We did something crazy in the month of January.
We stopped eating meat.
Chicken, pork, beef – we gave it up cold turkey (pun intended). It was easy for Scott. He was a vegetarian before I met him. Once I became the primary chef, meat began to make an appearance. I’m terrible, I know. It was actually my idea to forgo meat for a whole month, and if we’re being honest, it wasn’t that hard.
And no, we didn’t live off salads, although they did make an appearance quite often. And they were far from boring.
I love Greek salad. I could eat one as a meal any day of the week. Peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, big chunks of feta; it’s so satisfying. Often, the part that makes it the most irresistible is the creamy dressing. Sure, a vinaigrette is good too, but sometimes you want to indulge a little. And I’ve made a healthier creamy Greek salad dressing so I can feel a little less guilty about indulging.
The base of my recipe is yogurt and olive oil. To jazz things up a bit, I blend together a shallot, garlic and red pepper and sent it for a quick whiz in the food processor. Then I season it with red wine vinegar, lemon, oregano and sometimes I’ll even stir in some crumbled feta. Super easy, and way more flavourful than dressing from a squeeze bottle. Trust me!
This Healthy Creamy Greek Dressing also works wonders as a veggie dip, or mayo replacement on sandwiches and wraps. Its versatility will have you whipping up a batch on the regular!
Healthy Creamy Greek Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 small shallot roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 1 tbsp minced red pepper
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Fry the shallot in a small skillet with a small amount of oil until starting to soften. Raw onion can be overwhelming, and by sautéing first, it helps to cut the bite.
- Transfer the shallot to a food processor, along with the garlic and red pepper and pulse until the onion, garlic, and peppers are in small pieces.
- Add in yogurt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano and sugar. Pulse until well combined.
- Season with salt and pepper. You may also wish to adjust the lemon and vinegar to taste.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. Keeps for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Nutritional calculation was provided by WP Recipe Maker and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator
We have all of these ingredients on hand right now!! Annnnnnnnd, we’re obsessed with Greek salad. We’ll definitely be trying this recipe 🙂
Love to load my salads with dressing and this is a great way to make it healthier. I definitely plan on trying it. What’s the measurement for the olive oil though? Just says 1/4.
Hi Jessica, good catch! sorry I missed that. It’s 1/4 cup, and the recipe has now been updated 🙂
This sounds delicious! Are you cooking the garlic and red pepper with the shallot?
Hi Cathy, only the shallot is sautéed (to help take away some of the bite of raw onion). I like the flavour of a little bit of raw garlic, so I didn’t sauté it. If you want the flavour toned down a bit, by all means, cook the garlic for about 1 mins with the shallot. Red pepper is raw as well.
Thank you for sharing.