15 Ways To Use Salad Dressing That Don't Involve Lettuce

Is there any condiment as versatile as salad dressing? What other condiment comes in such huge variety? From the super-simple vinaigrettes to creamy staples like ranch and green goddess, to dressings with monickers of dubious origin like French, Russian, and Italian, there's something for every palate and every salad. Humans have loved salad dressing for millennia, with both the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians adding oil and vinegar to their leafy greens. There's a reason why most households have multiple bottles of salad dressing in the fridge and why most home cooks have a go-to vinaigrette recipe on hand.

However, no matter your preferred dressing, don't let this extremely versatile and varied condiment linger only on your lettuce. There are near-endless ways you can use your favorite salad dressing with no need to ever break out the salad spinner. Wherever you need a sauce, moisture, or marinade, salad dressing is there to help. Here are some of our favorite ways to use salad dressing that don't involve lettuce.

Pick up a bottle of marinade and a bottle of salad dressing and glance at the ingredients lists. You'll probably see a fair amount of overlap. Oil-based dressings and marinades both often contain not only oils but also acidic ingredients like citrus juice, vinegar, wine, or soy sauce. In fact, some dressings are so similar to marinades that they're marketed as suitable for both uses, as is the case with Ken's Steak House Italian Dressing & Marinade.

So, if you want to marinate a steak or salmon, but don't have a bottle of marinade on hand and don't want to make some from scratch, reach for your favorite bottle of oil-based salad dressing. As you decide between your options, look for dressings with flavor profiles that complement that of your overall meal. An Asian-inspired dressing works for marinating beef for a stir-fry. An Italian dressing is a good pick for chicken that's served alongside pasta.

Braising is a popular cooking method because it produces a large amount of flavor with little effort, and it's especially effective at turning typically tough cuts of meat into succulent morsels. Braising requires that you sear your primary ingredient, like a cut of meat, first, then cook it slowly and at a lower temperature, in some sort of liquid.

This liquid would usually be made by adding flavorful ingredients (like onion and garlic) to the pan in which you seared your primary ingredient, like that tough cut of meat. There, the onion or garlic would then meld with all the pan drippings. After that's cooked, you'd add a liquid like broth or water to the pan, deglazing the pan and creating your flavor-heavy braising liquid. You'd then add your meat back to the mix and start the slow, low-heat cooking process. However, for greater flavor with fewer ingredients, consider adding salad dressing to the pan at the time of deglazing. Any dressing with acidic notes, like those from wine or vinegar, will add a burst of extra flavor to an otherwise boring braise.

The next time you make homemade bread, like biscuits or dinner rolls, don't skip the crucial step of glazing that baked good when it comes out of the oven. Adding a glaze serves multiple functions, giving your baked item an attractive sheen, locking in the item's moisture, and adding extra flavor, whether that flavor is basic and buttery or big and bold. There are numerous staple ingredients that can be used to glaze bread, including oil, butter, eggs, cream or milk, and honey — and your favorite salad dressing, too.

If you might normally use an oil or butter glaze on your dinner rolls, for example, try using a tasty Italian or Greek dressing, which will give you the oily sheen you want, but also extra flavor from the garlic, herbs, and spices often found in these salad dressings. If you might normally use a milk or cream-based glaze, try a creamy salad dressing in its stead, such as ranch or Caesar.

If you're not putting salad dressing on your burgers and sandwiches at home, you're missing out. You probably already eat some version of salad dressing on burgers and sandwiches anyway, especially when you dine out. Ordered a sub at Jersey Mike's and got it "Mike's Way"? You just added a basic Italian dressing to your sub, thanks to the chain's blend of olive oil, red wine vinegar, and spices. Meanwhile, plenty of burgers come with ranch dressing, and you've probably heard the theory that McDonald's Big Mac sauce is really just Thousand Island. And mayonnaise? If it's not a salad dressing, it's definitely salad dressing's creamier sibling.

Beyond just slathering your favorite salad dressing on a bun, though, get a little creative. Add ranch or Italian dressing to the exterior of your grilled cheese sandwich for extra flavor, extra fat, and a crispy crust that's the perfect compliment to the sandwich's gooey interior.

As mentioned, mayonnaise is pretty salad dressing-adjacent, so it makes sense that you could use salad dressing in most places you might use mayonnaise: such as in potato salad. Typically, a very basic potato salad is made with just potatoes, mayonnaise, the textural ingredients of your choice (like chopped boiled eggs or pickles), and some herbs and spices. However, consider adding salad dressing to the mix for a new take.

Green goddess dressing — with its creamy (sometimes mayo) base, dash of acidity, and flavor from anchovies and herbs likes tarragon — can mimic the creaminess of mayonnaise, but provide a deeper flavor profile than mayo alone. Want a potato salad that's on the lighter side, with no mayonnaise? Or maybe you need a vegan option, which makes traditional mayonnaise and Greek goddess dressing both a no-go. Try tossing your potatoes and other ingredients in a basic oil-based dressing, like a bright and cheery vinaigrette.

If you have a box of pasta, a few fresh veggies, and a bottle of salad dressing, you're only a few simple steps away from a delicious dish that's refreshing and light as either a summer side or an easy, refrigerated entrée (that's great for meal prepping, too). Just cook your pasta (any shape) according to the directions on the box, let the cooked and drained pasta cool, chop up your veggies, and mix it all together with the salad dressing of your choosing, adding the salad dressing to taste.

Need a little inspiration? An oil-based Italian or Greek salad dressing is the most obvious option here, but you can also use creamy dressings. As for the raw veggies that you include, consider cherry tomatoes, diced cucumbers, diced bell peppers, and/or diced onion. A sprinkling of Parmesan cheese never hurt, either.

For step-by-step instructions, you can adapt any favorite pasta salad recipe you have on hand to use up some excess salad dressing. Just remove the herbs, acidic ingredients, and oil your original recipe might call for, and rely on your chosen salad dressing, instead.

Compound butter is super-simple to make, but it's one of those items that, when it appears alongside the table bread at your next dinner party or holiday meal, will feel oh-so-extra-fancy. You can make all sorts of compound butters, both savory and sweet, using an array of fresh herbs, spices, finely chopped dried ingredients like sun-dried tomatoes or dried cranberries, or other flavorful ingredients like honey or maple syrup. You can also incorporate some salad dressing. Just add your chosen ingredients to softened butter, mixing thoroughly before use.

Be careful not to add so much salad dressing that you inadvertently thin out the butter. Less is more in this case. If you do accidentally add too much oily dressing to your butter, you can switch gears and make a spreadable whipped butter, using a ratio of two parts butter to one part dressing. When you're done, serve it with bread, baked potatoes, grilled vegetables, mashed potatoes, atop a steak, or even just on some egg noodles.

If you're looking to give your standard chicken wings a new spin, salad dressing can help. After all, wings are already typically served alongside ranch or bleu cheese dressing and, if you take a look at the wing flavors at major chains, you'll notice that there's a lot of overlap between wing and salad dressing flavor profiles.

For example, if you go to Buffalo Wild Wings, you can choose wing sauces like parmesan garlic, lemon pepper, or Asian zing. Multiple brands sell Parmesan and garlic salad dressings, including Ken's Steak House, Kraft, and Newman's Own. Lemon herb vinaigrettes are likewise no stranger in the salad dressing aisle, with options available from Kraft and Wish-Bone. Asian sesame dressings are also pretty popular.

If you do add salad dressing to your next batch of homemade wings, just be sure to add the dressing at the correct time. Always toss the wings right after cooking, to ensure the wings stay crispy, not soggy, and that the dressing doesn't burn.

We're not just talking about dipping your carrot sticks in ranch. Salad dressings and vegetables work well in a variety of scenarios.

Toss a three-bean salad or a cabbage-based slaw in either a creamy or an oil-based salad dressing. Toss grilled, sautéed, or roasted veggies in a vinaigrette. If you would normally cook the veggies in an oil, swap it out for an oil-based salad dressing. For example, roast just about any vegetable, like squash, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and/or broccoli in the oven in some Italian dressing. Anywhere you plan on eating vegetables, you can probably add some salad dressing for extra flavor.

As you add on the dressing, don't worry about negating all your veggies' health benefits. A myriad of research has actually found that the fatty oils in salad dressing can help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamin A, D, E, and K.

Grain bowls are popular options for meal prepping, as you can make a big batch of grains, like quinoa or rice; split the grains into multiple servings; and store the grains until you're ready to eat, topping them with your other, fresh ingredients at that time. That said, if you're just adding some fresh veg to a serving of plain rice or quinoa, your tastebuds are probably going to be less than impressed. However, if you add salad dressing to those veg ahead of your work day, and then let them sit in the break room fridge for a few hours, they can grow soggy.

The solution? Add the salad dressing to your grains after they're cooked and cooled, when you separate and store them or just before you add your fresh vegetables or similar grain bowl toppings. The grains will handle the extra moisture much better, even with a few hours of sitting, so you'll enjoy both great flavors and great textures come lunchtime.

Just like you can toss some potatoes or asparagus in some salad dressing before popping them into the oven on a sheet pan, you can do the same with chicken. If you're baking some chicken breast for an easy dinner, you're likely brushing it in olive oil ahead of time, so use an oil-based salad dressing instead, for extra flavor without even thinking. While Italian dressing is a favorite, Greek dressing is also a good fit, as are dressings with bright, complimentary flavors, such as those that incorporate lemon, mustard, or honey.

If, though, it's too late for that and you've already cooked your chicken and now have a dry, overcooked breast on your hands, salad dressing can help in this instance, too. Shred the chicken, mix in the dressing until coated, and then use it on its own or anywhere you might use cooked shredded chicken, such as on a sandwich or in a wrap.

Use salad dressing to marinate or baste salmon, or add it to the pan right as you're finished pan-searing it. It's an easy way to add extra flavor to a salmon filet, without making a sauce from scratch. While you're at it, cook some vegetables using the same method and same salad dressing, and you have a complete meal.

Not every salad dressing is going to be a great fit for salmon, though. You might want to steer clear of the Thousand Island dressing and, while some may like ranch dressing with their salmon, it's not a safe bet for every occasion. Instead, try an Asian-inspired salad dressing with sesame and ginger, or a light Mediterranean-inspired salad dressing with citrus fruits. Vinaigrettes make a versatile option, as well.

If you already have a salmon recipe you love, but no time to go to the grocery store, you can use salad dressing in some recipes in place of the called-for oil, herbs, and spices. For example, if you're making a baked salmon recipe that combines olive oil with tomatoes, heavy cream, oregano, and basil, try swapping the olive oil and herbs out for Italian dressing.

If you're accustomed to Americanized tacos, you might associate taco night at home with a box of bland corn shells, ground beef, shredded lettuce, and some shredded cheese — and little in the way of flavor. Salad dressing can help rescue these sad tacos, and provide a little extra oomph to any taco, to be honest.

The best tacos arguably come with some sort of tasty sauce adding moisture and flavor to the combo of meats, veggies, and cheese within your tortilla, and we're not talking something basic and boring like sour cream. For your standard taco, try salad dressings with a hint of lime or cilantro. Dressings with zingy citrus flavors work well with carnitas tacos and tacos al pastor. For something on the creamy side, opt for a ranch infused with chipotle or avocado.

Not really into typical tacos? Use an Asian-inspired salad dressing on Korean tacos. If you're more in the mood for breakfast tacos, choose any of the above options. You might just be surprised at how well some of these salad dressings pair with eggs.

Speaking of eggs, toss in some salad dressing the next time you whisk up some scrambled eggs and see how it improves both the texture and flavor of your finished dish. When making scrambled eggs, whisking in another ingredient is key to achieving fluffy, creamy eggs. While many argue over whether or not water or milk is best for this, others go outside the realm of the usual and opt for creamier ingredients, like mayonnaise or, in this case, creamy salad dressing.

Add a few dollops of ranch dressing to your scrambled eggs and whisk thoroughly. The creamy fat in the ranch dressing will likewise make your scrambled eggs creamier and fluffier, and the dressing's flavors will shine through just enough to give your eggs an herby, tangy, tantalizing twist. If ranch isn't really your thing, consider adding a salad dressing with a umami kick. Anything with a soy sauce base is a good contender.

Yes, you probably have dipped your fair share of pizza crusts in ranch dressing in your life (if you're a ranch fan, that is). However, why stop there? Use salad dressing on your pizza in other, more creative ways.

Use ranch dressing as your pizza sauce on a premade pizza crust, ditching the typical tomato. You might also consider adding vinaigrette to your homemade pizzas. A tangy vinaigrette works well on a cheesy, fatty pizza, but don't add it before baking. Instead, drizzle the vinaigrette over your pizza as soon as it comes out of the oven, like you might drizzle high-quality olive oil onto your pizza. If you find that you've added too much salad dressing, you can add some fresh greens, like arugula, to help soak it up. If that still sounds like too much dressing for your liking, do as suggested earlier, and use an oil-based dressing as a glaze, brushing your pizza crusts with it.