Walden Farms’ reformulated Ranch Dressing Tastes Good, But Note the Salt Content

Walden Farms recently announced a rebranding of its salad dressings to feature more natural ingredients.

Walden touts the dressings by saying they are “proudly free from artificial flavors and dyes, made with real vegetables, fruit fibers and ingredients. Offering a full line of specialty condiments and food enhancers with zero calories, zero net carbs, zero sugar and zero fat, Walden Farms uniquely provides consumers with unmatched attributes vs. other brands in the marketplace.”

While I applaud the no fat, no sugar message, I also would like to see some salt-free varieties offered. In e-mailing with a Walden representative, I requested a sample of the lowest salt dressing in the line, the Ranch dressing.

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The new Ranch is creamy and very tasty. I tried it on a salad but was thinking how good it would taste as a dip for fresh veggies. Walden actually offers a recipe for creating a veggie dip with the dressing:

Walden Farms Veggie Dip

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup Walden Farms Ranch Dressing or Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch Dressing
• 1 dried dill
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cups sliced vegetables, such as carrots, celery or cucumber

Instructions:
Combine seasonings with Walden Farms Ranch Dip in a medium size chilled glass; then add colorful array of sliced veggies.

One serving of the dressing, equal to two tablespoons, contains 160 mgs of sodium. That’s relatively low for a salad dressing or for a dip, so kudos to Walden on that.

But one serving would not be enough for the large lunch salads I make daily. You can see what one serving looks like on a salad I made recently in the photo gallery here.

I would normally use at least three servings on a salad, so that would be 480 mgs. of sodium.

So again, I applaud the low salt content, but would encourage Walden to try a no-salt dressing next. I’m all for trying that one.