Healthy Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

Since it's St Patrick's Day this week, we will be making corned beef and, of course, Reuben Sandwiches with the leftovers!  For the Reuben's, we decided to make a low-fat homemade Thousand Island dressing, which has all the creamy and tangy flavors of the classic but with a healthier twist.  So, the fun started!

Our Philosophy

So, we absolutely love food and trying out different cuisines and recipes! We do try to be healthy and reduce calories and fat in our cooking when we can; it's all about savoring every bite and enjoying the flavors, but there are some dishes that we can't compromise calories on - like mashed potatoes! We believe that the butter and milk are what make them so rich and creamy. We've experimented with adding cheese before, and it was a tasty twist, but we usually stick to the classic recipe without any cream or cheese. We only have mashed potatoes sometimes, but just thinking about them makes us crave them again, especially with some delicious corned beef on the side. Actually, it sounds like a perfect combination. I know what I'm having for dinner tonight!

Reimagined Recipes!!!

Let's talk about our philosophy! We believe that if the food doesn't taste good, why eat it? Therefore, we don't settle for bland diet food to lose weight. That's not worth it! Instead, we have decided to recreate the recipes we love the most. We have been successful in reimaging the majority of the recipes. However, some recipes didn't go as planned, like when we attempted to make homemade cocktail sauce. That recipe had too much Horseradish, and it still burns my nose!

On the other hand, for this Thousand Island recipe, we started by writing down what we thought would work. Then, we immediately began testing. After three tries of tweaking, adding, subtracting, and taste testing, we found the perfect blend of low-fat and flavor. It's a win!

Amy and I are really enjoying this opportunity to share our life journey. It's so much fun when we change an old recipe by cutting the fat or take something like Thousand Island dressing and make it lower in calories. Taking on the challenge of lightening up recipes and this weight loss journey are some of the most fun times we've ever had. Right up there with my best memories of being a kid when I was going to horse shows with my Dad and the fun times with my kids growing up.    

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

Reuben sandwiches are definitely one of my all-time favorite sandwiches! However, we don't get to enjoy them as often as we'd like because we don't usually have corned beef around. Also, the sandwich can be pretty high in calories, which is not ideal for our weight loss goals. But when we do decide to indulge in a Reuben sandwich, we make sure it's worth it! So, our mission was to figure out how to make a classic Reuben sandwich that still tastes great without sabotaging our weight loss efforts. We're happy to say that we've accomplished our mission!

So here's what we came up with.   There are so many ways to cut calories in a Reuben-

1. Cut off all of the extra fat from the corned beef.
2. Use low-fat Swiss cheese or less cheese.
3. And the biggest savings is in the dressing!  So, most homemade Thousand Island dressing has a base of mayonnaise.  There are 458 calories in ½ cup of mayonnaise.  WOW!  I know, you're probably thinking, "HOLY COW, how much Thousand Island Dressing does she put on a sandwich?"!!!   I didn't get overweight from eating fruit!!! 🤷🏻‍♀️

On our weight loss journey, we feel every little bit of calorie reduction counts, and that's why it's important to be mindful of the ingredients we use in our recipes. For instance, adding just a tablespoon of mayonnaise-based Thousand Island dressing can add 94 calories to your meal. In our recipe, we use low-fat sour cream as a base, which is much lighter, with only 29 calories per tablespoon or 169 calories per ¼ cup. And the best part is, our recipe is even tastier than the one that uses mayonnaise! We also used sugar-free ketchup and reduced the sugar by half compared to the full-fat version. Lastly, we added some habanero for extra flavor and a little kick!

My new favorite Thousand Island dressing!!!

Here's the difference in the recipe.  We used calorie counters on the web to figure up the calories.    Based on ½ Cup.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing ---  Calories - 604  

Store Bought Thousand Island Dressing --- Calories - 462  

This Recipe Thousand Island Dressing ---  Calories - 251

This dressing is so good it doesn't have to be used for just a Reuben.  It's delicious as a dip and will be AMAZING on a Turkey Burger.  

We hope you enjoy this Homemade Thousand Island Dressing as much as we have.  I'm totally obsessed with this recipe.  

Are you searching for more recipe options? We have a few suggestions that you might enjoy:

• Homemade Baked Tostadas with Chicken - Taste the best version of crunchy tostadas without the guilt. Our secret: Baked tostadas with chicken or turkey. That's right - baked!
• Spicy Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms - Delicious stuffed mushrooms with bacon, cream cheese, and light ranch dressing. Add habanero for an extra kick. Perfect for sharing at any gathering.
• Sesame Peanut Pasta Salad - This cold Sesame Peanut Pasta salad is a perfect blend of sweet & spicy. The fresh, crunchy veggies, ginger & peanut butter perfectly coat the pasta.