Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

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10 minutes mins

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By: Rachel GurkPosted: 03/11/2020

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Easily made from scratch, homemade Thousand Island dressing is so much tastier and more economical than store bought.

Recipe Overview

Why you’ll love it: The dressing can be used on salads, as a sandwich or burger spread, or as a delicious fry sauce.

How long it takes: 10 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: small bowl or jar
Servings: makes 1 ¾ cup

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (1)

Table of Contents close

  • 1 Recipe Overview
  • 2 Thousand Island Dressing (It’s the Secret Sauce)
  • 3 Why Is It Called Thousand Island Dressing?
  • 4 How To Make Thousand Island Dressing
  • 5 Ways to Make This Dressing your own
  • 6 Storage Tips
  • 7 More Dressing Recipes
  • 8 Get the Recipe: Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

Thousand Island Dressing (It’s the Secret Sauce)

Ever wonder what that “secret sauce” on a Big Mac is? Or maybe you wonder what makes a Reuben sandwich taste so good (besides the corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese)? Well, here’s the secret: Thousand Island dressing!

  • It’s so versatile. We love Thousand Island dressing because it has so many uses. It’s just amazing on a sandwich, whether it’s a hamburger or turkey burger, or a classic Reuben or Rachel sandwich. It’s the perfect dressing for these oven baked turkey sliders (aka Rachel sandwiches).
  • Add it to sandwiches and burgers. Please don’t settle for plain ol’ mayonnaise on your sandwich! Make it much more interesting and delicious with creamy, tangy and slightly sweet Thousand Island dressing.
  • Top your salads. Some salads just call for a good creamy dressing, especially salads with romaine or iceberg lettuce. Have you ever tried Thousand Island dressing on taco salad? Yum! Or try mixing Thousand Island dressing with coleslaw mix to make a knock-out coleslaw. Don’t these Reuben eggs Benedict made with Thousand Island dressing sound delicious? Can’t wait to try those!
  • Easy ingredients. You make your own homemade version using ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry or fridge. Nothing compares to homemade dressing! It’s so much fresher tasting and you can customize it to your own preferences.

Why Is It Called Thousand Island Dressing?

Here’s a little bit of history if you’ve ever wondered where the name Thousand Island comes from. The dressing originated in the Thousand Islands region, an archipelago of 1,864 islands located along the upper St. Lawrence River between the United States and Canada. Who created this dressing first is sort of a mystery, as there are many people claiming to have been the first person to make it.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2)

How To Make Thousand Island Dressing

It’s pretty simple. You’ll need only nine ingredients, and two of those ingredients are salt and pepper. While there are often only 3 ingredient recipes for this dressing (mayo, ketchup, pickle relish), the extra ingredients add more layers of flavor.

You’ll only need one small bowl. Begin by stirring together mayo, ketchup, sweet pickle relish. Next, stir in a tablespoon of white vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar, amping up the sweet/sour flavor. For the final touch, stir in a little finely chopped onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Make it ahead. For the best flavor, prepare the dressing at least an hour or up to 24 hours in advance so the flavors have a chance to integrate, and the onion and garlic soften up a bit.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (3)

What’s the Difference Between Thousand Island and Russian dressing?

Although the two dressings are similar, it appears that Russian dressing was created first, sometime in the mid 1800s. Thousand Island dressing is most likely a variant of Russian dressing, appearing in the early 1900s. Both dressings are mayonnaise based and contain ketchup or chili sauce. Russian dressing tends to have hot sauce or horseradish, while Thousand Island dressing more often includes chopped pickles, onions, peppers, and/or hard boiled egg.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (4)

Ways to Make This Dressing your own

There are many ways you can customize Thousand Island dressing. Here’s a few ideas but feel free to experiment. Make your own “secret” sauce!

  • Add an egg. Many Thousand Island dressing recipes call for a finely chopped hard boiled egg. Keep in mind, this will reduce the length of time you can store the dressing in the fridge. I’d toss it after a week.
  • Don’t care for garlic or onion? Leave it out. You could substitute finely chopped peppers or olives.
  • Try a different kind of vinegar. Cider vinegar, rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar would all be fine although each would lend a slightly different flavor to your dressing.
  • Pickle relish options: I confess that I don’t always have sweet pickle relish in my pantry so I often use dill relish for this dressing and it tastes great! Alternatively, make it without relish. Or just chop up a few pickles and add those.
  • Add spicy heat. If you want to spice it up, add a little hot sauce, chili sauce, or horseradish, to taste.
  • Make it keto. Use avocado oil mayonnaise and a no-sugar-added ketchup. Skip the sugar, and use dill pickles instead of sweet.

Storage Tips

Refrigerate leftover Thousand Island dressing in a glass jar or airtight plastic container. It should keep for at least a week.

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Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (9)

Recipe

Get the Recipe: Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

4.58 from 57 votes

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 10 minutes mins

14 servings

Print Rate Recipe

Easily made from scratch, homemade Thousand Island dressing is so much tastier and more economical than store bought. Use it for salads, sandwiches, or as a delicious fry sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup sweet pickle relish (dill relish or chopped pickles can be substituted)
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons finely diced onion
  • ½ teaspoon finely minced garlic (about 1 clove)
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or jar. Refrigerate for at least one hour to let flavors meld.

Notes

  • Makes 1 ¾ cups.
  • Refrigerate dressing in an airtight container or jar for up to 1 week.
  • Variations: add hot sauce, chili sauce, or horseradish. Add 1 chopped hard boiled egg, if desired (use dressing promptly).

Nutrition Information

Serving: 2tablespoons, Calories: 123kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 0.2g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.03g, Cholesterol: 7mg, Sodium: 218mg, Potassium: 19mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 86IU, Vitamin C: 0.4mg, Calcium: 3mg, Iron: 0.1mg

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© Author: Rachel Gurk

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Reader Interactions

Leave a Review

  1. Bev says

    Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (17)
    Yummy!!!!!
    Much better than store bought!

    Reply

    • Rachel Gurk says

      So glad you like it! Thank you for leaving a review!

      Reply

Older Comments

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

FAQs

What are the ingredients in Hidden Valley Thousand Island dressing? ›

Soybean oil, water, high fructose corn syrup, sweet relish (cured cucumber, high fructose corn syrup, distilled vinegar, salt, onion*, red bell pepper*, xanthan gum, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate as preservatives, calcium chloride, natural flavor, polysorbate 80, oleoresin turmeric [color]), tomato paste, ...

What are the ingredients in Ken's Thousand Island dressing? ›

Soybean Oil, Sweet Pickle Relish (Cucumber, Sugar, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Xanthan Gum, Natural Flavor, Spices [including Mustard Seed, Celery Seed], Minced Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Turmeric), Water, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Tomato Paste, Egg Yolk, Contains Less Than 2% Of Salt, Xanthan Gum, Mustard Flour, Onion,* ...

What is the difference between Ken's Russian dressing and Thousand Island? ›

Both are Russian dressings, but Ken's uses mayonnaise, so it's creamier. Russian dressing is often described as a spicier thousand Island without the pickles. Ken's version fits that description better.

What are the ingredients in American Garden Thousand Island dressing? ›

Water, Vegetable oils , Vinegar, Sour Relish(Cumcumbers, Vinegar, water, salt,Xanthan Gum, Corn Syrup Solids, Tomato Paste, Contains less than 2% of : salt, Modified corn starch , chilli sauce, egg yolk, Mustard flour, Propylene glycol alignate, Xanthan Gum, Onion powder, Titanium Dioxide, spice, caramel, Calcium ...

What dressing is the same as Thousand Island? ›

Russian and Thousand Island have lots of other cousins, too. McDonald's Big Mac sauce is sort of a cross between Thousand Island and Russian dressing, but it omits sweet ketchup in favor of the horseradish-like burn of mustard. Then there's comeback sauce, comparable to Thousand Island without the pickle relish.

Is Thousand Island the same as secret sauce? ›

Thousand Island dressing is widely used in fast-food restaurants and diners in the United States, where it is often called "special sauce" or "secret sauce".

Who made the original Thousand Island dressing? ›

Who invented Thousand Island dressing? Tour guides will tell you it was the chef of billionaire George Boldt and his wife. But Alan Benas has uncovered a different origin story. He now bottles and sells a version based on a recipe discovered in the safe of a century-plus-old restaurant.

What is the difference between French and Thousand Island dressing? ›

French dressing tends to be a tangy vinaigrette with a liquid or semi-liquid consistency, while Thousand Island dressing is a creamy and tangy dressing with a thicker texture, often containing mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish.

Why is Thousand Island dressing called Russian dressing? ›

The condiment came to be called "Russian" since the original recipe included caviar, a staple of Russian cuisine. Local historians claim that the mayonnaise-based version was invented in Nashua, New Hampshire, by James E. Colburn in the 1910s.

What is Thousand Island dressing called in Germany? ›

Thousand Island is called American Sauce in Germany.

What is in Dorothy Lynch dressing? ›

Ingredients: Tomato Soup (Water, Tomato Paste, Modified Cornstarch, Distilled White Vinegar, Salt, Rice Flour, Sodium Benzoate added as a preservative, Citric Acid, Onion Powder), Sugar, Soybean Oil, Vinegar, Salt, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Potassium Sorbate to maintain freshness, Nisin (Natural Preservative).

Is a Reuben Thousand Island or Russian? ›

Sauce - A traditional Reuben sandwich uses creamy Russian dressing for the sauce, but Thousand Island dressing is another popular option that tastes really similar, albeit slightly sweeter with a bit less kick than Russian dressing.

What is the most popular salad dressing in the United States? ›

Ranch Dressing

The ranch is hands down America's most beloved salad dressings. It is made from a number of ingredients such as buttermilk, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, onion, chives, salt, and pepper.

Is Chick Fil A sauce Thousand Island dressing? ›

As the company tweeted out in 2012, the Chick-fil-A sauce is just a mixture of honey mustard, barbecue sauce, and ranch dressing. Yes, that's it.

Does McDonald's use Thousand Island dressing? ›

McDonald's Big Mac Sauce is similar to Thousand Island dressing, but they're not the same. Thousand Island dressing normally incorporates ketchup, while a lot of Big Mac Sauce recipes incorporate French dressing. French dressing gives it a bit of a tangier flavor than ketchup does.

What is the main ingredient in Hidden Valley ranch? ›

If Ranch is your favorite, take a look at what's in the leading ranch dressings and then see which brands are Closest To Homemade®. HIDDEN VALLEY FAT FREE RANCH >> THE FIRST FIVE INGREDIENTS ARE WATER, BUTTERMILK, CORN SYRUP, MALTODEXTRIN AND SUGAR.

What are the ingredients in Hidden Valley Secret Sauce? ›

Vegetable Oil (Soybean And/or Canola), Tomato Puree, Buttermilk, Sugar, Salt, Vinegar, Egg Yolk, Less Than 1% Of: Habanero Pepper, Spices, Garlic (Dried), Onion (Dried), Paprika Extracts, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium Phosphate, With Sorbic Acid, Calcium Disodium ...

What's the difference between mayonnaise and Thousand Island dressing? ›

Thousand Island dressing is a flavorful condiment that typically includes mayonnaise as one of its ingredients, along with ketchup, sweet pickle relish, and other flavorings. Using Thousand Island dressing can add a tangy and slightly sweet taste to your hamburger, along with a creamy texture.

Is Thousand Island dressing high in sugar? ›

Thousand Island dressing contains 948 calories per 250 g serving. This serving contains 88 g of fat, 2.7 g of protein and 37 g of carbohydrate. The latter is 38 g sugar and 2 g of dietary fiber, the rest is complex carbohydrate.

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