There are many recipe variations for Thousand Island dressing, but this version has been a favorite in Alexandria Bay, NY (the Heart of The Thousand Islands) for nearly 50 years.
This recipe proves how a great dressing can become immensely popular and then be ruined by corporate profiteering interests once they start cutting corners. This dressing is NOT the orange colored 1000 Island we are all used to having. The combination of ingredients bring out excellent flavor as a dressing or veggie dip. I use it in my restaurant and customers who don't like 1000 Island love this dressing. Once you try it you'll know why it became so popular and wonder why every brand of 1000 Isle on the market is orange or pink! Dan
Read MoreI love Thousand Island, but this particular recipe didn't appeal to me.
Read More This recipe proves how a great dressing can become immensely popular and then be ruined by corporate profiteering interests once they start cutting corners. This dressing is NOT the orange colored 1000 Island we are all used to having. The combination of ingredients bring out excellent flavor as a dressing or veggie dip. I use it in my restaurant and customers who don't like 1000 Island love this dressing. Once you try it you'll know why it became so popular and wonder why every brand of 1000 Isle on the market is orange or pink! Dan
I grew up in a tiny town in the midwest and we had this cafe run by some woman who is no longer with us and she made the absolutely best homemade thousand island recipe. This is the first recipe I have come across that gets even close to hers. It's really good! I even dip Ritz crackers in it for a quick snack late at night.>. weird huh?
I must concur with all the other reviewers. This dressing is wonderful! I used to love 1000 Islnd, but found that over the years the ready made stuff has bvecome too sweet or cloyingly sour. And what is up with the color. So when I ran out of all other dressings at home and saw I had all of the ingtreds to make this, I decided to see how it came out. Well, I really love this! Mine came out slightly pinkish - from the red peppers I guess, The taste is perfect, and even before I had the salad made I was dipping veggies into it. Only additions were salt. a smidge onion powder (1 tsp.) and black pepper. Thanks, Local 1000 Islander!
My bf made a concerned face when he saw that my homemade version of his favorite dressing was not orange. But he freaked out after he tasted it, and now he wants me to make it all the time, and he is constantly eating salads drowned in this stuff as snacks. Maybe I should make my next batch with light mayo! :)
Made this today. It was very good. I will keep it on hand at all times. My kids even like it. Very easy. Thank you!
Hubs requested a salad with Thousand Island Dressing for supper tonight and, while I was really enthusiastic about this recipe, I went into it with a great deal of skepticism, thinking he would never go for it - because it wasn't orange-ish. I was even tempted to add paprika or a dab of tomato paste just to psych him. In the end, I decided against it and prepared it just as is. To my surprise, delight and relief he remarked that the color of the dressing was an immediate tip-off that this was the real deal, the house made stuff you get in great supper clubs. I agree. This was beyond delicious, so different from commercially prepared Thousand Island dressings, and worth the few extra steps it took to make it.
A little bit of Heaven atop a bed of crispy romaine! Wow! Everyone loved this dressing. Thanks to the local 1000 Islander! This is a keeper at my house! PS...I must admit I left out the cloves. But it was still amazing.
This was very good. I hate olives so they were out. I used reduced fat mayo and it worked well. We also used this as a topping on a hamburger. Thank you.
This is a great TI dressing! I didn't have any red peppers or cloves on hand, so those were omitted. But I added a teaspoon of chili sauce that gave it some color and a little bit of that extra taste that the peppers may have provided. Thanks so much. I will definitely be making this again!
Thank You! I've been looking for a good thousand for a long time. Our family loves this we even dipped our homemade fries into it tonight. I followed the recipe exactly and it made 6 1/2 cups. Reminds me of the dressings when I was a kid, thanks again.
Needed Thousand Island dressing to finish making reuban sandwiches, this was WONDERFUL! :-) Thanks for the recipe!
I used Miracle Whip and left out the cloves and olives and it still turned out WONDERFUL!! A little sweet and sour, so I think the next time I make this again, I will cut down on the vinegar and cut out the sugar all together. Thanks for the recipe!!
Light and delicious! I used this to make reubens and they turned out fantastic. Next time I think I'll cut the sugar out completely as the red bell pepper sweetened it up enough. Cut the recipe in half and it still made a ton, so be prepared. Made a very, very tasty dipping sauce for salted yam french fries! Also good when mixed with horse-radish and served with salmon cakes. In fact, that was probably the best use for it.
This was a great dressing. I think it was the red pepper that made it so much better than other thousand island dressings I have made in the past. I did add about 1 tablespoon of ketchup to appease those family members that wouldn't try it if it didn't have the orange color. Thanks for a great recipe!
Incredible! My husband only uses 1000 island on his salads, but gets the store bought kind. I made this as a surprise for him on Father's Day and he told me this was how 1000 island is supposed to taste! Loved it so much he says I've ruined him now--he'll only want me to make this. Thanks for posting!
This is wonderful, with ingredients that I would not have thought of, so obviously hadn't had authentic TID before. The only addition I made was to add about 2T of ketchup for color and a bit deeper flavor.
A keeper! I used it for a dressing on reuben sandwiches. Everyone who tasted it wanted the recipe. One of those recipes that's even better if you make it just a little bit ahead to let the flavors blend.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! It is AWESOME! I am making the Reuben Pizza recipe I recieved from allrecipes and wanted a homemade Thousand Island dressing for it... I searched the allrecipes data base and found this one... INCREDIBLE! The only thing that I changed was I used roasted red peppers instead of raw... very yummy! I also used 1/2 less fat mayo and 1/2 regular mayo to lightened the fat content. Again, THANK YOU! I will never use any other Thousand Island dressing... by the way, my husband doesn't care for Thousand Island dressing, he LOVES this recipe... he is putting it on everything he can think of! This dressing definately dance's all over your tongue with flavor!
First let me say you must let this set for at least an hour or longer. When I first tasted it I though "just mayo". I cut the recipe in 1/2 and added the following: 1/2 t onion powder & garlic powder 1/2 t cayenne 1 1/2 T horseradish After sitting overnight. WOW this is good stuff.
This is the real deal! It's rich, creamy, and tastes like a true Thousand Island. Just a heads up: This is made with mayo and Worcestershire so it's NOT going to be orange like the bottled kind. This dressing is light brown. As a color experiment, I decided to add a little paprika and got it to come out with a slight salmon color.
Agree with most everyone else. 1) Wonderful flavor. 2) What's up with the pink commercial 1000 Island?
I don't like 1000 island dressing except on rueban sandwiches, which is why I didn't have any on hand. I had some leftover corned beef to make sandwiches with, but no dressing, until I stumbled upon this recipe. Many 1000 recipes were ketchup, mayo and relish (yuck!) Let me tell you, after tasting this dressing, and following the recipe exactly, I am an authentic thousand island dressing lover! It made my ruebans outstanding, and I will never go back to the sorry dressing they call 1000 island in the stores! Thanks!!!
12/10/2010-Both my husband and I said this was the BEST 1000 Island dressing we've ever had. He loves 1000 Island dressing and I don't so I had been buying the bottled dressing. The only changes I made were: omitted the red bell pepper (put it on the shrimp louis salad instead) and added about 1-2 Tblsp. Heinz ketchup (to make it look like store bought) and about 1 tsp. of grated horseradish for just a little bite. After eating this he said that the bottled dressings really overpower the food, especially after a couple bites. This is a keeper and is so easy to make. Try it, you'll like it. :) 1/12/16 - Made it again except followed the recipe with only one change - used bottled roasted red peppers - we still said it was the greatest 1000 Island dressing EVER!!! The recipe makes a lot! Enjoy it!!
This is a great recipe. I did not have red peppers, so I substituted cayenne pepper powder to taste. It turned out very tasty, and a bit of tang which was nice.
I made this exactly as written and when I first tasted it, I didn't care much for it, thought it was tart and wished I hadn't used that much vinegar. I added about another tablespoon of sugar but that didn't seem to make much difference. Oh, well, I put it in the refrigerator (the recipe made SO MUCH, that I didn't want to pitch it right away).... Then I tried it today, and OMG this is to DIE for!!! My point is, let it mellow for awhile, it definitely needs to let the flavors mingle. Yesterday 2 stars, today at least 5 - 6 stars!
Really good! I put a bit of ketchup instead of the sugar...and omitted the olives...just my taste, but the recipe is good as written.
My husband loves Thousand Island on salad and hambugers so I decided to make this for him to enjoy while I was away. I agree that you should at least make it one day before you plan to serve it. I also added 2 TBSP of tomato paste to give a little extra color and taste. I love it! So far I've had it on a reuben, hamburger, ham sandwich and the best was on a chef salad! OOH it was so good! I'll never buy a bottled version again!
the abslute best! the only problem for my clients was the color, so i add a few drops red die or a teaspoon tomatoe paste. this is REAL thousand island!
I agree with DANMAN commercial Thousand Island has ruined a once exquisite salad dressing. This is how it should taste! All of the ingredients blend to make such a unique flavour. I have found this dressing keeps well for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.
Thank you for this recipe!! I am now totally addicted to Thousand Island!!! The first time I made it ( it makes 6 cups), I ate salad everyday- used it on baked potates and dipped my fried mushrooms in it. Heck, I put it on everything! I didnt know that Thousand Island dressing could be so good!!
This recipe ROCKS?I've made it twice now and didn't tell my family/guests what it was until they tasted it, all loved it and were surprised since normally they might not like commercial Thousand Island dressing...This will always be in our fridge, thanks so much!
This recipe was a little too tangy for me with the amount of vinegar, olives and pickles. It will be a better sauce or dip perhaps than it was a dressing.
As a vegan, I made a few changes to this really excellent recipe. I omitted the eggs, used agave nectar in place of the sugar, used vegenaise and kalamata olives. This turned out sooooo good! We haven't eaten 1000 Island in years. It's now a staple!
Sorry, I am used to the Thousand Island that most people use. This was more like a sandwich spread and too time consuming to make. I like the "pink stuff". I usually make my own with crushed tomatoes instead of the ketcup one. Once you make homemade, whatever your version, you no longer like store bought bottle dressing. It is always fun to try something new and it was interesting the history of this recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
Very good dressing, but I would probably cut back on the olives. Also substituted some of the mayo with soured cream.
Love it. I did not add the eggs because I was not sure how long it would last before going bad. It would be easier for me to just add some of the egg in a smaller portion the day I would use it. I also did not have a red pepper on hand but I did have roasted red pepper in the fridge and used that. I gave half to my Mom and only made half the recipe. Now that I know how good this is I wish I did the full amount! Oh, the thousand Island I had in my fridge has been thrown out! Yup, it's that good.
Very good and easy to make. I always bought the ready-made thousand island dressing but I will stop buying now. Thanks you.
This is absolutely delicious. I simply mix it up in a 1 qt. jar; I add enough catsup (for color) to the top.
This dressing is delicious. I am not an egg fan though. If you love eggs in your salad you will flip over this recipe. I now make with out mixing in the eggs and it is perfect for me.
This recipe is fantastic, I'll never use anything else! I make a batch and share with my neighbor. It's a real crowd pleaser!!
The answer to my thousand island search!! It's wonderful on vege salads and burgers. I've replaced my standard mix for macaroni salad with this. Even my husband, who can't stand thousand island on his ruben sandwiches, has used this version. Thanks so much!!
I was looking for a homemade Thousand Island dressing because I do not like the bottled ones. When I read that the person who shared it was from the Thousand Island region I knew it had to be good. I didn't change anything, though I was going to omit the black olives and red pepper, I decided not to. This dressing is very good, even my children liked it. We made Burger in a Bowl which called for Thousand Island dressing and it was fabulous. It makes quite of bit of dressing, so next time I will cut it in half since it has the peppers and olives and I knew it wouldn't have a long shelf life.
This is absolutely terrific. I used it for reubens as a dipping sauce. I think between the sauerkraut and the dressing and cheese they can sometimes be too wet. Anyway...very, very good. I did put the veggies (I added 2 T sweet onion) and the egg through the food processor as opposed to using a simple dice. I didn't think I'd like the big chunks. I cut the recipe by a third as I do not feed an army...it worked fine in the smaller quantity. Try it and you will like it.
I have to say I absolutely love this recipe! Very tasty and I will be doing this again! The pinkish hue in other recipes comes from the roasted red peppers.
absolutely the best dressing mix. It does take a bit to make but well worth it.
this was fun to make and the results are mind blowing. Everyone who has this asks for the recipe. Its great on burgers as well as wedge salads
Excellent! I didn't have red peppers, but I didn't miss them, either. My kids were kinda' confused as to why it wasn't that odd salmon color they are used to, but once they tried it, they were very happy with the taste. But then, they wanted to know exactly WHAT was in the store bought stuff to make it that odd color...
This was an excellent recipe. I used all ingredients except cloves and added a bit of horseradish sauce to tang it up. I agree with some of the other reviews that it gets better when you let it set for a couple of hours. Used this over a Mahi tuna salad. Scrumptous.
AY CARAMBA! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE GOOD. I didn't have a red pepper, so I used chili sauce till it was the perfect color and taste. I served it on a wedge of iceberg lettuce with shaved gorgonzola on top of the dressing, and balsamic marinated apples and walnuts on the side. This dressing is awesome, and a definite keeper. Thanks for posting and sharing this recipe. Brons
Here's my secret ingredient - add one crumbled up hard-boiled egg to the dressing. Really adds body and a deep flavor. A lot of high-end restaurants add a hard-boiled egg too.
I skipped the black olives but this was still REALLY REALLY good. I only used about half of the mayo but a bit more egg. (Scaled this to 5 servings and ended up with a recipe that used 7/8 egg. I finely chopped 1 jumbo hard boiled egg.)
WOW! This was unbelievably good! I left out the items my family doesn't like (olives and red pepper) and added a dollop of chili sauce for the color as another member suggested. I'll NEVER buy store bought again!!!
Omitted the olives and red bell pepper. Used on reuben quesadillas. Great recipe!
This salad dressing was delicious, and the recipe yields a ton of end result! I also found this to be an easy throw together courtesy of can chopped olive. I too added some chili sauce to get a slight color in it that would get folks to try it. This one's a keeper.
I love this dressing!!!! The flavors are wonderful after a few hours in the fridge. I can't eat salad anymore with the stuff you get at the store. Thanks for this delicious recipe!!!!
Excellent! Works well with reduced fat mayo to keep ol Bill Fance fit.
This is an AWESOME recipe. It makes the stuff you get in the jar or bottle at the grocery store a PALE IMITATION. Love it, love it, love it. Oh, and it DOES make a lovely dip for a veggie tray. Try it instead of Ranch dressing!
Much better than the stuff you buy at the store. It does make a lot though. Don't know what I'll do with so much dressing.
Almost perfect - needs that twangy kick. Next time I will add some more hot sauce and/or probably horseradish.
this was very good. i had everything on had. made as written but after the second day i wanted a bit more sweetness to it; i added a bit of ketchup and it was perfect; and also a bit of water to thin. thanks for the post!
I was skeptical at first... but this recipe is AWESOME. I never liked 1000 island before this recipe! I didn't change a thing, which is very unusual for me. For anyone wondering about the color, it comes out looking like caesar dressing. It gets better and better the longer it sits, and has a little tang without being sour. We used it on reubens, as a veggie dip, and on crackers with pastrami and cheese. yummy!
This was fantastic like another view were I live there was a woman that always made the dressing in the restaurant she is no longer with us. rip BAB. The only changes I made I used green olives because husband don't care for black & a little chili sauce.
At one of my cooking jobs, we made our own 1000, we added this stuff but we ran it through the grater attachment on the mixer to save time in chopping (we used whole pickles instead of relish to save money, and since we were grinding it anyway), plus to give it the pink color, we ground up canned or pickled beets for flavor and color.
I'm glad to see homemade dressing recipes - personal preference, I didn't like this one, but appreciate the submit.
Just made this, but I was a tad disapointed since it came out rather sour for my taste, I think it was relish overload, but I love relish. I didn't have the black olives, so omiited. Perhaps that was the problem. Altogether, I would try this again with 1/2 relish. Also, I used light mayo and splenda, am on low carb diet. Thanks for the recipie.
Delicious! There is nothing better than a dressing made from scratch! My warning here is this...you make this once and you will forever have to make this! No bottled Thousand Island can compare. Thank you for sharing.
nisarahmed
One of my favorite dressings is Thousand Island and I am very picky about how it tastes. While visiting relatives in Crescent City, CA, a local restaurant that my family has made a tradition at eating at serves homemade TI dressing for their Crab Louie salad that is absolutely the best I have ever tested. This recipe is very close to that dressing. I slashed the recipe in half and didn't put in quite the amount of sweet pickle relish that it called for (I put in slightly less than 1/4 cup and I think it has more than plenty favor without being too sweet); only 1/4 cup of the red bell pepper (my boyfriend doesn't care too much for them); and no cloves (I didn't have any). This is a great tasting dressing! Thanks.
Great recipe, I took out the eggs and added a pinch of garlic powder and smoked paprika. Great on sandwiches.
This recipe is absolutely delicious. Brought it to Thanksgiving dinner and my family went nuts over it. HOWEVER, be forewarned...if you follow the recipe as written you end up with almost a half gallon of dressing. Perfect if you're making it for a church potluck or something but it's far more than I could ever use before it goes bad. May want to cut the recipe in half if you have a small household.
The only thing that I changed was the sugar content. I used the a natural sweetener and it was the best!
Mmmmmmm! WOW! I was looking for a tasty 1000 Island recipes-I found it! Granted we usually eat steamed, baked or vinagrated veggies- we were wanted a good, old fashioned green salad with all the fixings. I made 1/2 recipe, omitted sugar,cloves & bell pepper - but added seasoned rice vinegar( a kitchen favorite in our home) & Sirachacha ( Asian roosster sauce- sweet/ hot chili sauce-very popular these days- on West coast) and added 2 eggs for 1/2 redcipe! Yummy! Plus now the dressing has a pink hue to it !
It's good but I don't see what all the fuss is about! It didn't make me say wow! but all in all it was good!
I thought this was excellent. 1-31-13: Scale back to serving for 4, but try two eggs. Still excellent. 5-24-13: Used 1 egg in serving for 5.
Made it according to the directions - it was OK - not what I was hoping for I guess. After two weeks in the refrigerator it turned to liquid - ??
I found this very rich and creamy. I left out the black olives because I don't like them. I used yellow pepper because that is what I had.
Thanks thanks thanks !!!! Thousand Island dressing is our favorite however concerned about all the additives to commercial dressing. This taste great and easy to make. Only changes was left out the olives and use light mayo. Will keep it on hand from now on!!!!!
I made this recipe this afternoon after watching a PBS documentary on the origins of the dressing (view documentary here at http://youtu.be/M1hlYKIpbJg). The dressing is lovely, so much more flavor than store bought. My hubby was rather skeptical at first ("it's not orange" -lol!!) but loves it as well. Very very good!
I was intrigued by this recipe. I don’t care for Thousand Island except for on Reubens. I’m vegetarian now so, I make a vegetarian version. I decided to try this out and WOW! It’s awesome. I had made tortilla wraps and used as a dipping sauce. I can’t wait to try it today since it’s been in the fridge overnight. Yum!
Split the recipe in half....amazing flavor and freshness! I will never buy bottled 1000 Island Dressing again!
Just what I need for an authentic taste of home! Sure miss the Islands!! George Boldts chef sure knew how to please!
Husband loved this. Did not add egg, black olives or sugar. Also used dill relish - we don't like things tasting sweet. I made it for Reuben sandwiches, which is why I omitted the egg and black olives. I bet that would taste fabulous on a fresh green salad though! Thanks for the authentic recipe, I love making things from scratch :)
This! It is wonderful. As you're cutting up the red pepper, save the juice and you'll get the expected tint to your dressing, although it won't be quite so orange as shelf bottles. DO let it sit for a few hours or, preferably, overnight. The mayo taste and the vinegar "sting" will mellow. I admit to forgetting the eggs the first time I made this -- it's better with them than without them -- but in the future, if I'm pressed for time, I'll just skip that step. And for those of you who are like me and love TI dressing but find it a bit too sweet, try dill relish instead of sweet, or even a half sweet/half dill mixture. It isn't traditional TI dressing but it's amazing!
YUM!!! What else do I have to say. It is easy and it has wonderful flavor with just the right amount of texture. I am especially happy that it is not pink/peach. You can make it that way if you want to, but why?
OMG! THIS RECIPE IS THE BOMB! I HAD TO QUARTER THE SERVINGS, SINCE I DIDNT WANT TO MAKE THAT MUCH. I DID IT IN MY "BULLET" BLENDER AND IT WAS PERFECT (FORGOT TO ADD THE BOILED EGG) BUT IT DIDNT MATTER, WILL NEVER BUY THE STUFF IN BOTTLE AGAIN. THANKS FOR THE RECIPE!
This is very good, but not the best homemade 1,000 island I've had. If you use fresh red peppers you don't get the traditional pink hue. Mine also came out a little thin.
Wanted a Shrimp Louie salad but didn't have 1000 island dressing until I came across this recipe. After reading through the ingredients, 4 quarts of mayo would make more dressing then I could use so instead I used one cup of mayo and adjusting all the other ingredients to the best ratio I could. Didn't have black olives so not included. Didn't have a red bell pepper so I used jarred roasted red peppers, about 1/2 of a pepper. Used 1TBL spoon or Worcestershire and 1 boiled and chopped egg. It made about 1 pint. It needs to sit in the frig for a few hours but my initial taste test says pretty darn good! I don't think I'll be buying the bottled stuff anymore.
This is an absolute outstanding recipe. I’ll not ever buy institutional store bought dressing again. Made Ruben sandwiches, from scratch. This is the perfect 1000 Island dressing. I made half the recipe and was sad that I didn’t make the full recipe.
I quartered the recipe so a lot of my measurements were guesstimates and I finished it off with my immersion blender, dressing came out great... Really good, would definitely make again
