May-28-2014

Vinaigrette is the name given to a vegetable salad consisting of many different ingredients. It usually includes boiled vegetables: beets, potatoes, carrots.

In addition, pickled cucumbers, onions, and sometimes salted cabbage and fresh (or canned) green peas are added to the vinaigrette. As a rule, olive or sunflower oil is used to season the vinaigrette. By all characteristics, vinaigrette can be considered a cold appetizer dish.

Vinaigrette is not only a very tasty, but also a very healthy dish.

Pickled, fresh and boiled vegetables contain a huge amount of vitamins, unrefined vegetable oil is a natural source of polyunsaturated fatty acids that have a beneficial effect on metabolism and improve digestion, and natural vinegar normalizes the natural acid-base balance.

How to prepare vinaigrette:

The only thing you can’t have a vinaigrette without is beets. Try to do the same thing, but without the red root vegetable, and you will end up with an ordinary vegetable salad. As a rule, beets for vinaigrette are boiled. As a rule, because vinaigrettes with finely grated raw beets are quite possible, and housewives often use pickled beets.

So, you can:

Boil unpeeled beets without adding anything to the water. Drain the broth and peel the beets when they cool down. This is for lovers of a sweet vinaigrette, because this way more of the original beet sugar remains in the beets.

Boil the peeled beets, adding salt and a little vinegar. This is for those who like spicier, brightly colored vinaigrettes.

Simply marinate the beet cut into large slices according to any of the traditional recipes. It will turn out even spicier.

Take raw beets. This is for the few fans.

Beets, which are the basis of any vinaigrette, should not be placed there in large pieces. Every cook has his own technique in this matter. Some cut the beets into the thinnest strips, others chop them into cubes, and others grind them on a coarse grater. And raw beets are grated on the finest grater and used in much smaller quantities than boiled or pickled ones. Otherwise, it will be difficult to chew - in its raw form, good beets are not amenable to all teeth. And its taste is too specific.

Boiled potatoes soften the too strong vegetable taste and give the vinaigrette a certain nobility. It is best to select small nodules for cooking and cook them in their skins. The aroma of such potatoes is beyond all praise; it is clearly noticeable in the hottest dish. Most often, potatoes are cut into cubes.

We cut the onion into thin rings, cut them in half, and then several more times across the first cut. You shouldn’t chop it too small, otherwise the onion will fade and its smell will change for the worse. But you don’t need to cut it into slices either, after all, onions are a rather caustic vegetable. There must be moderation in everything.

Carrot. There are two approaches to this vegetable in vinaigrette science. Some boil carrots together with beets and then process them in the same way as beets. Boiled carrots have a specific taste that not everyone likes, and beets mask it. Other equally worthy people boil carrots along with potatoes, but cut them much smaller. A small addition of carrots gives the vinaigrette a special charm.

Cucumber. Take pickled cucumbers and cut them into slices about the same size as potatoes.

Sauerkraut in vinaigrette completely replaces pickled cucumber, but at the same time surprisingly changes the flavor palette. However, sauerkraut replaces, but does not replace, cucumber. You can put both at the same time.

Is it possible to put fragrant herbs in a vinaigrette: dill, parsley, celery or, say, tarragon? Can. What about green peas? Can! Especially for a holiday meal.

How to mix. You can chop all the products except beets and season them with vegetable oil. Separately chop the beets and also add oil. And only then mix the beets with other products. At the same time, the food turns out to be multi-colored. Carrots remain yellow (representatives of this school cook carrots along with potatoes), cucumbers remain greenish, onions and fresh cabbage remain white. Only the potatoes are slightly painted over and turn pink. This also does not create any general taste. Each ingredient plays on its own.

According to the second option, everything is cut together and mixed thoroughly; You can also add beetroot broth for extra richness and only then use the oil. The vinaigrette turns out dark red, almost homogeneous. You can’t easily see the individual components in it. And the taste of such a vinaigrette is unique, and cannot be formed by simple summation.

The vinaigrette is seasoned with vegetable oil. Preferably sunflower. Unrefined. Although there may be options. In general, vinaigrette takes quite a lot of oil, but if you overdo it, the taste will immediately fade away, and some eaters may experience liver problems. Therefore, it is better to just lightly flavor the vinaigrette with oil, giving each person sitting at the table the opportunity to add as much oil as he wishes.

This dish is loved by many of us. That is why you often hear the question - how many calories are in a vinaigrette? Usually people who want to lose weight or are simply accustomed to monitoring their body weight and therefore counting calories are interested in the calorie content of this food. Vinaigrette, which includes a standard set of vegetables, has a calorie content of 70 kcal per 100 g. product. Vinaigrette with vegetable oil is slightly higher in calories - 110 - 150 kcal per 100 grams. product - it depends on the quantity and quality of the oil used.

Calorie content of vinaigrette:

How many calories are in vinaigrette salad prepared according to different recipes? So:

With beans:

The list of products for preparing a vinaigrette may include beans. For example, let's take a salad that includes carrots (209 g), potatoes (364 g), beets (580 g), cucumber (281 g) and canned white beans (275 g).

The calorie content of vinaigrette with beans is about 52 kcal per 100 g. product

With peas:

In order to calculate the calorie content of a dish, you need to know the calorie content of its components. For example, vinaigrette with peas. Let's take a recipe that includes the following products: boiled vegetables - potatoes (750 g), beets (270 g) and carrots (420 g); pickles (360 gr.), onions (50 gr.) and green peas (265 gr.). As a dressing – olive oil (60 g).

The calorie content of vinaigrette with peas is about 75 kcal per 100 g. product

With olive oil:

The average calorie content of vinaigrette is approximately 110-150 kcal per 100 g. product. It depends on the vegetables included in its composition and on the dressing. So, for example, if the vinaigrette is seasoned with only oil (including olive oil), then its calorie content will increase slightly - 145 - 150 kcal per 100 grams.

With potatoes and butter:

Take for example this recipe for vinaigrette with potatoes and butter:

Ingredients: boiled carrots (138 gr.), boiled beets (267 gr.), boiled potatoes (36 gr.), onions (30 gr.), sauerkraut (250 gr.), sunflower oil (2 tablespoons).

The calorie content of vinaigrette with potatoes and butter is about 80 kcal per 100 g. product

Without oil:

Vinaigrette without oil can be different. For example, this recipe:

Boiled potatoes (110 gr.), boiled carrots (150 gr.), boiled beans (200 gr.), boiled beets (180 gr.), sauerkraut (200 gr.), pickled cucumbers (100 gr.).

The calorie content of vinaigrette without oil is about 54 kcal per 100 g. product

Without potatoes:

Recipe for making vinaigrette without potatoes:

Ingredients: boiled beets (570 gr.), boiled carrots (379 gr.), pickled cucumbers (377 gr.), onions (200 gr.), olive oil (18 gr.).

The calorie content of vinaigrette without potatoes is about 43 kcal per 100 g. product

Translated from French, “vinaigre” is just vinegar. Later it was invented in which this “spoiled wine” played the main role. An equal amount of olive oil and a small amount of olive oil were added to it. Vegetables sprinkled with this dressing turned out to be as if marinated and at the same time seasoned with oil. The sauce was called "vinaigrette", actually a diminutive name for "vinaigrette". Translated into Russian you can say “vinegar”. Well, we Slavs, as always, misunderstood something and came up with our own dish - vinaigrette. The calorie content per 100 grams of this salad is low, because it consists of boiled or pickled vegetables.

The benefits of vinaigrette

The ingredients themselves testify to this. Onion is a cure for seven ailments; red-cheeked, hemoglobin-boosting beets; carrots rich in carotene and vitamin A; Potatoes are a source of starch, which does not have a negative effect on your figure. And where can a Russian person go without pickles and sauerkraut? And it is clear that with such a high-quality composition, the calorie content of the vinaigrette with butter is quite low. And the benefits for the body from savoring the dish are immeasurably greater.

What about the oil?

If you adhere to the classic Russian recipe, then 110 Kcal per 100 g of product. But if you cook it the same way as in Ukraine (and people there are not fools when it comes to eating), then it’s all 160 and even 200. Because they use chopped boiled eggs, boiled beans, and canned peas. The dish is seasoned not only with vinegar and vegetable oil, but also with mayonnaise. The festive version of the vinaigrette involves the presence of boiled tongue - beef or pork. And also grate hard cheese on top so that the feast does not reach dessert.

What's happened

If you are watching your figure or struggling with extra pounds, you can try it on yourself. Nothing complicated or painful. Just enjoy a vinaigrette of boiled carrots, beets, potatoes and canned peas for three days in a row. Season your salad with kefir or low-fat cottage cheese. Because the calorie content of the vinaigrette with butter will immediately increase by 40-50 units. And you shouldn’t add salt at all, maybe just a little bit. You are allowed to add a little green onion. During the diet, you should drink low-fat dairy products (kefir, yogurt), and in the evening - tea with honey.

How to reduce the calorie content of a vinaigrette with butter

If an insignificant 150 Kcal per 100 g of salad seems excessive to you, then let's think about how to reduce this figure. First of all, bake the beets in the oven (with the skins on). This way it will save more nutrients. Boil vegetables until al dente. This means they should be a little firm. First, cut the beets, sprinkle them with vinegar, and let them sit. Then add a drop of vegetable oil and stir - this simple technique will allow you to create a colorful salad, not a red one. Next, chop the remaining vegetables. In approximately the same proportion, only a little less carrots. We start from the Spartan minimum, because we are losing weight. Only beets, potatoes, carrots, vinegar, refined sunflower oil. For taste, I would recommend adding one or two more ingredients: pickled cucumber and boiled beans. Or peas and sauerkraut. The calorie content will increase slightly if we fill it with low-fat kefir instead of vinegar-oil sauce.

It is hardly possible to meet a person who does not know what vinaigrette is. This popular salad, named after the French hot sauce based on vinegar, appeared in Russia around the 19th century, and it probably came to us from Germany or one of the Scandinavian countries. The main feature of this salad is its availability and low calorie content, which allows it to be called a dietary dish. To prepare the vinaigrette, seasonal vegetables are used, each of which contains a large amount of useful minerals and vitamins. There are a huge number of salad recipes, so it is difficult to say exactly how many calories are in the vinaigrette; to do this, you need to familiarize yourself with the calorie content in each salad ingredient.

Composition, preparation and benefits of vinaigrette

As already mentioned, there are a large number of salad recipes, including even a Scandinavian recipe with herring, sometimes red fish and quail eggs are added to it, but for us the vegetable recipe is more familiar. It can serve as a decoration for a holiday table, it is included in the regular diet, there is even a special diet based on vinaigrette, which gives good results. In addition, vinaigrette is a good way to organize fasting days, especially after a big feast.

The composition of the classic vinaigrette, which we have all become accustomed to since childhood, includes boiled potatoes - a good source of starch, and beets, thanks to which the salad takes on an attractive appearance. In addition, beets help reduce the normalization of blood pressure and have other beneficial properties; the vegetable vinaigrette also includes boiled carrots, rich in carotene, and sauerkraut, which contains a large amount of ascorbic acid and helps improve the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. Legumes, such as beans or green peas, are a good source of vegetable protein, but the main component of the vinaigrette is vegetable oil, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins.

By the way, to answer the question of how many calories are in a vinaigrette with butter, you should know that butter is the main supplier of calories in this salad. If you want to lose weight, you can experiment with dressings, and the same can be done with other ingredients. Vegetable oil can, for example, be replaced with cabbage brine or use another dressing, and if you look at how many calories are in a vinaigrette with potatoes and compare these numbers with a salad prepared without it, the difference will be noticeable. To make the salad less high in calories, you can also replace sauerkraut with seaweed, which contains, among other things, a large amount of iodine; you can increase the benefits of the vinaigrette by eliminating legumes or replacing canned peas with boiled frozen ones.

Calorie content of vinaigrette

If you want to know how many calories are in a vinaigrette with butter and potatoes, you need to look at the calorie content of each product included in its composition. With a standard set of products, the calorie content of a salad is 90-130 kcal, and by replacing some ingredients you can get a truly dietary dish, the calorie content of which will not exceed 40 kcal per 100 grams. To choose the ideal ratio of products, remember that 100 grams of potatoes contain approximately 78 kcal, so you can easily calculate how many calories are in a vinaigrette with vegetable oil without potatoes.


Considering that the calorie content of vegetable oil is on average 900 kcal, and beans - 250 kcal per 100 grams of product, by removing the oil and replacing the beans, you can achieve the desired result and get a low-calorie, although still tasty, dish. As for other products, beets contain 40 kcal, 100 grams of carrots contain 35 kcal, sauerkraut - 25 kcal, and cucumbers and onions - only 15 kcal, so the absence or presence of these products does not particularly affect the calorie content of the vinaigrette.

Despite the current variety of salads, many people prefer proven recipes, adding new ingredients to them. In dietary cuisine, classic vinaigrette is quite common, the calorie content of which is very low, so anyone who monitors their health and figure can safely use it. In the article you will learn about the history of the origin of salad, variations in preparation and how to minimize its energy value.

Who invented vinaigrette

The salad owes its name to vinegar, which was previously used as a dressing. The dish appeared during the reign of Alexander the Great. A Frenchman working in the kitchen with a Russian saw that he was seasoning food (potatoes, beets, pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut) with vinegar and asked: “Vinegra?” (vinaigre means "vinegar" in French). The cook thought that this was the name of the salad. Soon the dish went beyond the royal court and spread throughout Russia and other countries, and sunflower oil became a worthy replacement for vinegar.

Classic vinaigrette: calorie content, preparation method

A classic vinaigrette is prepared in a certain way. The main ingredients are taken in equal proportions. Onions are optionally added raw or fried in sunflower oil. Potatoes, carrots and beets are boiled and cut into small cubes. Chop the cucumber and add it last along with the sauerkraut and green peas.

Calorie content of vinaigrette in different versions

Any woman who watches her figure and limits herself in food, before eating an extra portion of soup or salad, is interested in the composition and energy value. Today, calorie counting programs can be purchased at any online store - they are absolutely free. Use the table above to make your diet vinaigrette. Calorie content is indicated for every 100 g.

There should be 5 times less onions in the salad than other ingredients, since excessive bitterness will be unnecessary. Sometimes it is not put into the salad at all. If you take 100 g of each product, there should be no more than 20 g of onion (8 kcal). In the same amount, take chopped dill, which has a similar calorie content. If you prepare a vinaigrette from the specified amount of ingredients without oil, it will be dietary. The calorie content of a vinaigrette with sauerkraut without oil will average 54 kcal per 100 g, without potatoes - 43 kcal, and the calorie content of a classic salad with all ingredients varies from 110 to 150 kcal.

The secret to making a delicious salad

Appearance is the first thing a person pays attention to when serving a dish. If you want the vinaigrette to be a rich pink color, toss the vegetables and pour a little beet juice over them, then dress with oil.

To make the salad full of colorful ingredients, pour the dressing over them separately, stir and only then combine all the ingredients.

Boil vegetables with their skins on or bake them. This will make their taste more intense. If you are a fan of dietary cuisine, prepare a vegetable vinaigrette - the calorie content of the dish will allow you to consume it several times a day.

Add the dressing to the salad gradually so that the ingredients do not “float” in it. Excess sauce should never remain at the bottom of the plate - it will be absorbed into the food.

Do not mix ingredients in metal containers, otherwise they will acquire a specific taste. Enamel and glass are the best you can think of to serve a dish.

Oil in vinaigrette: pros, cons

Mayonnaise has long lost its former popularity; cooks are increasingly looking for a replacement. Olive or sunflower oil is used for dressing, the daily amount of which should not exceed three tablespoons. Minimize your fat intake, and then your lunch will be less calorie. A dietary vinaigrette can be prepared without sunflower oil, but if you add it in an amount of 50 g (50 kcal), the calorie content of the vinaigrette with oil will be 102 kcal per 100 g. Instead of this dressing, you can use vinegar or lemon juice.

If you cannot do without salad dressing, but want to preserve the natural flavor of vegetables, use unrefined oil, which is much more economical.

How to make vinaigrette more dietary

If you pay close attention to what you eat and try to minimize the energy content of your meals, you should reduce the amount of heavy foods. In a dish such as vinaigrette, the calorie content increases due to the use of potatoes and sunflower oil for dressing. By adding pickled cucumbers and sauerkraut in larger quantities, you can get a more dietary dish. You can make a vinaigrette without potatoes, which will have much less calories.

Nutritionists advise replacing canned peas with frozen ones. Use white or red beans instead of potatoes. Keep in mind that too much salt is not good for your health, so if you are preparing a salad of sauerkraut and pickled cucumber, do not add any salt to it at all. Add as many greens as possible to the vinaigrette to make it juicier and more dietary. Experiment with apples, lemons and oranges - a small amount won't hurt.

Original recipes for your favorite salad

Vinaigrette can be prepared in several ways: herring, mushrooms, capers and other interesting ingredients are added to it. The recipe varies depending on the preferences of the cook.

Despite the fact that vinaigrette is generally considered a dietary dish, resourceful cooks sometimes add meat to it. The constant components remain beets, cucumbers and potatoes. According to the recipe, there should be very little meat - it is boiled and cut into strips. The dressing is made from mayonnaise, sunflower oil, spices and dill.

Most of us prefer to prepare a vinaigrette with cabbage, whose calorie content is minimal, but residents of coastal countries decided to replace it with kelp. The taste of the salad is very unusual, so everyone should try it. To prepare you will need potatoes (300 g), carrots (150 g), pickles (100 g), beets (100 g), onions (80 g) and a can of canned seaweed. Vegetables are boiled and cut into small pieces, the dressing is prepared from sunflower oil, vinegar and parsley.

Herring and tomato paste are the most unexpected combination in cooking, but housewives with imagination can experiment and prepare this miracle vinaigrette, the calorie content of which will be much higher (the energy value of herring is 145-173 kcal). This dish can surprise even the most sophisticated gourmet. In addition to the classic ingredients (carrots, beets, potatoes, pickles, green peas), you will need herring, tomatoes, green onions and tomato paste. All products must be finely chopped. The dressing is prepared from a mixture of mayonnaise and tomato paste, to which chopped herbs are added to taste.

Original vinaigrette recipes require the presence of squid, mussels, canned fish, smoked fish, citrus fruits, and sometimes chicory and rhubarb root or other herbs are added to it.

Vinaigrette with fish and mushrooms

This recipe can pleasantly surprise lovers of salads with a lot of ingredients. Old Russian vinaigrette, whose calorie content is significantly higher than the classic one, has been known since the 19th century. To prepare you will need beets (300 g), potatoes (400 g), pickles (150 g), white beans (100 g), pickled porcini mushrooms (100 g), pike perch fillet (100 g), fresh cabbage (50 g) , capers (50 g). The dressing consists of a teaspoon of mustard, three tablespoons of sunflower oil and half a glass of 3% vinegar. Salt, sugar and black pepper are added to taste. Vegetables are boiled or baked, fish is fried in sunflower oil. All ingredients must be cut into small pieces and mixed in one container. The sauce is prepared as follows: mix mustard, sugar, salt, pepper in a small amount of water, add oil and vinegar.

There is hardly a person in the territory of the former Soviet Union who has never tried vinaigrette. This dish, along with the popular Olivier salad, was sure to decorate any holiday table. Vinaigrette was prepared on or without occasion. This is one of the few salads that can be called “Russian”, since it was mentioned among the recipes of Russian cuisine already in the 19th century. This is especially interesting since salads as such are, in principle, not typical of Russian cuisine, and vinaigrette is a kind of exception.

The calorie content of the vinaigrette is low, since it contains vegetables. Although, there is evidence that herring was also added to this salad, which slightly increased the calorie content of the vinaigrette. What was the traditional Russian vinaigrette? It included products such as beets, carrots, potatoes - all boiled and chilled. Sauerkraut and pickles were also added in approximately equal quantities. The vinaigrette would not be complete without onions and green onions, which gave it a certain spiciness.

The most important thing is that a special dressing was used for the vinaigrette. It was prepared using weak vinegar, vegetable oil, black pepper and salt. It was in honor of this dressing that the vinaigrette got its name. French vinaigrette consists of vinegar, olive oil and mustard, and its name is derived from the French vinaigre (vinegar).

The vinaigrette, which included herring previously soaked in milk, no longer added cucumbers and cabbage. But the gas station was definitely used. It is believed that the vinaigrette recipe could have been borrowed from Scandinavian or German cuisine. At the same time, some changes were made to it, as a result of which the salad became “Russian”.

Vinaigrette received its rebirth during the Soviet Union. Back then, this easy-to-prepare salad graced any holiday table. The popularity of vinaigrette was largely due to the fact that it did not require any special products. All of them were quite affordable, and any housewife could purchase them. It is unlikely that Soviet housewives worried about how many calories were in the vinaigrette. To feed the family nourishingly and tasty - that was the main thing we were striving for at a time when the word “scarcity” was heard much more often than any other.

The benefits of vinaigrette

Vinaigrette salad is not only tasty, but also, of course, healthy. This is largely due to the large amount of beets included in its composition, and other vegetables have beneficial properties. First of all, this salad is rich in fiber, which has a beneficial effect on intestinal activity. The vinaigrette contains vitamins and minerals found in vegetables. Don't forget about sauerkraut, which combines probiotic and prebiotic properties, so it helps create healthy intestinal microflora. Nutritionists also associate the anti-cancer properties of sauerkraut with this. Pickled cucumbers also contribute to the formation of beneficial intestinal microflora. Well, the vegetable oil used to dress the salad, although it increases the calorie content of the vinaigrette, is at the same time an extremely healthy product.

It is worth saying that since the vinaigrette contains starchy vegetables, it turns out to be very satisfying and can easily replace a regular meal. However, those who are concerned about how many calories are in the vinaigrette do not have to worry that consuming the vinaigrette will lead to extra pounds. In fact, this salad remains a dietary dish, and the calorie content of the vinaigrette allows it to be used even in low-calorie diets.

Unlike Olivier, which cannot be prepared without mayonnaise, vinaigrette remains a low-calorie dish, even if finely chopped herring is added to it in accordance with one of the old recipes. Although, it is worth recognizing that such a vinaigrette is rarely prepared today, and they mostly stick to a purely vegetable recipe. But it is quite possible to diversify your diet somewhat if you prepare a vinaigrette according to this recipe. It will become an original decoration for any holiday table. So how many calories are in a vinaigrette, and does the calorie content of a vinaigrette with butter increase significantly?

If you prepare the salad according to the traditional recipe, the calorie content of the vinaigrette per 100 grams will be about 55 kcal. In this case, the calorie content of the vinaigrette with oil will be equal to 120 kcal per 100 g. As you can see, after the salad is seasoned with oil, the calorie content of the vinaigrette almost doubles. And, nevertheless, the calorie content of vinaigrette with oil remains low enough to use this salad in dietary nutrition. It is noteworthy that the old recipe for vinaigrette also involved the use of an egg, which significantly increased the calorie content of the vinaigrette. Today, eggs are used more for decoration, so they cannot seriously affect the calorie content of a vinaigrette with butter.

The calorie content of a vinaigrette with herring will be higher than the calorie content of a vegetable vinaigrette. But, since herring itself is not a very high-calorie product, and given that not a lot of it is taken to prepare the vinaigrette, the calorie content of the vinaigrette per 100 grams will not be a value that frightens adherents of a healthy diet. However, it will be significantly higher than the calorie content of vegetable vinaigrette. So, the calorie content of vinaigrette per 100 grams will be 256 kcal. Indeed, you should not get carried away with this dish if you want to lose weight.

Thus, vinaigrette is a wonderful low-calorie salad that will be appropriate both on the holiday table and on the daily menu. In order to prepare a vinaigrette, you do not need to have any special culinary talents. Vinaigrette will become a source of vitamins and beneficial microelements during the cold season, when the body especially urgently needs them. This colorful salad will not be superfluous in the summer either. By the way, in order to preserve the bright colors of this dish, you need to know one little secret. The beets are always chopped first and mixed with oil so that they retain their color. If you use this little secret, your vinaigrette will become a worthy decoration for any table and will delight your guests not only with its wonderful taste, but also with its bright colors.