Mashed's Exclusive Survey Uncovers The Type Of Salad Dressing People Prefer

When it comes to making your salad delicious, there are so many ways you can go. There are the add-ons, you know, the 15 things you should be putting on your salad but aren't, like toasted pecans or juicy pomegranate seeds for a dash of color and a dose of vitamins and antioxidants (via the Washingtonian). But when it comes to transforming simple vegetables into a palatable plate, many of us turn to salad dressing, bottled or otherwise.

While there are literally thousands of flavors of salad dressing – Amazon will sell you more options than a person can count in ten flavor categories with innumerable uncategorizable flavors — but the classics remain the most popular despite the wealth of options we enjoy these days.

A few of the most popular include ranch, thousand island, chipotle, honey mustard, and vinaigrette. We asked nearly 600 foodies to give us their honest opinion on their flavor of choice, and their answers might surprise you.

Our survey of 582 foodies found chipotle was people's least favorite of these popular salad dressing choices, with only 11.51% of votes. The chipotle pepper, which rose to ubiquity in the early 2010s, has a strong, smokey flavor that may overwhelm delicate veggies (via Taste Savant). These distinctly flavored little guys are actually just dried, smoked Jalapeño peppers (via The Spicelopedia). 

Honey mustard and thousand island dressings were slightly more popular choices, coming in at 11.68% and 15.98% of votes respectively.

By a landslide, vinaigrette is the second most popular option, with nearly 27% of votes. When it comes to salad dressings, vinaigrette is often used as a blanket term to cover any salad dressing that uses this type of base. At its most basic, according to the kitchn, a vinaigrette boils down to one part acid vigorously combined with three or four parts oil. Beyond that, you can flavor it with garlic, mustard, herbs, raspberry, or whatever your little heart desires. Shake vigorously in a jar, whisk, or blend in a blender and voila, vinaigrette.

With 33.85% of votes on its side, the hands-down winner of the most popular salad dressing was classic ranch. If you've never had the creamy dreaminess of homemade ranch dressing, nip out to the store now. Seriously now. Go. If you thought bottled ranch was good, its homemade relative is so delicious it'll make kids eat the most unwelcome veggies and, well, it can make almost anything taste good.

While crisp, fresh veggies make a nice counterpoint to this incredibly rich and creamy herbed dressing, it's also delicious on chicken fingers, fries, buffalo cauliflower, potato skins, and tots (via Allrecipes). And, naturally, the ultimate ranch dressing pairing, pizza.