Kraft Light Three Cheese Ranch

Using the word “light” seems almost stretching the point with this dressing – in more ways than one. It is thick and creamy. In fact it is thicker than most other full Ranch dressings. It also seems to contain almost as much fat calories (70) and even calories (80) and sodium as other full dressings. Even with all of that going against it (in my opinion) I have to say I like this dressing. It does say “50% less fat and 33% fewer calories than regular dressing”. I probably need to add to my to-do list to check this out. Does it mean against their (Kraft) regular dressing or against the one on the market with the highest fat and calories?

It reminds me a lot of mayonnaise with a little of something else added to give it taste. I guess this is where the cheese comes in to play. If you study the list of ingredients you find that it contains Parmesan, Romano cheese and then further down it lists cheddar cheese. The taste is not very strong and it is not objectionable. In fact, after putting it on my finger to taste it I feel like I would like to just eat more of it by itself. Most dressings would be too much without being offset by the taste of other food with them but this one is not overpowering but also not too weak. It really doesn’t have the tangy taste that I usually look for in a dressing but I find it has pleasant taste that I could eat over and over again – except for the fat calories I might be inclined to do so.



Taste Rating = 7
Overall Rating = 6
Style Category = Ranch
Fat Category = high
Calorie Category = high
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = high

KRAFT LIGHT RANCH

The advertising slogan for this dressing is “has the taste of regular dressing!” and for once I think I’d agree. This dressing has the smell of mayonnaise with a hint of something else, possibly eggs and garlic. It is very thick and pours slowly. Don’t expect it to drip down to the lower part of your salad because it is too thick for this – you must mix it up yourself to get the salad to the bottom. I see this as a good trait of this dressing. The flavor is pleasant with no strong after-taste and is strong enough to make a difference in your salad enjoyment.

Like other so-called “light” dressing this is compared to Kraft’s regular offering and states that it has “50% less fat and 33% fewer calories than regular dressing.” This may be true but it still has 4.5 g of fat and 70 calories per serving. I have trouble with the serving size which always (I think) 2 tblsp. I don’t think I could ever just use 2 tablespoons of dressing. It always takes more than that but this is used by all dressings that I have seen. This dressing is one of the first I’ve reviewed that contains cholesterol (10 mg/3%). I guess this is due to the egg yolks in the dressing. The list of ingredients shows no surprises. It consists of water, corn syrup, soybean oil, vinegar, egg yolks, modified food starch, salt sugar and contains less than 2% of garlic juice, monosodium glutamate, phosphoric acid, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and calcium disodium edta as preservatives, artificial color, polysorbate 60, spice ( I wonder what kind?), dried parsley, lemon juice concentrate, lactic acid (I thought that built up in your muscles during exercise?), natural flavor contains milk. This is another dressing that contains a high amount of sodium (370 mg or 15%). The label indicates that there is no nutritional value in this dressing but it does contain fats and sugars.

This dressing is a good offering in the Ranch type of dressing and if the calories, fat, and sodium content are agreeable to you then you should try this dressing. It is better than most that I have tried - especially better than the “light ranch” offerings in restaurants where the dressing just appears to be a thin, watered down version of their regular ranch dressing.


Taste Rating = 6
Overall Rating = 5
Style Category = Ranch
Fat Category = low fat
Calorie Category = medium calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = med high

KRAFT FREE ZESTY ITALIAN FAT FREE DRESSING

This offering from Kraft distinguishes itself by the fact that it is not just a low-fat dressing but completely fat free while retaining the flavor of a regular Italian dressing. It has the typical thinness of an oil-based dressing with the different bits of light, dark, and red particles floating in it. The smell is vinegary (as could be expected) and the taste is strong enough to cause a little pucker on the first bite. But this dressing has another factor that makes it a reason to choose it and that is because it is low calorie along with being fat free. It only has 16 calories per serving which is the normal 2 tablespoons.

The list of ingredients contains mostly the expected ones such as water, vinegar as the largest percentage but then adds high fructose corn syrup which is not always present. After these comes salt and then less than 2% of the following ingredients; dried garlic, soybean oil (this is new also), garlic, modified food starch, xanthan gum, dried onions, dried red peppers, spice , yellow 5, yellow 6 (what are these?), potassium sorbate and calcium disodium EDTA as preservatives. It offers very little in the way of nutrition, however, but it does have a couple of drawbacks; first, it contains 2gs of sugar (which is not terrible) but second, it contains a whopping 480 mg of sodium or 20% of the daily recommended value. This alone lowers the overall rating one point on my scale, but may make little difference if sodium is not a problem for you.

This dressing is a good choice if your preference leans toward an Italian style dressing. It has a lot going for it – mainly the fact that it is fat free and low calorie. It has a full-bodied taste and typical texture and appearance. The only drawback I find is the large amount of sodium in it and a small after-taste which is not especially pleasant but not too bad either.

Taste Rating = 5
Overall Rating = 4
Style Category = Italian
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = low calorie
Nutritional Category = none
Sodium Category = high

Kraft Free Roka Blue Cheese Flavored Dressing

Personally I have not tried too many Blue Cheese dressing until now. Most of the time they have too many calories and too much fat so I have stayed away from them even though I love Blue Cheese. After trying this one I think I need to sample some of the other brands, not because this one is bad but just the opposite. This one is not really low on calories or carbs but it is not too bad.

Note, this one is called “Blue Cheese Flavored” and I guess that they do this because the tasted must not be caused by the tiny amount of blue cheese in the dressing. It is very near the bottom on the list of ingredients. Still, I think it is a pretty good imitation of blue cheese.

This dressing has the traditional smell of other blue cheese dressings and the taste compares favorably to non-fat free dressings. It is not too tangy but has a bit of a “salty” taste if you taste it away from any other food. I would like this more if it were lower in sodium because it is high with 350 mg and carbs (11g) but if nothing else I am now going to be looking for more blue cheese dressings to compare it to.

Taste Rating = 6 bottles
Overall Rating = 5 bottles
Style Category = Blue Cheese
Fat Category = fat free
Calorie Category = med calorie
Nutritional Category = little except Vitamin E (8%)
Sodium Category = med-high

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