Other Uses for Italian Salad Dressing: Marinade, Dips, Toppings ... And so Much More!

There's nothing like Italian salad dressing on your salad, especially when you're eating Italian, like pizza or pasta. But Italian salad dressing has to be one of the most underrated and underused "condiments" around! Here are just a few of the other ways I've found to use Italian salad dressing when cooking.

Meat - Marinade

Chicken, steak, pork - it doesn't matter - Italian salad dressing will make it better!! I generally marinate chicken for 2-4 hours, beef for 4-6 hours, depending upon the cut. Pork chops or pork tenderloins are usually just marinated to taste. Fish? Try baking it in foil after marinating it with Italian salad dressing. Yum!

Here is my absolute FAVORITE use for Italian salad dressing! Mix a tablespoon of Italian salad dressing into hamburger patties before frying or grilling them. Great flavor, so tender, and they don't dry out! With the Italian salad dressing mixed into the meat, you really don't need to salt/pepper/garlic salt the outsides of the patties.

Vegetables - Stir Fry, Grill, Saute

Ok, so maybe not as healthy as your typical stir fry oils, but Italian salad dressing will really add terrific flavor to just about any vegetable. I particularly love it when I'm sautéing tomatoes and onions for a pasta dish (add a little garlic, a little pepper ... heaven!!).

If you're a baby boomer ... or from the South ... you've probably heard of (and tasted) "wilted lettuce." Again, this is not such a healthy use of lettuce, but it is very tasty. The original recipe for wilted lettuce goes something like this: Fry up some bacon, remove and crumble it over a bowl of lettuce. Mix water and vinegar (about a 1/3 cup each), a couple of tablespoons of sugar, salt and pepper. Pour it into the bacon drippings and heat to a boil. Pour over lettuce, add onions if you wish, serve immediately. I'm sure you can see how Italian salad dressing could be substituted for the bacon drippings mixture ... maybe toss in some Bacos if you really want that bacon flavor.

Another great use of Italian salad dressing is to blend it with mayonnaise, and pour it over sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions, tossing to blend.

Potatoes - The Works!