Made with just a handful of ingredients, this Thousand Island Dressing tastes a thousand times better than any store-bought version. Make this homemade salad dressing in minutes and add to salads, sandwiches, burgers, or use as a dipping sauce!
Easy Homemade Salad Dressing
A little sweet, a little zesty, and super creamy this Thousand Island Dressing is a huge hit in our house. It’s super easy to make and tastes so much better than the bottled version from the store! We love this on our salads, especially a Big Mac Salad, but it’s also great on burgers, sandwiches, or used as a dipping sauce.
What Is Thousand Island Dressing?
Thousand Island Dressing is a classic American salad dressing with a mayonnaise base. In addition to mayo, it’s made with ketchup, relish, vinegar or lemon juice, and sweet paprika. It’s creamy with a light tomato flavor and a slight tang from the relish and vinegar but is overall pretty sweet. It’s great on salads but also burgers and sandwiches too.
Russian Dressing vs Thousand Island Dressing
Russian Dressing is another ketchup and mayo-based salad dressing. It’s very similar to Thousand Island Dressing with two main differences – it’s made with horseradish instead of (or in addition to) relish and often includes chili sauce. While the other ingredients are almost identical to Thousand Island Dressing, the horseradish makes it a bit spicier.
Thousand Island Dressing Ingredients
There are just a handful of ingredients needed to make this homemade dressing.
(Scroll to the bottom for our easy printable recipe with the complete directions.)
- Mayonnaise – The creamy base of the dressing.
- Vidalia onion – Diced very fine.
- Ketchup – Creates the pink color and sweetens the dressing.
- Relish – Sweet pickle relish is typically used for the sweet flavor.
- White vinegar – Lemon juice can also be used.
- Sweet paprika
- Salt
Recipe Variations
As with any popular recipe, there are a million ways to switch up your homemade Thousand Island Dressing. Here are a few ingredients you could possibly add.
- Finely diced hard-boiled eggs
- Worcestershire sauce
- Tomato sauce instead of ketchup
- Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce
- Horseradish for a spicy twist
- Cocktail sauce
- Minced garlic
- Dill relish
How to Make Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Making this homemade salad dressing is quick and easy! You simply whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Use it right away or store for later. We do recommend making it 24 hours in advance so that the flavors have time to meld. To make this recipe, sScroll to the bottom for our easy printable recipe with the complete directions.
Proper Storage
Homemade Thousand Island dressing should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight jar. It will keep for up to a week. I do not recommend storing it in plastic jars. While you can use it immediately, I recommend making this 24 hours in advance so that the flavors have time to meld. Stir or shake before serving.
More Dressing Recipes:
- Green Goddess Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Poppy Seed Dressing
- Homemade Italian Dressing
- Homemade Ranch Dressing
- Cilantro-Lime Dressing
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!
Homemade Thousand Island Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sweet Vidalia onion , finely diced
- 2 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar (or lemon juice)
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Whisk all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.
- Use as desired.
- While you can use it immediately, we recommend making this 24 hours in advance so that the flavors have time to meld. Stir or shake before serving.
This was delicious!! First time ever to make it & so much better than store bought dressing. I will save this one for sure.
Tastes exactly like your typical thousand island dressing, but this recipe is 10x better with fresh onions and sweet relish!
Simple and delicious. Great for homemade burgers
Tonight we are having Dungeness crab salad, and this is exactly what I was looking for. I used the suggestions you made, used chili sauce and lemon juice. Didn’t have any sweet pickle relish, so I finely diced some sweet cherry peppers. It tastes amazing! I didn’t think I liked Thousand Island dressing!
This was SO good! No more store-bought in our house!
The recipe was really good.
Delicious! So much better than store-bought. Enjoyed this on some pumpernickel with roast beef.