Italian dressing

Italian dressing
	A dish of Italian dressing
Type	Salad dressing or marinade
Place of origin	United States
Main ingredients	Water, vinegar or lemon juice, vegetable oil, bell peppers, sugar or corn syrup, herbs and spices
Variations	Creamy Italian

In American cuisine, Italian dressing is a vinaigrette-type salad dressing that consists of water, vinegar or lemon juice, vegetable oil, chopped bell peppers, sugar or corn syrup, herbs and spices (including oregano, fennel, dill and salt) and sometimes onion and garlic.

The creamy Italian variant adds milk products and stabilizers.^[1]

Italian and creamy Italian dressings are often bought bottled or prepared by mixing oil and vinegar with a packaged flavoring mix consisting of dehydrated vegetables and herbs.

Despite its name, Italian dressing is not used in Italy, where salad is normally dressed with olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, salt, and sometimes balsamic vinegar at the table, and not with a pre-mixed vinaigrette.^[2]

In North American cuisine, Italian dressing is also used as a marinade^[3] for meat or vegetables, for stir-frys, and on sandwiches. Pasta salads sometimes include Italian dressing.^[4] The caloric content of Italian dressing varies widely.^[5]

^ Y. H. Hui & Frank Sherkat (2005). Handbook of Food Science, Technology, and Engineering. CRC Press. p. 139. ISBN 9781466507876. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ Biba Caggiano (2002). Biba's Northern Italian Cooking. Penguin. p. 188. ISBN 9781440623912. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ Ernest A. Liner (2005). The Culinary Herpetologist. Bibliomania. p. 147. ISBN 9781932871067. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ Melissa Barlow (2009). 101 Things to Do with a Salad. Gibbs Smith. p. 59. ISBN 9781423614357. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
^ "Salad Dressing Calorie Counter". CalorieLab. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-07.

[1] Y. H. Hui & Frank Sherkat (2005). Handbook of Food Science, Technology, and Engineering. CRC Press. p. 139. ISBN 9781466507876. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[2] Biba Caggiano (2002). Biba's Northern Italian Cooking. Penguin. p. 188. ISBN 9781440623912. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[3] Ernest A. Liner (2005). The Culinary Herpetologist. Bibliomania. p. 147. ISBN 9781932871067. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[4] Melissa Barlow (2009). 101 Things to Do with a Salad. Gibbs Smith. p. 59. ISBN 9781423614357. Retrieved 4 February 2016.

[5] "Salad Dressing Calorie Counter". CalorieLab. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-07.

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