food salad dressing ideas? Check these out and let us know what you think!
- Creamy Salad Dressing
- Sunflower Seed Dressing
- Probiotic Lemon-Garlic Salad Dressing Vinaigrette
- Creamy & Easy Homemade Ranch Dressing
- THM Probiotic Cucumber Ranch Dressing
- 28 Fermented and Probiotic Salad Dressings
Will you try this tomato vinaigrette?
This post was originally published and written by Wardee Harmon on 9/7/07. It was updated and republished on 6/15/20.
We only recommend products and services we wholeheartedly endorse. This post may contain special links through which we earn a small commission if you make a purchase (though your price is the same).
This looks refreshing and delicious Wardee, How did the family like it? warm hugs from Vermont
We really liked it! It is alot like French dressing, although I didn’t want to call it that because it might not be exactly that for everyone!
I wondered if it tasted like French dressing, it sounds a lot like my recipe:
1 T grated onion
1 t salt
2 T agave
2 T vinegar
2 T tomato paste
2 T lemon juice
1 t paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
I used to use white sugar in it but have replaced that with agave.
Now that looks very good! I would like to add grated onioin next time. We thought it tasted very much like French dressing, but I don’t claim to be gourmet enough to know for sure!
Hello I came across your blog while i was looking for allergies to fit my newly diagnosed food allergies… I see that this recipe calls for tomato paste… and you mentioned that you do have a family member who can not have garlic. I am having a hard time finding sauces without garlic I have been eating everything dry. Is there a recipe for tomato paste and sauce that would be fairly easy for a non cook like me?
Hi, Jess. If you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, their diced tomatoes and tomato paste are not seasoned in any way. If you use those, you can season them up how you like them in any particular dish. I know for sure that the tomato sauce at TJs has garlic, but you could also check their plum tomatoes or other tomato products. It is possible that the Muir Glen brand of tomatoes (health food store or health food section) are similarly made, but check the ingredient lists.
If you want to make your own, sauce comes from mashed or blended tomatoes (with or without the peel, with or without seeds, your preference) and cooked down to 1/2. Paste would be cooked down even further until it is super thick. This can be frozen or canned. You should refer to specific canning instructions (such as the Ball Blue Book of Food Preservation) to make sure your preservation methods are safe for long-term storage.
Please let me know if you need more info.