I Taste-Tested 9 Store-Bought Caesar Salad Dressings—Here Are My Favorites
Ken's Steak House, Newman's Own, Wish-Bone, and more... this is the only brand I would buy again.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Sarah Crowder / Retailers below
A good bottle of salad dressing is refrigerator-staple gold. Its reliability guarantees you can have a satisfying salad every time or something delicious to drizzle over your stuffed pita or dunk your leftover pizza in. One of my all-time favorite salad dressings is creamy Caesar, but it’s also the one I’m least likely to make from scratch. That’s why I was excited to test out some of the biggest brands you can find at the grocery store to find the best of the bunch. I found a few winners, but also a few that should be left on the shelf.
The Best Caesar Salad Dressing
I’ve consumed my fair share of Caesar salads. While I love the traditional homemade version, made with anchovies and egg yolks, there’s something pretty special about a good bottle of the creamy stuff.
The best creamy Caesar salad dressings are pourable, not too thick or too thin, and capable of lightly coating leaves of lettuce versus weighing them down. They’re bright and acidic with big garlic flavor. They’re seasoned well but not overly salted, letting the flavors of it shine.
Finally, a good creamy Caesar salad dressing is luscious and satiny—gliding into all the fabulous nooks and crannies in your lettuce and croutons.
The 9 Brands of Caesar Salad Dressing I Tasted
The salad dressing aisle is a rather daunting one. To narrow the playing field for this taste test, I selected only nationally-available brands. I also only chose traditional creamy Caesar dressings, avoiding any with additional heat, spice, or other modifications. I tasted all of the dressings plain and then again after being tossed with romaine lettuce.
Here are the nine brands of Caesar salad dressings I tasted and compared to find my favorite.
Trader Joe’s Romano Caesar Dressing
The Least “Caesar” of the Caesar’s: Marie’s Creamy Caesar
When you buy Caesar salad dressing, you have certain expectations. Mostly that you’ll be on the receiving end of some pretty big flavor. If that expectation isn’t met, then it might as well just be ranch dressing.
Unfortunately, Marie’s made me question if I’d even bought the right dressing. This one tasted weirdly sweet, and more like ranch dressing than Caesar dressing. I missed the garlic, Parmesan, and other flavors of traditional Caesar dressings.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Sarah Crowder / Retailers below
Tastes Like a Restaurant's: Wish-Bone Creamy Caesar Dressing
If you frequent any fast-casual dining spots and order a Caesar salad, you’ll most likely get a dressing that tastes just like Wish-Bone's. It might even be this. I would place this brand's dressing in the “pleasant” category.
It tastes like Caesar, it is thin and pourable, and it has, as my grandmother would say, “a nice way about it.” There wasn't a robust garlic or Parmesan flavor, instead, the flavor was subtle, acceptable and nice, but not anything overly special.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Sarah Crowder / Retailers below
If You Really Like Mayonnaise: Newman’s Own Creamy Caesar
If you love noticeable mayonnaise flavor when it comes to creamy salad dressings, then this dressing was made for you. Even though this version was thinner and more fluid than many on this list, it was strongly mayonnaise-forward in taste and even a bit salty. The saltiness overpowered the Parmesan cheese and garlic flavors but felt tolerable when tossed with lettuce.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Sarah Crowder / Retailers below
The Creamiest and Dreamiest: Marzetti Supreme Caesar
Head to the produce section and grab a bottle of this delicious dressing for your next Caesar salad! This dressing delivered on all judging criteria. It was thick, but not heavy and was perfectly creamy without tasting overly rich. This was one of the few dressings where I could discern actual Parmesan cheese in both texture and flavor. It had a noticeable garlic flavor and good heat from black pepper. It was tangy and well-rounded and definitely the best of the bunch.
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