8 Ways to Use Salad Dressing (Slideshow)

Add ranch dressing to a mashed up avocado for a delicious dipping sauce for crackers and crudités. You could also use this sauce as a spread on burgers or sandwiches. 

Oil-based Italian salad dressing makes a great marinade for grilled chicken and steaks. If you’re planning on grilling burgers, try adding Italian dressing directly into your ground meat mix.

Balsamic vinegar becomes even sweeter and more fragrant when heated. Try adding balsamic vinaigrette to braised dishes for extra flavor.

If you’re making fried chicken from scratch, dip the pieces of chicken into a mixture of buttermilk and ranch dressing before dredging them in flour, batter, or bread crumbs. Not only will the chicken be juicy, it will be extra flavorful, too.

If you don’t have time to make a stir-fry sauce from scratch, check to see if you have sesame ginger dressing on hand. Simply add the dressing to your wok just before the stir fry is finished. Then, toss the ingredients a few times until they are coated in the dressing.

Tired of spinach dip? Try making a Reuben-inspired dip instead. Combine Russian dressing with sauerkraut and pastrami or corned beef in an oven-safe dish. When the dip is heated through, top with Swiss cheese and pop it in the broiler until the cheese melts. Serve with crisp wedges of rye toast for dipping.

If you need a quick and easy appetizer, toss cut tomatoes in Italian salad dressing and then place them on toasted slices of bread to make a mock bruschetta.

Give your potato salad a flavorful makeover by swapping some of the traditional mayonnaise with ranch salad dressing.