Better Than Store Bought Thousand Island Dressing or Dip
This thousand island recipe is a creamy, from-scratch dressing made with simple pantry ingredients and no preservatives. It’s perfectly balanced—slightly sweet, tangy, and rich—and comes together in just minutes. Use this homemade thousand island dressing as a classic salad dressing, a burger or sandwich sauce, or an easy dipping sauce. Because it’s made from scratch, you can easily adjust the flavor and thickness to suit your taste.
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 5 minutes mins
Course Appetizer, condiments, Salad, sauces
Cuisine American
Servings 8
Calories 214 kcal
- 1 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 1 sweet pickle
- 1 dill pickle
- 1 Tbs dill weed
- salt and pepper to taste
First, add mayo, mustard, and ketchup to a medium size mixing bowl. Whisk together until smooth and well incorporated. This mixture is the base for your dressing, but still needs the "thousand islands" and some seasoning.
Next, finely chop your sweet pickle and dill pickle. The size of the chunks is up to you. Consider if your thousand island will be for pouring or dipping. It's hard to pour large chunks.
Then, stir in the pickles.
Add your salt, pepper, and dill weed to taste. I typically add a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Also, I love dill, so I add close to a tablespoon of dill weed.
Finally, whisk it all together. Then, taste your thousand island dressing. How's the texture? Add pickle juice to thin it out if needed.
Then, transfer to a pretty jar, creamer, or ramekin for serving.
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Texture matters: For the best homemade thousand island dressing, start with a thick mayonnaise base so the dressing clings well to salads, burgers, and wraps.
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Finely chop add-ins: Mince the relish and onion very finely to keep the texture smooth and evenly flavored.
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Chill before serving: Let the dressing rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This allows the flavors in this thousand island recipe to fully blend and develop.
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Adjust to taste: Taste and adjust sweetness, tang, or salt as needed. Small changes make a big difference in from-scratch dressings.
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Storage: Store homemade thousand island dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within a few days. Stir well before serving, as separation is normal.
Calories: 214kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 1gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 13gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 479mgPotassium: 72mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 143IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 16mgIron: 0.3mg
Keyword from scratch dressing, salad dressing, thousand island, thousand island, 1000 island, salad dressing,