Kraft Free Catalina Dressing

Not being a great fan of Catalina dressings, I was reluctant to try this dressing but there are obviously some people who like this dressing because they keep making it. Personally I don’t know anyone who does love this style of dressing. When I first smelled this dressing I immediately thought of ketchup because it had the look and smell of tomatoes. This pretty much describes the taste as well. It does taste of tomato sauce but with a little sweetness to it and this gave the dressing a little more depth of taste. It was not unpleasant to eat but like many others it was little more than tolerable for me.

The list of ingredients for this dressing is pretty much what you would expect with tomato puree (water, tomato paste) being the leading ingredient. This is followed by high fructose corn syrup, vinegar, corn syrup, water, salt, and less than 2% of modified food starch, soybean oil, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA (preservatives), dried onions, phosphoric acid, dried garlic, guargum, xanthan gum, yellow 6, vitamin 3 acetate, red 40, blue 1. This is fat-free and cholesterol-free which is desirable but it is not carb-free because it contains 11g (4%) with 7g of sugar and 350 mg of sodium which causes it to rated high in my list of dressings. The calorie rating is in the low range with 50 calories per serving.

As I stated earlier, this is an offering in the Catalina line with typical tomato smell and taste. It does contain Vitamin E (from the tomatoes) but no other vitamins. Since my preferred taste in dressings is not oriented toward Catalina dressings it is hard for me to rate this one. I would like to hear from someone else’s experience with this and other Catalina dressings.

Taste Rating = 3 bottles
Overall Rating = 3
Style Category = Catalina
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low
Nutritional Category = low
Sodium Category = high

Wishbone Light Honey Dijon

This dressing from Wishbone used to be called “Just 2 Good” but it is not. This dressing has more of a sweet taste than others based on Dijon mustard. This taste is more like a honey mustard dressing because there is no “zip” to it. The taste is not bad just kind of weak. It seemed that I had to use more to be able to taste the dressing or it would be overpowered by even a weak salad.

The calories in this dressing are not too bad (50) and fat calories = 20 but as I mentioned above I tended to add more than the proper serving size in order to be able to taste the dressing. The ingredient list is pretty much on par with the other however in the list of leading ingredients are high fructose corn syrup, sugar and honey. These are 3 of the top 6 ingredients and lead to the 6g of sugars and 8g total carbs.

This dressing is a good choice if you like a sweet tasting honey Dijon dressing. It is not as sweet as a Catalina type dressing but more than usual for a Dijon dressing. The sodium of not too bad (250 mg/10%) and if you can stick to the serving size it is fairly good on calories.

Taste Rating = 5 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = Honey Mustard
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med low

Ken’s Steakhouse Lite Northern Italian with Basil and Romano

Normally I am not an Italian dressing lover – even a full-calorie version, however this one is a pretty good one. The smell is not extremely strong but the flavor is full-bodied and smells like basil and oil. It is somewhat thin like all Italian dressings are but this one is full of suspended particles included light-colored ones (probably the Romano cheese, dark ones (probably the basil), and some larger chunks (which appear to be red peppers). There are enough of these to make me feel like the dressing really includes them although I cannot pick out the distinctive tastes.



Once again, this product calls itself “Lite” by comparing it to its regular dressing. It claims it has “60% Less Fat 60% Fewer Calories” and advertises that it has “still only 1g carbs per serving”. I don’t know why it used the word “still” unless it has recently changed the ingredients. It also compares itself to its regular version stating this has 5g of Fats vs. 15g and calories of 50 vs. 130 so I guess this proves it is a light version.

It contains a list of ingredients that is much more extensive that the ones I have reviewed so far. The list is water, distilled vinegar, vegetable oil (soybean and/or canola), Romano cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), salt, and that it contains 2% or less of high fructose corn syrup, dried garlic, dried red bell pepper, dried onion, basic, spices, lemon juice concentrate, xanthan gum, annatto and turmeric, beta carotene, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives. It is the first one I have reviewed that indicates it has any real nutrimental value when it states that it has 2% of daily value of vitamin A, 4% of vitamin C, and 2% of calcium. Stay away from this dressing if your diet required you to be careful of the sodium levels because it has 330 mg which is 14 % of the daily value.

The label calls this product a marinade as well as a dressing and I cannot attest to this but I frequently use Italian dressings as part of my home-made marinades. This appears to be thicker than some other Italian dressing and in my book this is a good trait and makes this a good choice for a light Italian dressing.

Taste Rating = 5
Overall Rating = 4
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = medium calorie
Nutritional Category = low
Sodium Category = med high

Wishbone Light Italian Dressing

Do you know anyone who prefers Italian dressings? I don’t know anyone like that and it sure isn’t me. I usually only choose it when there is no other choice for light dressings. The reason for this is that they all seem the same to me. This one is no different. There is nothing wrong with it but then there is nothing especially good about it either.

This dressing has the typical look and texture of Italian dressings with a fairly watery consistency with particles suspended in it. These particles are garlic, onion, and red peppers and give it a little bit of tangy flavor that you can taste for a little while after you finish eating your salad. This is a good thing because at least when you are finished you can remember you ate something.

This dressing is good in total fat (2g) , total carbs (4g), calories (35) but is fairly high in sodium. So, if your taste runs toward Italian dressings, this one is certainly worth a try. It does compare favorably to full calorie Italian dressings so that is good. Don’t expect too much and you won’t be disappointed.

Taste Rating = 5 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med high

Girard’s Fat Free Red Wine Vinaigrette

I’ll say right from the start that I’m not a fan of dressings that smell or taste like vinegar and this one does both. It comes in different shaped bottle and the color reminds me of strawberry syrup but unfortunately it does not taste like it. I have not tried many other red wine vinaigrettes but I anticipate that they will all taste similarly but I really can’t imagine that anyone really likes this flavor. I use red wine vinegar a good deal in cooking but I have not tried adding it to a salad but this dressing smells like the bottle I use in cooking and I guess would taste similar to it.


This dressing does have a few things going for it in addition to the fat-free status; it has only 20 calories per serving as well as 0 calories from fat. The total carbs are not terrible at 5g and sugars 5g but it is high in sodium at 590 mg. I guess there are some people who enjoy this type of dressing but I am not one of them and I will not be in a hurry to use this one again. The remainder of my dressing will probably be relegated to being used in cooking.

Taste Rating = 1 bottles
Overall Rating = 2 bottles
Style Category = Vinaigrette
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = high