5 Russian Dressing Brands Ranked From Worst To Best

Despite its name, Russian dressing is a thoroughly American invention, along with French, Italian, and Thousand Island dressings, for that matter. Several of these dressings also share a similar base of mayonnaise and ketchup, with different secondary ingredients that differentiate them. Often mistaken for Thousand Island dressing, Russian dressing usually includes horseradish for an acidic and spicy punch, along with some kind of chili pepper, either whole, powdered, or in sauce form, whereas Thousand Island dressing incorporates sweeter, and less spicy sweet pickle relish.

Russian dressings aren't just for salads, though. It's also one of the key ingredients on a Reuben sandwich, and is often used for burgers as well. These days, your options for store-bought Russian dressings are slim, with Thousand Island dressing being the more popular of the two tomato-mayo-based dressing options. What Russian dressings are available vary substantially from the horseradish and chili pepper-infused versions made by hand from your favorite restaurant.

But luckily, you still have a few options to choose from, ranging from mild and mayonnaise-heavy to bright red and zesty ketchup-forward sauces to meet your particular preferences. Whether you're in the mood for a classic steak house salad or your favorite Reuben sandwich, here's what you can expect from these five store-bought Russian dressing brands.

It's not a stretch to imagine that someone with enough interest in maximizing the flavor of their salad might also be interested in making every calorie count. Many salad dressings can take an otherwise nutrient-dense salad, and quickly transform it into a calorie-dense one with a surprising amount of fat and carbs. So if you're looking for a zero-calorie, fat-free, sugar-free, keto-friendly Russian dressing, Walden Farms has you covered.

But I'm not here to tell you which store-bought Russian dressing is the healthiest — I'm here to tell you which ones taste the best. Walden Farms Russian dressing doesn't taste bad ... it just doesn't taste like much of anything at all. At first glance, it's notably lighter in color than the other dressings in this lineup, forgoing that signature orange hue for an orange-tinted beige that could easily pass for any other pale creamy dressing in the grocery aisle.

Aside from its color, the Walden Farms dressing is missing the boldly fruity and tangy zing notes that are the defining qualities of a Russian dressing. There is a sweetness to it, but it isn't delivered with the intense flavors of ketchup and lemon. Instead, it has the delicate, one-note sweetness that comes with anything sweetened with erythritol and monk fruit. The vegan dressing doesn't contain any hint of eggs, and the creaminess of the dressing is created with the help of thickeners like xanthan gum. You won't regret using this particular Russian dressing, but you probably won't adore it either.

When it comes to Russian dressings, there are the easily identifiable vibrant orange dressings, and then there are the red Russian dressings, which are obviously much redder versions of their orange counterparts. The deeper red hue of Wish-Bone's Russian dressing is thanks, in part, to a little extra beet juice concentrate, but also because this iteration of Russian dressing doesn't have the mayonnaise-style base that others are made with. Wish-Bone's Russian dressing doesn't include any eggs, and the very first ingredient listed is corn syrup as opposed to oil, mayonnaise, or water.

As you might expect, this dressing leans more into the sweet and zesty notes and skips the creamier taste of other Russian dressings. Many red Russian dressing recipes also use a small amount of Worcestershire sauce, although this one does not. What it loses in the creamy department, it picks up in the spice department, with the flavors of tomato, garlic, onion, celery seed, and paprika playing a much larger role in the overall flavor.

Nutritionally speaking, you don't save very many calories by skipping the mayo. A 2 tablespoon serving is 110 calories, which is about 30 calories less than the Ken's Russian dressings on this list. The Wish-Bone dressing has less than half the fat of the other brands, but more than triples the carbohydrate count and increases the sodium count as well. Ultimately, if you prefer a sweeter, bolder dressing without the smoother creamy finish, the redder Russian dressing from Wish-Bone is worth a try.

Ken's Steak House brand of dressings makes two versions of its Russian dressing, which is a little surprising, given that so many other big-name dressing brands don't include it in their lineups at all. The version of Ken's Russian dressing with the black label, which comes in a larger 16-ounce bottle, is essentially the baseline from which all of the other store-bought dressings on this list were ranked.

The main ingredients are all fairly common and include oil, tomato purée, sugar, and distilled vinegar. But what sets it apart are the next few ingredients on the list: sweet pickle relish, made with cucumber, spices, celery seed, red bell pepper, and turmeric, adds a noticeable acidic flair to the creamy dressing, and egg yolk rounds out the mayonnaise base. Paprika is also included in the ingredient list, although much further down. While the addition of sweet pickle relish makes the flavor of this dressing pop, it's also one of the key ingredients in Thousand Island dressing — not Russian dressing, which relies on horseradish for its signature zing.

Out of curiosity, I took a look at Ken's Thousand Island dressing ingredients, and was a little surprised to see that the main ingredients are incredibly similar, using only a slightly different sweet pickle relish in each. While this particular Russian dressing might be closer to an authentic homemade Russian dressing than the two previous brands, it seems to just be a pared-down version of the brand's Thousand Island dressing.

Judy Z's is a sports bar in the West Village of New York City, which serves a good deal of burgers, sliders, and sandwiches. Instead of using another brand's condiments, Judy Z's created its own lineup of sauces, which includes several flavored mayos and salad dressings. Between the "Blanch" Blue Cheese Ranch dressing and the Garlic Tarragon salad dressing, you'll find Judy Z's Polish Russian dressing.

The very first ingredient in Judy Z's dressing is mayonnaise, followed by ketchup, lemon juice, chives, and garlic. Where Wish-Bone's version of Russian dressing steers clear of the typical mayonnaise base, Judy Z's steers directly into it, offering the most mayo-forward taste of the lineup. Interestingly, it includes neither horseradish nor sweet pickle relish, and lacks any spiciness from chili peppers or hot sauce. What it does offer is a straightforward base sauce that tastes exactly like something someone would make at home.

I know that buying a premade sauce is supposed to cut down on the amount of work you have to do yourself, but this dressing gets you at least half of the way there. Married with a little bit of horseradish and your choice of peppers, chili powder, or hot sauce, and you can quickly and easily turn this into as mild or intense of a Russian dressing as you'd like. It's also clear by the texture of this particular dressing that it was made for sandwiches, and would be my first pick for a Reuben sandwich.

You're probably wondering how much of a difference there is between Ken's Steak House's regular Russian dressing and its Chef's Reserve Russian dressing. A quick look at the nutrition facts shows that they each have the same calorie count, and the main ingredients in the Chef's Reserve version also include soybean oil, tomato purée, sugar, water, sweet pickle relish, distilled vinegar, and egg yolk, although in a slightly different order than you'll find in the black label version.

The standout difference between the two dressings is that the Chef's Reserve Russian dressing includes extra-virgin olive oil, whereas the regular version does not. And believe it or not, it makes a difference. Ken's Chef's Reserve Russian dressing has the same acidic bite to it that the regular version has, thanks to the sweet pickle relish in the dressing, but this version tastes ever-so-slightly less sweet (despite having the same amount of added sugars) and has a smoother overall creaminess.

Depending on how complex of a salad or sandwich you plan on dressing, the subtle differences between Ken's regular and Chef's Reserve Russian dressings might not be all that apparent in the grand scheme of things. But if you tend to like it saucy, you might as well treat yourself to a little extra smoothness while you're at it. The Chef's Reserve Russian dressing comes in a smaller 9-ounce bottle, which means you'll probably go through it twice as fast as you would the larger bottle of Ken's regular Russian dressing.

Given how few Russian dressings are commercially available, my first objective was to get my hands on as many options as possible, regardless of brand name, dietary guidelines, or price point. With only five dressing options readily available, I then turned my attention to comparing each store-bought dressing as closely as possible to what you'd expect from a homemade Russian dressing.

I primarily looked at ingredient lists, followed by the overall flavor of the dressings. Each was tasted individually, and also side-by-side with the other dressings, mixed into salad, and straight out of the bottle for the most honest samples. I considered whether the dressing would be flexible enough to finish a salad, garnish a sandwich, or even dip chicken tenders into. Taking into consideration any special ingredients or preparation, the biggest factors when ranking each were how flavorful the dressing was and how closely it resembled a true Russian dressing.

While none of the dressings on this list include the traditional horseradish and chili pepper combination, and lack the accompanying spiciness that comes along with those ingredients, they were ranked based on what they do offer — even if it would more likely be considered Thousand Island dressing instead of Russian. While the convenience of a bottle of dressing is hard to pass up, someone looking for a true Russian dressing experience will have to make it from scratch for the full experience.