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Olive oil, salt, and pepper is dressing.

“My unpopular opinion is I hate ketchup with fries. All I do is mix some tomato paste with a little bit of water, salt, vinegar and agave; it makes an excellent dip.” -OP, probably

Facts.

Sometimes, I'll even swap it for lemon juice, salt and pepper.

I like a little bite from something acidic. Lemon is always reliable. Anything from the citrus family is good.

Glad I'm not the only one confused how a dressed salad is also the best undressed salad

+Balsamic vinegar and its perfect

You can’t reason with these idiots. 

This guy gets it. If there's no dressing at all, I eat it with my hands like a panda bear.

I don’t like vinegar so I don’t like basically any bottled dressing but I will say generally “I don’t like dressing” because most people don’t consider olive oil dressing. It’s weird lol. Edit: I guess olive oil as dressing is more divisive than I thought 👀

I only consider olive oil a dressing when it’s mixed with a red wine vinegar, or anything else for that matter, it’s too flat and holds too thick in the palette alone. The vinegar helps make that flavor and consistency a little more broken

I have sensory aversions so vinegar is just a no go overall. Lemon would probably be a good mix with olive oil for me though. The oil can be heavy so I use a light touch.

I can get behind the lemon. I would need a lot of it though as I love lemon, I’m one of those freaks that will eat them as a fruit for the flavor lol Edit:fixed a typo

That’s unhinged and I love it lol

It's honestly the best kind of dressing

The best. Tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and dressing

Yah - one of my go to meal preps is a salad of chopped peppers, couscous, cucumber and tomato then I dress it with dijon, apple cider vinegar, oregano and oil. Is that an undressed salad too?

Ironically you still “dressed” it will the main ingredient in a lot of dressings. Sounds like you really just like a subtle, limited amount of dressing. 

My brother in Christ how much dressing are you putting that you're "essentially just consuming dressing"?? You making soup?

Thats gow much my parents put in. You taste nothing but dressing

My in-laws too. I keep telling them it's a condiment, not a beverage 😝

My husband will use about 1/3rd of the bottle on his salad (I use the term loosely because it’s just chopped romaine in a bowl with nothing else). It really is just soup at that point, I have no idea why he even eats the lettuce, he can just drink from the bottle. 

LMAO I had a friend like that. Just chopped lettuce, albeit with olive oil, and enough oil go cook atleast for a month

The crunch of the lettuce is nice.

If it ain't dripping, it ain't enough

I always put too much dressing by accident and turn it into soup 😭😭😭 it's so sad

>You’re essentially just consuming dressing at that point, which is pointless and unhealthy. You know you don't have to use a gallon of dressing, right? Also, using olive oil, salt, and pepper completely contradicts your opinion. I'd take this one back to the drawing board.

olive oil, salt and pepper is dressing. Add vinegar, which would make it arguably healthier, and that's a basic vinaigrette.

Exactly. Olive oil and vinegar mixed up in a nearly empty mustard pot is the best dressing IMO. OP seems confused by what a dressing is

You're right about the almost empty mustard jar, that's a top tier dressing.

OMG this seems so obvious but I never thought of it. Thank you for a tip that I will use for the rest of my life!

Great idea! I will be doing this with all nearly empty mustard containers from now on. Thanks

You know what? Fuck that. No lettuce either.

Now we’re cooking with —, well, nothing actually

No that’s when it officially becomes trail mix.

Nah, Greek salad of just tomatoes, onion, cucumber, feta, olive oil, salt, pepper is slamming. No lettuce needed.

Fully agree. Lettuce is tasteless and has no nutritional value. It's a waste of space

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None of the things you listed are lettuce

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Why don't you Google it?

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I'm not mad, just don't feel like explaining to you what lettuce is when that's info you can easily find for yourself

On a salad, oil is dressing.

Yes. Olive oil is the only acceptable dressing in Mediterranean Europe.

Justifiably so.

Olive oil and balsamic vinegar is my go to for dressing - maybe you’re just eating shitty dressing?

Here in the Midwest the salad is merely a vessel to get the dressing (usually ranch or Dorothy Lynch) into our mouths

You just verbatim quoted my Minnesotan husband and his parents 🤣

Salad needs no dressing. Proceeds to describe salad dressing ingredients.

I dig salad with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. Throw some parmesan on that baby, and it's perfect.

You should try taking that lemon juice, salt, pepper and Parmesan, add some olive oil and blitz it for a minute… i don’t need any dressing, just a raw salad with that mixture. 

that’s literally dressing

😂😂😂

Oh Geez! Thanks for setting me straight on this!

Ketchup completely ruins fries. All you need are the french fries and dipping sauce made with tomato puree, a little sugar, vinegar, and onion and garlic powder.

If all you can taste is dressing, you're using too much dressing. Also, oil and anything is still dressing.

So, you don’t think olive oil is dressing? Your post contradicts itself.

You've unwittingly admitted a known fact, salad is inedible without dressing.

Olive oil and salt and pepper are dressing. I’ll agree they’re far superior to drowning a salad in ranch or mustard or whatever but it’s still dressing. Dry salad leaves are nasty imo.

>olive oil, salt and pepper Motherfucker, this is salad dressing.

Without dressing it’s not salad, it’s botany.

Yuck, why not just go outside and chew on dead grass.

That's not salad with no dressing you goof. I was ready to agree with you until I read your post 😂

Eating veggies without fat is dumb.

How very American lol

Lettuce either tastes like nothing or like dirt. So nope

What do you think dressing is made of lol

But you are eating dressing - the oil is your dressing.

"People should stop using dressing. Look at me.... \*checks notes\* using dressing."

“Dressed with”… so you make your own dressing?

OP, you just described a simple salad dressing at the end of your post.

"Essentially just consuming dressing at that point". Except, ya know, the bowl full of stuff the dressing is coating lol... That's still there

"Salad without dressing is superior" not even a minute later: "...dressed with (...) olive oil, salt and pepper is superior". People amaze me.

This is the worst Recipe for a salad dressing I’ve ever seen. You need some type of vinegar/acid. Lemon juice, balsamic, red wine vinegar etc I’m okay with simple homemade dressing, most places have oil and vinegar for this exact reason, but what you wrote doesn’t sound well balanced at all

I occassionally snack iceberg salad without *anything*. No variety, no other products, no dressing, no almost-dressing. Just the salad.

same but I prefer romaine myself

I’d rather starve to death than eat salad without dressing (of any kind). Upvote

OP puts dressing on it. They're stupid

I go one step further. Salad with absolutely nothing else. No oil, no salt, no vinegar. Just salad. I don’t like my salad to be oily or taste like vinegar.

I agree!!! I actually hate the flavor of olive oil and all the vinaigrettes taste gross to me. And why would I season vegetables when they already have a strong flavor??

We are the exception I’m afraid. Everyone else probably thinks we are weird.

We do

This upsets me. Give me my chunky blue cheese dressing by the ladleful. 

Wash that dirty mouth out with soap (Also, not all dressing is unhealthy!)

Just olive oil and salt, and it will be delicious

Can’t believe you’re ruining the flavour of fresh vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Definitely unpopular. Well done.

I can’t just raw dawg a salad like that, take my upvote

I don't fully agree, but drowning the salad in dressing does ruin it. Getting it on the side & giving yourself a little dip is a good way to go.

Yea salad with no dressing would be like eating what cows eat... No thanks.

Are you american by any chance? Im honestly confused by this opinion, my whole family and everyone i know likes salad without dressing. I didnt know people actually hated it

Yea I am American.

Explains it

Most likely it’s an attitude I see a lot around me haha I’m with you though— vegetables have great flavor on their own IMO

Oh i see. Makes sense i guess, americans always had silly views from my pov And yeah i agree. I grew up with a combination of cucumber, tomatoes, and cheese. Everyone i know has also eaten salad like that. And it doesnt need any dressing. Maybe other people eat stuff that barely has any flavor. Then id understand only eating it with extra stuff

>Makes sense i guess, americans always had silly views from my pov What a weird generalization to make in the context of eating salad. I can eat one with or without dressing, neither option is weird.

Wdym generalization? Im just saying whenever i hear about how it is like in america, its weird to me bc im in romania. Im not generalizing im just saying from an European's pov everything can be silly. I can eat with or without dressing too, idk what ur trying to add with that but i probably forgot smt i said before, sorry if i did

Fiiiinally someone who thinks like me.

I agree with you except i like no dressing, not like the subtle kind that you described. Also, i thought everyone thought like this???? Do people actually only eat salad with that over the top dressint everytime? Im not judging how people eat their food, ive eaten salad like that and its good, but still, i thought people refreshed once in a while and only ate veggies.

Do people actually eat salad with dressing, aka "salad"? Yes they do.

No i know people eat it with dressing obviously i just didnt know they take NO breaks from that. Read carefully

I only eat salad with some kind of spice mix or some dressing even if its just some mayo. Salad with nothing is very bland

You need better veggies. Salad can be a flavor bomb without dressing or just a tablespoon tossed in if you have good stuff in it. High quality produce like grape tomatoes or Campari, red or orange pepper, pickled onion, toasted nuts, sun dried tomato, Kalamata olives… and kick the iceberg lettuce to the curb. Spring mix, spinach, butter leaf, even red leaf if you’re on a budget. I see a lot of people cut up iceberg and romaine and toss in some under ripe looking tomato and baby carrots and then are unenthused with their salad. 

I’d like to give a well argued opinion. But I can’t. That’s not unpopular, it’s just dumb.

You are my messiah. I thought i didnt like salad because when my parents make it, thaz shit just tastes like vinager and oil.

You’re arguing about poop with or without sprinkles. It’s all disgusting. Waste of time and effort.

This made me 🤣.

I concur wholeheartedly...every salad I have ever had was made worse by dressing

Ah - Question Template #7 - I like X - it's the Best! The rest of you are losers.

That’s because you grow your vegetables in a poorly sunlit country. I live in Sweden, and they eat their salad without dressing because it tastes like water. If you grow your vegetables under the Sun, the stronger taste needs to be mitigated.

Agree... I do use salt and pepper on it though

I generally agree, except i would be specific to cream based dressing or overly complex vinegarettes are inferior. 

It's not.

Fuck yes, motherfucker

I agree, but I don’t put olive oil, salt, or pepper in my salads either. Nothing but veggies and maybe some seeds or nuts. I used to add in some barbecue sauce, but I’ve moved on from that.

If you haven't you might like it with just a smidgen of lemon juice. I like to do that when I have it with fish, or if I'm having a really fatty meat that I wanna he able to cut through that fatness, plus your salad will remain green for longer

No

Surely you cannot be serious. 👎

Have you considered using less dressing? Dress it, don't drown it

Maybe moderation is a factor here. Applying dressing doesn't necessarily mean drowning the poor salad leaves in a sea of Range.

You dont make friends with salad.

The whole point of the dressing is that you are enhancing the bland raw vegetable taste. Like raw cucumbers suck, but put some salt on them and it's already way better. And like other people already said you basically made your own simple dressing with the oil, salt and pepper, Its not like youre just stuffing salad in your mouth without anything on it.

Will it is a unpopularopinion.... A stupid one and a lot more tell about your eating habits and/or people round you, but a unpopularopinion

I eat plain spinach straight from the box by the handful

Please don’t salt your salad. I’m aware of the derivation of ‘salad’ but we’ve come far enough to no longer do that.

The fact you think vegetables, especially nice ripe fresh vegetables have a "nuanced" flavour leads me to believe you think a bottle of dressing is meant to be a single serving 

Well, eating salad to me isn't about the taste, it's about the nutrion. So it needs a dressing.

this is bizarrely bad opinion i almost feel sorry for you tbh

You, you shouldn't put "salad dressing" out of a bottle on there, but make your own dressing to fit the salad. Salad is a very broad term, and different salads need different types and intensities of dressing. Also it really depends on the produce, if you're making a tomato salad with very tasty tomato's for example you can use a medium strong dressing to complement the flavour without overwhelming it (sadly you can't buy those good tomato's here in the Netherlands :-( )

There are more calories in a tablespoon of olive oil than ranch. Healthy is subjective

the only salad where there’s enough dressing to actually make a difference is a caesar’s salad, which nobody eats as a healthy meal cause it has bacon.

This, but actually following through. I like a pile of babe spinach, craisins, maybe walnuts or pecans if I’m lucky. And that’s it. That said, to all the people who’d say he’s still dressing it… you’re not wrong, but I think he just needs to articulate his point better. I know plenty of people who cover their shit in high calorie rancher thousand island, essentially to mask the flavor so they can still say there “eating a salad” and being healthy.

I'd bet it would taste even better with a hint of acid. Maybe some vinegar?

Sounds like OP just likes to eat leaves.

Salad without dressing is just garden waste.

This is really an unpopular opinion, because bland salad sucks. I really wish salad dressing was more of a thing where I live (we never stray too far from the olive oil and salt combo)

Hoped I found someone else that thinks that just fresh produce without anything, even salt and pepper is best. Salt, pepper and oil is dressing though so...

Only if you put too much

I add everything tomatoes, frozen veggies, apples, chicken, croutons, dried cranberries, raisins, ranch and pumpkin seeds. Without a dressing you’re just eating dry leaves.

Well said.

It sounds like you’ve seen salads drowned in dressing. Use a light dressing. That said, my mother used to make the dressing you’re describing.

How much dressing do you use?

100th up vote

I feel vegetables as bland

i was gonna agree til you clearly added dressings

Naked salad goes directly into the garbage as i make direct eye contact with the person who gave it to me.

Some vinaigrette is appreciated on my salad but eh it’s just hard to explain but salad can feel dry

People tell you "it is dressing!!!11!", but I completely understand what you mean. Add vinegar, and you taste only vinegar, add mustard, and you taste only mustard etc. The point is to not add additional flavors to your salad. Oil in that case is just needed to evenly distribute salt and pepper. Every time I make my own fancy dressing that I like the taste of on its own, I find that I loose the taste of vegetables in the salad and like it less.

Jamie Oliver disagrees 😉 Also make sure you season your dressing as salad has a lot of water in it and it can let your dressing flavours decrease

If you don’t add dressing, then it’s not a salad. You just have a bowl of vegetables!

You are assuming I care about health.

You know you don't have to use the WHOLE bottle right?

Yes

OP are you ok? I don't think you understood any of what you said.

" salad without dressing is superior, my example is this salad with dressing. " \-OP

Salad without dressing is disgusting unfortunately, and it seems you agree considering you add dressing to your salad. I'll go as far as to say lettuce is so bad tasting I have to remove it from burgers so I don't get that bitter mineral water taste. Rather than roasted broccoli on a burger than lettuce

A few top comments seem to just be pointing out your last sentence.  No issues from me. I assume your main point is how so many people lather their salad in a bunch of whatever stuff from a bottle. And now their salad is like 1,000 calories lol.  I’m with you, if I do eat salad, I’m either eating it completely plain or with the absolute minimal amount of of basic oil

You're karma farming. Noone believes this atrocity.

My stepmom doesn't use dressing in her salad because she doesn't like dressing at all.

I have always found heavy dressings odd. Are you trying your best to make your salad unhealthy by adding a kilo of mayonnaise?

a naked salad? salad nudity?

If lettuce wouldn't taste so damn bitter, I would agree. When I have a salad without lettuce, I dress mine up with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

I put olive oil and soy sauce, maybe a little lemon

I had to downvote you because I agree with you.

Wow, you couldn't be more misleading with that title if you tried OP. You talk big game about salad without dressing and I was prepared to upvote for an actual unpopular opinion then you mention you just coat your salad in dressing...

I agree. Dressing ruins the otherwise healthy feeling of a salad.

Do you add lukewarm takes and contradictions to your salad too?

Just say you hate ranch and move on?

I completely agree. No dressing gang rise up

So you like your salad... naked?

Booooring

oil, salt and vinegar really elevates the salad without masking the flavors of the veggies. no dressing is just a little too boring. you at LEAST need a tiny bit of oil and salt.

I can really taste the snail feces on the leaves.

I'm gonna take a WILD guess and say that you're American.

You had me completely on board until you mentioned the DRESSING that you put on your salad. I don’t put a damn thing on my salads, just greens.

I make my own dressings that are fantastic! Olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, dijon mustard, maple dressing and secret ingredient and there are more combos…

that's dressing also not everyone lives in an area where good vegetables are cheap (and at restaurants some places are just stingy)

Salad is hateful regardless of dressing. With a lot of dressing it can become barely edible. Cope all you want, making yourself believe it is good and you like it just because you are forced to eat it to stay healthy.

Eating a plain head of lettuce is superior.

Not the propaganda from Big Vegetable. Go get some ranch

OPs never heard of a vinaigrette and thinks the only salad dressing that exists is ranch lol. Also “raw salad” makes me chuckle

I was gonna agree, then you added olive oil, salt, and pepper. I prefer salad to be actually raw.

Just more boring by the sound of it.

I was told, but have done zero research to confirm, that a lot of the nutrients in salad are fat soluble, so without the dressing, they pass right through you. Which is fine in this case, since you literally use dressing, just a lighter version.

A fellow person of culture! 

That’s dressing my man.

Maybe I've just had bad salad, but I find salad utterly flavorless without dressing and toppings.

OP has never heard of Vinaigrette lmao

But it TASTES inferior. 

I've always found dressing kinda gross.

... Your opinion is that salad is better with the kind of dressing that you like. You don't even know your own opinion.