11 Store-Bought Italian Dressings, Ranked Worst To Best

Alongside ranch, Caesar, Thousand Island, and a few others, Italian dressing is a staple of the modern American salad station. Its oily texture and herbaceous, vinegary zest make it a perfect addition to green salads, but Italian dressing is also a great marinade for chicken or beef on the grill, as well as a yummy addition to potato or pasta salads, dips, sandwiches, and more. With all that versatility comes quite a bit of choice — there are seemingly countless versions of Italian dressing available in grocery stores, from basic, recognizable brands to premium ones. But which dressings are actually worth drizzling on your greens?

To determine that, I headed to my local stores to buy every store-bought Italian dressing I could find before trying them for myself. After tasting each one, I ranked them based on depth of flavor (especially tanginess) and viscosity as well as overall value, trying each dressing on its own and as a dip. I also factored in how easily the dressings split and reconstitute (these are primarily oil and vinegar mixtures, after all). And while Italian dressings can seem quite similar, but it turns out not all are created equal. Here's what I found.

I wasn't surprised to find that the Primal Kitchen Italian Dressing and Marinade was disappointing, especially considering its price point. Made with avocado oil instead of the standard olive or canola typical of most other Italian dressings, Primal Kitchen's Italian is prone to separating into layers quite quickly, making it difficult to ensure an even spread of flavor and texture in any given bite. No matter my attempts to vigorously shake the mixture, every mouthful of cucumber and dressing that I tasted was mostly like eating avocado oil directly from the bottle. 

Speaking of bottles, this bottle is definitely the worst packaging of every brand. Even before popping the cap, my hands were coated in the oily base of the dressing. While Primal Kitchen gets some points for attempting to offer a sugar-free, lower-fat Italian dressing option, it falls short on basically every other level. People looking for specialized ingredients are much better off attempting to make a homemade version.

This has to be the least-zesty zesty Italian dressing on the market. Of all of the Italian dressings I sampled, this one tastes the least like the rest — and the least like a dressing at all. Newman's Own Zesty Italian is actually a bit too watery, and another dressing with low viscosity and a hearty resistance to mixing layers. It only holds its mixture longer than the pitifully imbalanced Primal Kitchen Italian; every other dressing held its suspension better than Newman's Own Zesty Italian.

Despite that, its ingredient list isn't markedly different from the rest of the Italian dressings; it just tastes like a case of poor measurement. It produces a nice, caramelized onion color, but that promise of rich, enticing flavor is unfulfilled the minute it hits the palate. This is the kind of dressing that gets discontinued and eventually stocked at a Big Lots, and is definitely not worth trying or buying.

I was skeptical of Tessemae's Organic Classic Italian. I do love the packaging — its bold green and magenta color scheme actually works really well for a salad dressing. However, it's the only dressing of the whole bunch that has an almost reddish hue, which I normally associate with balsamic vinaigrette. Unsurprisingly, Tessemae's Italian tastes a lot like a balsamic vinaigrette dressing and very little like a traditional Italian. It's acidic, yes, but has a very low viscosity due to a dearth of oils and seasonings. 

As far as balsamic vinaigrette goes, it's pretty good, which is why it's here and not in dead last, but it's not really an Italian dressing. Folks looking for the heavier, tastier feeling of an Italian dressing versus a balsamic vinaigrette will be disappointed with this brand, and should look elsewhere for a balsamic fix, too. 

Wishbone Italian Dressing is distinct; it offers a nice mixture of flavors as a dressing that holds a good shaking long enough to enjoy as a dip for veggies or dressing for salads. The bottle artwork prominently features fresh-cut bell peppers, and accordingly the dressing itself captures a really yummy bell pepper taste; their sweetness is buttressed by a higher sugar content than most of the other Italian dressings. 

This dressing isn't the only one with that sugar, but it's definitely got the sweetest taste, and that's why it's a bit low on the list. Even though I personally enjoy the flavor, it's not one that would satisfy any Italian dressing craving. I think this particular dressing would be particularly tasty on a pasta salad because its bits of zesty, bell peppers and seasonings become more prominent when the sweet, liquid base cools down in the fridge and sinks in as a subtler coating to the pasta. Beyond that, though, it's a little below average.

Newman's Own Family Recipe Italian is a more substantial offering than Newman's Zesty Italian, but still nothing particularly mouthwatering. This dressing has Romano cheese, and, interestingly, Worcestershire sauce, which is unique. While there's more flavor in this than Newman's Own's other Italian dressing, it's still a mixture with low viscosity and a watery base that separates way too quickly from the herbs and seasonings floating in it. 

Italian dressing pretty much always needs to be shaken before it's used, but that doesn't mean its taste should be practically nonexistent if someone forgets that step. It feels like there's something important missing from this dressing, as if there's no glue keeping everything together. Definitely another subpar dressing from Newman's Own, which is a real shame, because it definitely has the market cornered on other products; it offers a tasty, jarred marinara sauce that I've used religiously for years.

Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing is perfectly fine. It's not particularly exciting — certainly it leans hard into easy ingredients like vinegar, salt, and sugar, just like any other ubiquitous, high-production brand — but it's not bad. This mixture stays homogenized longer than several of the others after getting shaken, and is easy enough to scoop with a cucumber spear. It's nice to see a dressing with a little more color in it, as well, even if there aren't actually many notable ingredients in this recipe. 

Kraft Zesty Italian is the dressing that comes with your cafeteria salad, the one your aunt purchased in a bulk pack at a big box store. It's adequate and inoffensive, so it's actually a good choice for a recipe that calls for Italian dressing as a smaller part of a larger whole. Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing is definitely edible, though far from incredible — hey, maybe that should be this bottle's slogan!

Trader Joe's Organic Italian Dressing notes that it includes Romano cheese on the front label, and the Romano is definitely a prominent flavor in the dressing. Unfortunately, I think the Romano is a bit too prominent and overpowers the tanginess in the dressing overall. Cheesy isn't a word I'd use to describe my ideal Italian dressing, though it's also not a flavor that ever feels totally uninvited. The dressing itself is thick and well-mixed, and makes a particularly apt dipping "sauce" for cucumber spears. 

If not for the fact that there are other dressings here that taste better overall, this one would be perfectly good for any Italian dressing needs. That said, I think this is actually better applied as a marinade thanks to its consistency and distinct Romano notes. Cooking down the dressing on a piece of chicken should compensate for the cheese's overpowering flavor and produce something tasty and refreshing.

Ken's Steakhouse Italian has always been the baseline standard for Italian dressing in my mind. It's as bare-boned as an Italian Dressing can get, with hardly any mixed in bits of seasoning. It's still a distinctly Italian dressing, though, because even though it's more homogenous than most other Italian dressings, it has a high viscosity flow and layers that stay mixed for a good long while after a solid shake. 

Ken's Italian is quite tangy but not at all overwhelming, and is perfect for mixing with other seasonings or condiments when attempting new flavors. As a more basic Italian, though, it only ranks at number four because there are other, fuller Italian dressings that surpass its flavor. Ken's Italian also has a tendency to flatten more quickly on a pasta salad or piece of grilled chicken than a dressing with more zest to it, but that means it won't overshadow a particularly juicy tomato or crispy chunk of purple cabbage. You can do a little better than Ken's, but it's much easier to do worse.

I was surprised to find this second Wishbone offering to be so tasty. Where Wishbone's standard Italian runs a little sweet, Wishbone House Italian is a more developed dress, with a fuller flavor that doesn't suffer from the same cloying sweetness that hinders its antecedent. Again, Wishbone has definitely cracked the code when it comes to Italian dressing consistency, so combining that with a better flavor profile makes this a particularly good dressing.

Unlike the other Italian dressings that have cheese — all of which contain Romano — this dressing has parmesan, and it seems to be a distinction that makes a difference. The parmesan complements the rest of the dressing seasoning and the overall tangy flavor works as a whole. This goes to show that affordable brands can taste just as good, and sometimes better, than more expensive ones.

Chain restaurants selling grocery store versions of their signature flavors and dishes doesn't always work out well. Panera Bread's soups are hit-or-miss, PF Chang's frozen meals still taste frozen, and The Cheesecake Factory's brown bread is just not as good when it's not hot from the oven. To be fair, though, those are a bit lofty. Olive Garden's Signature Italian dressing, though, is the perfect kind of product to sell in a grocery store — the simplicity of the dressing makes it taste just as good out of the fridge at home as it does dressing a fresh salad in a local Olive Garden.

Olive Garden is well-known for its soup, salad, and breadstick deals, and while the breadsticks are probably the MVP of that combination, the salad is always a treat, in major part thanks to Olive Garden's tangy, thick, Italian dressing. This dressing holds its mixture very well and has a very high viscosity, which makes it a delicious addition to an otherwise lean, green salad. I love this dressing, have long-loved it, but I didn't make it No. 1 because it does have a relatively high sugar content compared to the others (2 grams per serving). But even with that sugar content, this is a delicious dressing that's worth the purchase.

Given that Ken's Steakhouse Italian Dressing is such a seminal flavor, it follows that another one of the brand's offerings, Ken's Steakhouse Northern Italian, would be the best of the best. The only thing missing from Ken's regular Italian is seasoning and fuller flavor, and that's precisely what makes Ken's Northern Italian so delicious. Notably, this dressing is made with basil and Romano, and both flavors blend seamlessly. There is a refreshing lack of ostentatiousness to this dressing that really sings, especially when combined with the classic staying power of Ken's Steakhouse branding.

This dressing has ideal viscosity — high enough that the mixture stays mixed after a good shake, but low enough that the vinegary elements of the dressing are still prominent and make it feel more refined. It's great for a garden salad, and certainly tasted good on crisp spears of cucumber, but the dressing's basil and Romano make it ideal as a marinade for grilled chicken and veggies as well. Overall, Ken's Steakhouse Northern Italian is easily the best Italian dressing I found in grocery stores.

Italian dressing can be used in countless ways, but I kept things simple for my taste test. I purchased and cut up a bunch of small cucumbers and took turns dipping my makeshift crudité in each of the store-bought dressings that I procured. I dipped and steeped a couple pieces of cucumber in each dish of Italian dressing before tasting how each brand tasted with a fresh, green veggie.

When tasting each dressing, I considered its tanginess as well as its depth of flavor outside of it, especially in dressings that included cheese and other unique seasonings or veggies. I also paid attention to the viscosity of each dressing and how well each mixture resisted a reversion into heterogeneous layers of oil and vinegar after a long, thorough shaking.