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Home Recipes by Type Salads Salad Dressings & Toppings
30 30 Minutes or Less

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

4.54
/5
10 mins
18 Comments
Jump to Recipe
By: Rachel GurkPosted: 03/11/2020Updated: 06/15/2021

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Easily made from scratch, homemade Thousand Island dressing is so much tastier and more economical than store bought. Use it for salads, sandwiches, or as a delicious fry sauce.

Easily made from scratch, homemade Thousand Island dressing is so much tastier and more economical than store bought. Use it for salads, sandwiches, or as a delicious fry sauce.

Overhead image of homemade thousand island dressing in a small jar with a little white spoon in it. Jar is placed on a wooden surface with a blue and white towel.

Ever wonder what that “secret sauce” on a Big Mac is? Or maybe you wonder what makes a Reuben sandwich taste so good (besides the corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese)? Well, here’s the secret: Thousand Island dressing!

We love Thousand Island dressing because it has so many uses. It’s just amazing on a sandwich, whether it’s a hamburger or turkey burger, or a classic Reuben or Rachel sandwich. It’s the perfect dressing for these oven baked turkey sliders (aka Rachel sandwiches).

Please don’t settle for plain ol’ mayonnaise on your sandwich! Make it much more interesting and delicious with creamy, tangy and slightly sweet Thousand Island dressing.

Thousand Island dressing is so good on salads, too. I usually lean toward oil and vinegar dressings, like honey mustard vinaigrette or lemon basil vinaigrette, but some salads just call for a good creamy dressing, especially salads with romaine or iceberg lettuce.

Have you ever tried Thousand Island dressing on taco salad? Yum! Or try mixing Thousand Island dressing with coleslaw mix to make a knock-out coleslaw. Don’t these Reuben Eggs Benedict made with Thousand Island dressing sound delicious? Can’t wait to try those!

A little history: If you ever wondered where the name Thousand Island comes from, you’ll be interested to know that this dressing originated in the Thousand Islands region, an archipelago of 1,864 islands located along the upper St. Lawrence River between the United States and Canada. Who created this dressing first is sort of a mystery, as there are a lot people claiming to have been the first person to make it. 

While you won’t be the first person to come up with the idea for Thousand Island dressing, you may certainly make your own homemade version using ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry or fridge. Nothing compares to homemade dressing! It’s so much fresher tasting and you can customize it to your own preferences.

Image of homemade thousand island dressing in a jar with a small white spoon.

About this Thousand Island dressing recipe:

This recipe for Thousand Island dressing is pretty simple. It calls for nine ingredients, and two of those ingredients are salt and pepper. While there are often only 3 ingredient recipes for this dressing (mayo, ketchup, pickle relish), the extra ingredients add more layers of flavor. 

Get a small bowl out of your cupboard and stir together mayo, ketchup, sweet pickle relish. Now we’ve covered the three ingredients. Next, stir in a tablespoon of white vinegar and a tablespoon of sugar, amping up the sweet/sour flavor. For the final touch, stir in a little finely chopped onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. 

For best results, prepare the dressing at least an hour or up to 24 hours ahead of time so the flavors have a chance to meld, and the onion and garlic soften up a bit. 

Overhead image of a jar of thousand island dressing, made from scratch.

What’s the Difference Between Thousand Island and Russian dressing?

It appears that Russian dressing was created first, sometime in the mid 1800s. Thousand Island dressing is most likely a variant of Russian dressing, appearing in the early 1900s. Both dressings are mayonnaise based and contain ketchup or chili sauce. Russian dressing tends to have hot sauce or horseradish, while Thousand Island dressing more often includes chopped pickles, onions, peppers, and/or hard boiled egg. 

Image of thousand island dressing, homemade.

How to make this Thousand Island your own:

There are lots of different ways to customize Thousand Island dressing. Here’s a few ideas but feel free to experiment. Make your own “secret” sauce!

  • Add an egg. Many Thousand Island dressing recipes call for a finely chopped hard boiled egg. Keep in mind, this will reduce the length of time you can store the dressing in the fridge. I’d toss it after a week.
  • Don’t care for garlic or onion? Leave it out. You could substitute finely chopped peppers or olives. 
  • If you don’t have white vinegar, substitute a different kind of vinegar. Cider vinegar, rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar would all be fine although each would lend a slightly different flavor. 
  • Don’t have relish in your pantry? Try dill pickle relish instead of sweet pickle relish. I confess that I don’t always have sweet pickle relish in my pantry so I often use dill relish for this dressing and it tastes great! Alternatively, make it without relish. Or just chop up some pickles and add those. 
  • If you want to spice it up, add a little hot sauce, chili sauce, or horseradish, to taste.  
  • To make this dressing keto friendly, use avocado oil mayonnaise and a no-sugar-added ketchup. Skip the sugar, and use dill pickles instead of sweet. 

Storage Tips

Refrigerate leftover Thousand Island in a glass jar or airtight plastic container. It should keep for at least a week.

Other salad dressing recipes:

Homemade salad dressings are the best! Economical and easy to make, you’ll never go back to bottled dressing! Try these popular dressings:

  • Healthy Ranch Dressing
  • Green Goddess Dressing — packed with fresh herbs!
  • Poppy Seed Dressing
  • Parmesan Peppercorn Dressing
  • Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing
  • Catalina (French) Dressing

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Overhead image of homemade thousand island dressing in a small jar with a little white spoon in it. Jar is placed on a wooden surface with a blue and white towel.
Recipe

Get the Recipe: Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

4.54 from 49 votes
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 10 mins
1 3/4 cup
Print Rate Recipe
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Easily made from scratch, homemade Thousand Island dressing is so much tastier and more economical than store bought. Use it for salads, sandwiches, or as a delicious fry sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons finely diced onion
  • 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic (about 1 clove)
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or jar. Refrigerate for at least one hour to let flavors meld.

Notes

  • Don't have sweet pickle relish? Use dill pickle relish or chopped up pickles.
  • Variations: add hot sauce, chili sauce, or horseradish. Or add 1 chopped hard boiled egg.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 2tablespoons, Calories: 122kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 7mg, Sodium: 212mg, Sugar: 3g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© Author: Rachel Gurk
Did You Make This?Be sure to upload a photo & tag me at @RachelCooksBlog. I love seeing what you made!
Share A Photo! Tag on Insta Rate It
Verdict: Love all the flavor of this homemade dressing! 
Husband’s take: Ben isn’t generally a fan of creamy dressings, so he usually passes on this one.
Changes I would make: None are necessary.
Difficulty: Easy.
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  1. DeeAnn says

    December 18, 2022 at 5:24 pm

    5 stars
    Very yummy homemade version of a classic favorite! Way better than bottled.

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      December 19, 2022 at 8:01 am

      Thanks for the review!

      Reply
  2. Linda States says

    April 26, 2022 at 6:28 pm

    5 stars
    Hello! I wanted to make a smaller amount, and the recipe called for more mayo than I had on hand. So I “guesstimated” the amounts of the ingredients, and it still turned out great! I will stock up on the needed items and next time I will follow the recipe! Many thanks!

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      May 8, 2022 at 9:57 pm

      So happy to hear you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!

      Reply
  3. Marla says

    March 17, 2022 at 1:17 pm

    5 stars
    Are you kidding me? I don’t even like Thousand Island dressing! I wanted to make this for corned beef sandwiches, I did switch to AC Vinegar. I got some on my finger and licked it. I was completely blown away over a silly dressing, this stuff is so good, I want to eat it even without the corned beef! I’m definitely going to make this again and will enjoy it every time, thanks a bunch for changing my mind about this type of dressing.

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      March 27, 2022 at 10:32 am

      This comment made my day! So glad you enjoyed it!

      Reply
  4. Vicki Titmuss says

    August 2, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious! Just made this for our PattyMelts tonight . Made just as written is the best recipe for Thousand Island dressing.
    perfecttime.is
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      August 6, 2021 at 10:32 am

      So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!

      Reply
  5. Drunkinchef says

    July 9, 2021 at 12:56 pm

    We are smoking a corned beef to make pastrami this weekend and I can see Reubens in our future lol..but we don’t have any Thousand Island dressing and I HATE store bought so..figured my pastrami deserved a good dressing..this fit the bill! I even used our own home canned sweet pickle relish to make it…EXCELLENT! I did not add the egg..not because I am not adventurous but because I was lazy and liked it just the way you wrote the recipe..(no egg mentioned) Thanks for a great recipe..

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      July 12, 2021 at 9:55 am

      Your comment brought a smile to my face! I’m so glad you liked this recipe!

      Reply
  6. Beba says

    May 6, 2021 at 5:03 pm

    Delicious! Just made this for our PattyMelts tonight .  Made just as written is the best recipe for Thousand Island dressing.
    Thanks 

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      May 10, 2021 at 7:20 pm

      Thanks so much for the kind words! I appreciate it!

      Reply
  7. Rhonda says

    April 1, 2021 at 9:17 am

    Just made your Thousand Island dressing for the second time. It is by far the best Thousand Island I have ever eaten. Much better than any store bought and so easy to make. I used this for sandwiches but finished up last night on a salad…and I never Thousand Island on a salad.  Don’t skip the egg! 

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      April 1, 2021 at 11:56 am

      I’m so glad you like it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

      Reply
  8. Linda Watkins says

    September 13, 2020 at 6:03 pm

    Looked through a lot of recipes on Pintrest for one that didn’t have a whole bunch of stuff in it. I’ve been cooking for 50 years & know that sometimes less is the best way to go. haha. This is my daughters (42) boyfriends (50) favorite dressing & recently he was diagnosed with high blood pressure so now he wants to get back to salads & healthy food. Not saying that 1000 Island is the healthiest …. but better than pizza every day & no veggies ! I just now made it & going to let the flavors blend before giving it to him tomorrow. I just snuck a little taste & it’s DELICIOUS !!!! So glad I chose this one. Thanks !!!

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      September 16, 2020 at 7:00 am

      So glad to hear you liked this recipe! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

      Reply
  9. denise says

    March 12, 2020 at 12:58 am

    Thanks for omitting the hard boiled egg. I hate that in it.

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      March 15, 2020 at 7:32 am

      :) It’s an interesting addition. I think it’s great without it, too.

      Reply

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