Skip to main content
Salad

Tote-Along Dressing

A tomato-based dressing made with lemon juice, onion, parsley, arrowroot, sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Tote-Along Dressing

Time1–2 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

  1. Combine all ingredients in screw-top jar; shake to blend.

  2. Pour into small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring.

  3. Bring to a boil and continue cooking, stirring, 1–2 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Cool and store

  1. Allow to cool.

  2. Return to jar and keep refrigerated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

138Calories
3 gProtein
0 gFat
34 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Arrowrootnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Arrowroot powder
Thickens the dressing when heated, giving it a light, slightly glossy body.
Tomato juice
Forms the liquid base and supplies most of the body and savory flavor.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the sugar.
Granulated sugar
Adds a small amount of sweetness to offset the acidity and tomato.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened. Arrowroot only thickens once it is heated to a boil and stirred, so stopping early leaves the dressing thin. Keep stirring so the starch disperses evenly and does not clump.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, lemon, parsley, arrowroot, sugar, garlic, pepper):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, lemon, parsley, arrowroot, sugar, garlic, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesChicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes