Last Updated August 14, 2024

Thousand Island Dressing - you know it as the pinkish, sweet and salty dressing for salads, hamburgers, and various other creative uses.

What you might not know is what this salad dressing is made of, and that it is super simple to whip up at home with only 7 ingredients you very possibly already have on hand!

Essentially, Thousand Island Dressing is a mayonnaise and ketchup based dressing. Beyond that, there are many variations, although my favorite below features sweet relish and onions.

Where did Thousand Island Dressing come from?

Its origin is disputed, but two main tales originate in the Thousand Islands region, between northern New York and Canada.

One tale starts at Boldt Castle when George Boldt (Waldorf-Astoria billionaire) and his wife Louise were out on their yacht. Their chef forgot to bring a dressing for some greens and had to scrounge something up, which turned into Thousand Island Dressing.

Another tale stems from a recipe found in a restaurant in the same Thousand Islands area. The recipe appears to be what we know now as Thousand Island Dressing, but is simply called “Sophia’s Sauce”. Sophia and George Lelonde used to own the restaurant.

Wherever it came from, it blossomed in popularity, although honestly I never understood why.

Why Make Thousand Island Dressing? One Reason: Taco Salad

Thousand Island has always been a bit mysterious to me, I never much cared for it and I never gave much thought to what it was actually made of. I usually saw it in a bottle, and per usual with store-bought salad dressings, many of the ingredients weren’t ones I cared overly to be eating.

However, despite having no strong feelings for Thousand Island dressing, there is one dish that I and my family love that Thousand Island is crucial to: Taco Salad. Yep, that’s right. I don’t even know how Thousand Island came to be “the” dressing for Taco Salad, as I’ve never heard of anyone putting it on their tacos. I’m not sure where the Taco Salad recipe in my family came from originally, but whoever made it up decided, oh let’s make a salad with all the components of tacos in it…what kind of dressing should we use? I know, Thousand Island Dressing! Naturally.

Due to our love for Taco Salad and also our desire to eat whole foods and make things homemade, we decided to look in to making our own Thousand Island Dressing, especially since we don’t use it for anything else. I came across this recipe and we haven’t bought a bottle of Thousand Island since.

Find the recipe for Taco Salad here!

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Recipe Adapted from Simply Recipes

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

Makes about 1 1/2 cups of dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 cup / 230g mayonnaise

• 1/4 of an onion or 1 small shallot, minced

• 2 Tbsp / 30g ketchup

• 2-3 Tbsp / 30g sweet pickle relish

• 1 tsp / 5g lemon juice

• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika

• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl, mix well.

2. Place in a jar or sealed container and store in the fridge.

Jenny’s Notes:

• Letting the dressing sit for a few hours or ideally a day or two really lets the flavors meld. It also can help to tame the onion or shallot a bit.

• Use more sweet relish if you like a sweeter and tangier Thousand Island, use less if you don’t want it as sweet.

• Mason jars make great storage containers!