The Bottled Caesar Dressing You Should Keep Out Of Your Shopping Cart

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When searching for a great Caesar salad dressing, you should keep in mind that, ideally, it should have a nice balance of all the key flavor components like lemon, anchovies, garlic, and Dijon mustard. Any Caesar dressing worth its salt can manage that, at the very least, but when Food Republic ranked 11 store-bought Caesar dressings from worst to best, sadly, we discovered that quite a few of these popular bottled brands completely dropped the ball. The absolute bottom of the barrel was Ken's Simply Vinaigrette Caesar, which was almost criminal in its utter lack of flavor.

The Simply Vinaigrette series is meant to feature, well, vinaigrette. The flavor profiles may hint towards other things, like Caesar dressing, but the oil and vinegar base really shines through. Considering canola oil and distilled vinegar are the top two ingredients, it makes sense that you get a sort of watery, thin texture, and a flavor profile that will leave you expecting more, despite the additions of Parmesan and anchovies. 

It's worth noting that basically everything with flavor except for garlic falls into the "contains less than 2% of" category. All that Romano and Parmesan cheese, the anchovies, the lemon juice concentrate, the mustard flour — everything that makes Caesar dressing Caesar dressing is down there in the bottom less than 2%, and boy does it show.

One big complaint we had about this dressing was the fact that what little flavor it did possess primarily boiled down to one word: salt. At 400mg of sodium per serving and a serving size of just 2 tablespoons, you're definitely getting a big hit of salt with your salad dressing here. That's about 17% of your recommended daily value, and that's assuming you stick to the 2 tablespoons you're allotted. Sure, there might only be 2 grams of sugar (that's about 4% of your daily allowance, comparatively speaking), but if you're trying to avoid excess sodium, this one isn't for you. On top of that, Ken's Simply Vinaigrette doesn't have any Vitamin D, potassium, iron, or calcium, and only packs 1 gram of protein per serving. 

Likewise, it even has 13 grams of total fat and 1 gram of saturated fat per serving, equaling about 17% and 5% of your daily value, respectively. You're simply better off nabbing another brand entirely. The absolute best bottled Caesar dressing deserves a permanent place in your cart. It's Briannas Home Style Asiago Caesar Dressing, which you can pick up on Amazon. This dressing was so good it might as well have been homemade. Speaking of which, you can learn how to make the absolute best croutons for Caesar salad to elevate your next one even further. Say goodbye to the tragic, flavorless, overly-salty Ken's Simply Vinaigrette Caesar and hello to other options that your tastebuds won't hate you for instead.