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This tasty garlic lemon salad dressing with fresh chives bursts with vibrant, bright flavors! It’s the perfect compliment to all your fresh salads. Best of all, it’s creamy but egg and dairy free, too. If you like sweet and tart dressings, add a bit more sweetener. Trim Healthy Mamas, this is a low fat THM FP dressing with just under 2 grams of fat per tablespoon.

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It’s the dead of winter here so what uplifts the spirits on cold, drab days better than fresh citrus? Just cutting into a sunny, yellow lemon releases a burst of bright, lemony oils into the air. I don’t know about you but that instantly improves my mood!

Because maybe I can pretend for a second I’m in some warm climate in a grove of lemon trees. Which sounds far better than the middle of Indiana cornfields in freezing cold and gray January.

That beautiful lemony scent comes from the essential oil in the skin of the lemon. This oil has been used for many hundreds of years in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine because of its many benefits.

You find it in natural cleaning products, too – not only for its uplifting scent but also its cleaning power. Lemons are just lovely, all around!

But let’s get down to business – my new lovely Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing.

What Do I Need For This Recipe?

While I generally try to not use a bunch of special ingredients, there is one you’ll want for this dressing. I use THM “Gluccie” (aka gluomannan powder) to thicken this dressing. Xananthan gum is also an option, I’m just not a big fan of it, personally.

The glucomannan powder thickens and helps give a creamy consistency without the need for dairy or egg yolks.

You could omit a thickener entirely if you want but the dressing will be very liquidy, more like a vinaigrette.

Otherwise, you just need a few simple ingredients:

• Fresh lemon juice (bottled will work but fresh has the best flavor)
• On-plan non-dairy milk
• Olive oil
• Fresh chives
• Fresh garlic
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sweetener (I use either THM Pure Stevia Extract or Super Sweet), optional

Do You Have To Use Fresh Ingredients?

If you don’t have fresh lemon juice, chives, or garlic on hand you can certainly use what’s in your pantry. It will still be delicious but the flavor not as fresh and vibrant.

Use the same amount of bottled lemon juice. For garlic powder and dried chives, here’s the conversion amounts to start with, adjust to your taste preferences.

For garlic powder, use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic powder.

To substitute dried chives for fresh, use 1 teaspoon dried for every tablespoon of fresh in the recipe. This ratio works for fresh vs dried herbs in general.

Tips On Making And Storing My Low Fat Lemon Garlic Salad Dressing With Chives.

Want more salad dressing recipes? Check out my Salads and Dressings category!

You’ll probably notice that your non-dairy milk looks curdled after adding it to the lemon juice. Don’t panic! This is normal. Once you whisk in the olive oil and thickener it becomes beautifully smooth and creamy.

I’ve not made this with actual dairy milk, so I can’t say the same thing will happen if you choose to use regular milk instead of a non-dairy plant based milk instead.

How To Add The Thickener.

When adding a powdered thickener such as glucomannan powder, sprinkle a bit on and whisk well, sprinkle more on and whisk, and keep doing that until it is all whisked in.

Then, keep whisking for about a minute. The dressing will thicken as it stands. In about 5 to 10 minutes you’ll have a lovely thick and creamy dairy free salad dressing.

Alternatively, you could blend this dressing using a blender of some type. A stick blender in a mason jar works well, or a bullet blender. I wouldn’t use a regular blender unless making a double or triple batch of dressing.

Just be sure to stir in the chives AFTER you blend all the other ingredients.

By blending instead of whisking it will thicken more quickly.

For Best Flavor, Give It A Chill.

While you certainly can use this dressing as soon as you make it, the flavor will be best if you let it chill in the fridge for a while. I’d give it a couple hours at least or even better – overnight.

This allows the flavors to mingle and mesh and turn into a fresh flavor party.

NOTE: I love a good, tart and tangy dressing. If you don’t you might want to cut back on the lemon juice or add more almond milk or even water (to keep fat grams in a good FP range). Adjust seasonings as needed.

How To Use This Low Fat Creamy Lemon Garlic Dressing In Your Trim Healthy Mama Meals And Snacks.

Since this lovely lemon and chive salad dressing is low in both fats and carbs, it’s considered a THM FP (Fuel Pull). As written, each tablespoon has just under 2 grams of fat per serving.

You could also reduce the fat by using 2 teaspoons of olive oil instead of a full tablespoon. This would make each tablespoon around 1.5 grams of fat.

Low fat Fuel Pull salad dressings are the best! They go with any fuel type, and since this is a dairy free recipe it also works for Deep S meals. Just make sure to have plenty of healthy fats elsewhere in your Deep S meal or add more olive oil to this recipe.

One of my favorite salad combinations is a big bowl of greens with red onion, air fryer roasted sweet potatoes, cold cooked beets, and this dressing.

The tartness of the lemon balances the sweetness of the sweet potato and beets. And of course, garlic and chives just bring so much flavor to the party, right?

If you can have dairy, a sprinkle of goat cheese would be fabulous! Just watch how much cheese you use if you’re having a THM E salad.

It’s also good as a veggie dip, for wraps, or as a marinade for meats and veggies. The possibilities are endless!

How will you use this dressing?

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