Eating more vegetables is something that everyone probably needs to do (myself included!), but especially people with kidney disease (including those on dialysis and not on dialysis). If you have CKD and diabetes, then you’ll really want to focus on including more non-starchy vegetables into your days. One way to make eating vegetables more enjoyable is to dip them into a delicious, flavorful kidney friendly salad dressing or dip. Keep reading to find the best salad dressing for kidney disease!
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Table of Contents
What makes a salad dressing ‘kidney friendly’?
Low Sodium Salad Dressing
One of the biggest problems with salad dressing is that they are typically VERY high in sodium. Without reading labels, you’re very likely to pick up a dressing that has too much sodium.
However, there are plenty of salad dressings out there that are low in sodium (and taste great!). Avoid lite, fat free, or reduced fat salad dressings. These are almost guaranteed to be high in sodium. We also recommend checking the produce section in one of the refrigerated cases for salad dressing. Many of our recommended dressings are in that section.
To determine if a salad dressing is considered high or low in sodium, compare the number of calories per serving to the mg of sodium. A low sodium salad dressing will have more calories than sodium.
Low Phosphorus Salad Dressing
Phosphorus additives are sometimes used to make a dressing feel creamier, so it is not uncommon to find added phosphorus in salad dressings. Phosphorus additives can really drive up phosphorus levels, especially in people with kidney disease. Be sure to read the ingredients list and choose a salad dressing that has no added phosphorus.
Other nutrients such as protein, calcium, and potassium are not a big concern with salad dressings. Most salad dressings (even those with cheese) will be low in calcium, phosphorus, and protein.
Low Potassium Salad Dressing
All of the kidney friendly salad dressings that we have identified would be considered low potassium salad dressing, with many reporting 0 potassium.
Finding a low potassium salad dressing is actually quite easy. This is because the primary ingredients in salad dressing are oil, which typically contains zero potassium.
Some salad dressings contain potassium additives. In the October 2023 USDA Branded Foods Database, we found 1,494 out of 4,082 salad dressing entries contained potassium additives, which is almost 37% of the entries in the database.
What is most frustrating is that the majority of the food labels for these salad dressings that contain potassium additives still list the potassium content as zero, such as in this Kraft Thousand Island salad dressing:
Obviously is potassium is listed as an ingredient, then the salad dressing must contain some potassium, so why is it listed as zero?
According to the FDA regulations, manufacturers are not required to list out the potassium content of a food if it contains less than 2% of the Recommended Daily Intake. The RDI for potassium is 4,700mg, so anything containing less than 94mg of potassium can omit it from the label or indicate that the food item is “not a significant source of potassium”. They can even list it as zero!
This means that these salad dressings that contain potassium additives, but list the potassium content as zero have somewhere between 1-94mg of potassium per serving. Unfortunately, it isn’t possible to know for sure.
Fortunately, many people with CKD do not have a potassium restriction. For those that do have a potassium restriction, keep in mind that there are many other factors that can cause potassium levels to be high that are not related to the potassium content of the foods that you eat.
However, if you do have a potassium restriction, you may choose to avoid salad dressings with potassium additives, even if they nutrition facts say zero. There are likely alternative options available that contain no additives and will be lower in potassium.
High fat salad dressing
We recommend always choosing a high fat salad dressing for several reasons.
Higher fat salad dressings will typically be considered low sodium foods. Fat also adds flavor, which means that manufacturers do not have to rely on sodium as much to add flavor.
Another reason that people with CKD should focus on higher fat salad dressing is because they may have cut out too much fat from their diet when reducing protein intake.
Protein, particularly animal protein, is a major source of fat in many people’s diets. When people reduce their protein intake, they also inadvertently reduce their fat intake. Fat is a major source of calories, so some people with CKD may not be eating enough calories on a low protein diet, which can put them at risk for malnutrition.
Higher fat salad dressings are also good if you have diabetes. Fat can help slow down digestion of carbohydrates, which can prevent your blood sugar from spiking too quickly.
Can I make my own kidney friendly salad dressing?
Of course! Salad dressings are incredibly easy to make! A typical recipe includes some sort of oil and something acidic like vinegar or lemon juice. Many of them then add additional flavors such as dried herbs, mustard, honey, etc. Just search for low sodium salad dressing recipes online. You can also look up regular recipes and adjust them to be lower in sodium by omitting the salt or reducing the amount of high sodium ingredients like mustard.
Is balsamic vinegar good for kidneys?
One tablespoon of balsamic vinegar contains only 18mg of potassium and 3mg of phosphorus, which make it low in potassium and phosphorus. Balsamic vinegar is acidic and can contribute to metabolic acidosis, so we recommend using balsamic ingredient as an ingredient in a salad dressing and not as the sole dressing used on a salad.
Pairing balsamic vinegar with an oil makes a vinaigrette, which is a very kidney friendly salad dressing. A typical vinaigrette contains 3 parts oil and 1 part vinegar, so consuming balsamic vinegar as part of a vinaigrette would mean that your overall portion of vinegar is relatively small.
Additionally, oils have zero potassium and phosphorus, and the fat in oils help improve the way your body absorbs certain vitamins and nutrients.
Best Store Bought Salad Dressing for Kidney Disease:
The following dressings are all considered low in sodium and contain no phosphorus additives. All but one do not contain potassium additives (and the one that does actually reports an amount for potassium).
Marie’s Creamy Ranch Dressing and Dip
- Calories: 180
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 19g
- Sodium: 160mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Braswell’s Vidalia Onion Peppercorn Dressing
- Calories: 140
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 11g
- Fat: 10g
- Sodium: 110mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 20mg
- Calcium: 12mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 10g
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Brianna’s Dairy Free Garden Ranch
- Calories: 120
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 13g
- Sodium: 80mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Dress It Up Red Wine Vinaigrette
- Calories: 90
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 9g
- Sodium: 85mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Drew’s Romano Caesar Dressing
- Calories: 170
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 18g
- Sodium: 170mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 5mg
- Calcium: 16mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Field and Farmer Lemon Garlic & Basil Vinaigrette
- Calories: 140
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 2g
- Fat: 15g
- Sodium: 15mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 10mg
- Calcium: 10mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 2g
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Follow Your Heart Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Calories: 130
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 14g
- Sodium: 125mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 12mg
- Calcium: 2mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Ken’s Sweet Vidalia Onion
- Calories: 130
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 10g
- Fat: 10g
- Sodium: 80mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 9g
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Newman’s Own Oil & Vinegar Salad Dressing
- Calories: 150
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 16g
- Sodium: 150mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 1g
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Panera Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Calories: 90
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 7g
- Fat: 7g
- Sodium: 50mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 6g
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Stonewall Kitchen Classic Italian Dressing
- Calories: 190
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 0g
- Fat: 21g
- Sodium: 65mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Tessamae’s Buffalo Ranch
- Calories: 170
- Protein: 0g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 19g
- Sodium: 160mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Potassium: 0mg
- Calcium: 0mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0g
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Toby’s Feta Cheese Dressing and Dip
- Calories: 140
- Protein: 1g
- Carbohydrate: 1g
- Fat: 13g
- Sodium: 130mg
- Phosphorus
Additives: None - Calcium: 30mg
- Fiber: 0g
- Sugar: 0.5g
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