Homemade Thousand Island Dressing Recipe (2024)

Have you ever made your own Thousand Island Dressing? Once you try this Thousand Island Dressing Recipe, you will never buy the stuff from the grocery store again!!

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Origins of Thousand Island Dressing

Anyone who has ever visited the gorgeous Thousand Island, in Upstate NY, has tried 1000 Island Dressing. Depending on what island you visited, you probably got different versions of the story of who created the popular dressing.

It is reported that George Boldt, the builder of Boldt castle and propietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, in NYC, had his chef put it on the menu at the Hotel. But that is one of many stories. To learn more, see this Wikipedia article.

The beauty of making your own classic Thousand Island is that I can guarantee you that you have all of the ingredients that you will need in your refrigerator and pantry. Guaranteed. It only has 8 ingredients plus salt and pepper.

Thousand Island Dressing is similar to Russian Dressing except the Russian version has horseradish and chili powder making it spicy. Thousand Island has sweet pickle relish, making it sweeter.

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You need to hard boil an egg, which will take approximately 10 minutes with a large egg. Once that is done, this Thousand Island Recipe comes together in less than 5 minutes. What could be easier?

There are no weird added ingredients that you can’t pronounce. It is gluten and dairy free, so don’t have to worry about reading the ingredients to make sure that there are none of those allergens, too. You control the sodium, as well.

What you need

• fresh garlic
• kosher salt or sea salt
• onion – use white or yellow onions
• mayonnaise – use a good quality mayo. Duke’s or Hellmann’s or a comparable mayo.
• ketchup
• lemon juice
• sweet pickle relish
• hard boiled egg
• celery seed
• black pepper – freshly ground will give you the best flavor.

How to Make Thousand Island Dressing

Mince garlic very fine.

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Add a pinch of salt to garlic. Flatten with the edge of your chef’s knife, pressing hard, over and over until a thick paste forms. Chopping and pressing alternately will speed up the process.

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Chop onion very fine.

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Mix garlic, onion, minced egg, ketchup, mayonnaise, lemon juice and spices in a small bowl. Refrigerate 30 minutes, so flavors can mingle.

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Chill for at least an hour to allow flavors to mingle.

Store leftover Thousand Island Dressing in covered container in refrigerator.

How Long Will Thousand Island Dressing Last?

Thousand Island Dressing will last at least 10 days, covered, in refrigerator.

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How to use this sauce

Thousand Island Dressing is used for more than to dress salads.

• Use it as a burger or hot dog topping. (It happens to be McDonald’s “secret sauce” for their Big Macs, reportedly.)
• It’s indispensable Reuben Sandwiches, Reuben Salads and this Reuben Dip.
• It’s a perfect dip for French fries or sweet potato fries.
• Use it as a dip for fresh vegetables.

I store it in canning jars. (affiliate link)

More delicious homemade dressings

• Blackberry Vinaigrette
• Garlic Scape Vinaigrette
• Chive Vinaigrette
• Rhubarb Vinaigrette

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Thanks for stopping by today! I hope this recipe for Thousand Island was helpful to you!

Enjoy! And have fun cooking!

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This post may contain affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you go to the link and purchase something at no additional cost to you. See FTC Disclosurehere.

Originally published January 1, 2015. Updated with new content June 26, 2022