Olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, pepper.

Usually a little bit of olive oil, salt, and balsamic vinegar OR fresh lemon juice.

Blue cheese

Ave, true to Caesar.

Balsamic.

Cesar!

In a very small jar mix 1 teaspoon of miso paste (I like red, but yellow is a bit milder for most people), add some powdered ginger, granulated garlic and a little black pepper. Then add a 50/50 of olive oil and vinegar (white wine or rice are good, regular is fine, cider is too strong for this). With a spoon, smush the miso until it’s mostly dissolved. Put a lid on the jar and shake it like it owes you money! You can also add 50/50 yellow/red miso for a different balance of taste. Do not add any salt, that comes from the miso.

simple vinaigrette. Olive oil, French mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper (garlic, shallots). depending on the salad it’s wine vinegar (red or white) or apple cider vinegar, Dijon or à l’ancienne mustard. if i feel fancy I’ll add some herbs (tarragon is great) or some egg yolk for extra creaminess.

lately i have been mixing avocado, salsa and pure fermented habanero sauce and slapping that on lettuce and arugula it’s so good

Depends on the kind of salad!

If you mean the leafy greens kind of salad, I’m pretty variable in that I don’t have one specific favorite, and prefer to mix things up (bad pun intended).

Honey mustard, usually homemade if I have time and freedom to make it.

Russian and/or Catalina are pretty nice when used sparingly, particularly if there’s egg in the salad.

Vinaigrettes are great when I have access to antacids lol. Love the taste, but the heartburn can be a barrier.

Caesar salads need caesar dressing.

And, in a pinch, some lemon juice, salt, pepper and a bit of olive oil will get the job done.

For other salads, like potato salad, I do blends as well usually. But it’s going to be blends of Duke’s, Hellman’s and miracle whip. None of them are perfect by themselves for every combination of ingredients, so it comes down to tweaking each batch until it’s right. But usually it’ll start with a 2:1 of one of the two mayo brands to miracle whip. Sometimes it’s all three in equal measures to start. Rarely it’ll be the two mayos only, or miracle whip with either small amounts or none of the others.

That last is typically only going to be a specific egg salad that has no pickle relish, so it needs the bump of sweetness and acidity MW brings to the table that gets muddied with mayo added too.

It’s all about creaminess, flavor balance, and the palates of who will be eating.

I am trashy and stereotypical. It’s unironically ranch for me.

Caesar with anchovies, or a good vinaigrette for a non-caeser salad.

just olive oil and a bit of fresh lemon juice. I’m not that salad dressing kind of guy.

Depends on the salad.

(But let’s be honest, it’s usually ranch.)

Dry with pickled onions and some chicken.

I absolutely hate salads, but that is what I ate 5 days a week when I worked for a chain of bike shops. It’s how I lost my last bit of weight to get under 7% back when I was racing. Going from 350lbs to 220lbs wasn’t super hard while just commuting to work, and training/racing casually. Going from 220lbs to under 190lbs was super hard for me. Eating something I could barely tolerate meant I only ate what I absolutely needed because I was freaking starving… So, to me, while I hate salads, if I’m eating one, it is for a specific reason, and if I’m objective about that reason, I’m going to fit my opinion to what best meets those goals. Therefore, my favorite salad is the one I can only barely tolerate and will eat, but only as much as I absolutely must. Like seriously, I brought my lunch into my office and would eat a few bites over the course of hours. That too is a major aspect of real weight loss. How much you eat at any given point in time is very important.