18 Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings with Garlic

While a 1-to-2 acid-to-oil ratio is common for vinaigrette, shifting it to 1-to-1½ yields a dressing with a brighter flavor and fewer calories. That means for every ½ cup of acid, such as vinegar or lemon juice, use 3/4 cup of oil. Here's a good all-purpose take on the formula.

This creamy garlic dressing recipe is enriched with low-fat buttermilk and low-fat mayonnaise. Try this thick, garlicky dressing as a sumptuous topping for potato, pasta or romaine salads.

This garlicky mustard vinaigrette is great to have in your repertoire as it goes with almost anything. The recipe makes plenty so you can fix it once and then have it on hand for several days. The garlic is delicious but bold here; use fewer cloves if you want to tone it down.

Roasted garlic gives this Asian-inspired dressing a deep, nutty flavor. It's great on any combination of salad greens, or use it as a dipping sauce for dumplings.

This tomato-garlic vinaigrette recipe is like an Italian grandmother's sauce for salad. Don't be afraid of the anchovies! They elevate this salad dressing to a different level. Use leftover vinaigrette tossed with whole-wheat penne or fusilli for a delicious pasta salad.

This easy vinaigrette recipe is like a simpler version of Caesar dressing. Try it over grilled romaine, in a wrap or tossed with roasted vegetables.

Use this tangy, creamy cilantro-avocado dressing on a salad of romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes and black beans, with crumbled tortilla chips or toasted pine nuts on top.

This versatile red-wine vinaigrette recipe is a healthy dressing for your salad but it's also delicious drizzled on grain salads or over grilled or roasted vegetables.

Rich roasted garlic makes an incomparably flavored dressing. Try this on any salad with bold-flavored greens or ingredients.

Lemon juice, a touch of anchovy paste and minced garlic make this healthy salad dressing an eggless, not-creamy version of Caesar.

The sunny fresh flavors of tart lemon and cool mint combine to make a lively dressing that adds sparkle to salads made with steamed vegetables, potatoes or grains, such as couscous.

A homemade cousin of bottled French dressing.

Here is a great, all-purpose salad dressing. The pleasing pungency of Dijon mustard makes it a good match for slightly bitter greens, such as escarole, chicory, radicchio or Belgian endive. It also makes an irresistible dipping sauce for crunchy vegetables (especially fennel) and crusty whole-wheat bread.

Double this recipe to have extra dressing on hand for tomorrow night's salad.

This herbaceous and healthy salad dressing gets a tangy flavor from buttermilk, richness from avocado and brightness from fresh herbs. Try it on sliced tomatoes, cucumber salad or chopped chicken salad and as a dip for carrot sticks, celery, peppers and radishes--you name it! It would also make a great spread for sandwiches.

Orange and lime combine with Dijon mustard and garlic to make a quick, easy vinaigrette that's as tasty on freshly cooked vegetables as it is on salad.

Extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice are the backbone of this dressing, but it gets a unique toasty flavor from tahini.

Try this orange-walnut vinaigrette with a salad of bitter greens.