Garden Salad with Creamy Italian Dressing

This homemade creamy Italian dressing will take your delicious garden salad to the next level! Using only 4 ingredients, this dressing comes together in a snap, and it tastes AMAZING!

Here are a few more salad recipes we think you’ll love – Quinoa Caprese Salad, Honey Lime Berry Fruit Salad, and Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwich.

Creamy Italian Dressing and the BEST Garden Salad

The weather is heating up FAST here in Arizona, which means it’s time to turn off the oven and cook meals that are both filling and fresh! There’s nothing better than a cool salad on a hot summer day, and this colorful garden salad is one of my favorites! Filled with crisp romaine lettuce, crunchy cucumbers, sweet peppers, and salty olives, the variety of flavors and textures is absolutely delicious! But don’t drizzle just any dressing you have in your refrigerator, because the magic of this salad happens with a homemade creamy Italian dressing!!

Sweet and tangy, creamy and delicious – this dressing is super easy to make and comes together using 4 simple ingredients you probably have on-hand all the time!

Serve this salad alongside a 20-Minute Focaccia Pizza, and let me know what you think!

How To Make It

Garden Salad – To start, I like to use a blend of spring mix with some Romaine lettuce for my garden salad. Then top it with your favorite chopped vegetables and cheese. For this recipe I used bell peppers, olives and cucumbers and cheese. These are some of my favorites so the blend was perfect!

Creamy Italian Dressing – The key to a delicious salad is a fantastic salad and my favorite is a homemade Italian dressing. To make this recipe, pour the ingredients into a separate bowl and whisk them together until they’re fully blended. Then add a little salt and pepper to taste. This dressing will stay fresh in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

More Easy Summer Salads

• Easy Taco Salad Recipe
• The Best Classic Cobb Salad
• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad
• Fresh Broccoli & Bacon Salad

How good does this look??? I love a meal that is light and fresh, yet totally filling! ENJOY!

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Garden Salad with Creamy Italian Dressing Recipe

Servings: 4 people

Homemade Creamy Italian Dressing will take your delicious garden salad to the next level! With only 4 ingredients, this dressing comes together in a snap, and it tastes AMAZING!

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Total Time:10 minutes mins

Ingredients

for the salad -

• 1 romaine lettuce heart
• 1/2 cup bell peppers, I used the mini sweet bell peppers, but you can use what you have.
• 2 Persian cucumbers
• 1 oz pitted olives, I used Nicoise, but black olives work well too.
• 1/5 cup cheese of your choice, shredded or crumbled

for the dressing

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 TBSP red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt + pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Wash and dry the fresh produce. Roughly chop the lettuce.
• Cut off and discard the stems of the peppers; remove the cores, then thinly slice or dice.
• Halve the cucumbers lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise.
• Roughly chop the olives.
• Combine all the produce into a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, oregano, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• Just before serving, add the dressing to the bowl of prepared salad ingredients; toss to coat. Taste, then season with salt and pepper if desired.

Nutrition

Serving: 2 cups · Calories: 172 kcal · Carbohydrates: 3 g · Protein: 2 g · Fat: 17 g · Saturated Fat: 3 g · Cholesterol: 12 mg · Sodium: 237 mg · Potassium: 98 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 2 g · Vitamin A: 1307 IU · Vitamin C: 25 mg · Calcium: 57 mg · Iron: 1 mg

Other Notes

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: 30 minutes or less, healthy, vegetables