Russian Dressing

This homemade Russian dressing recipe is a cinch to make and tastes so much better than store-bought! Great for salads, sandwiches, and dipping. Quite a few “Russian dressing” recipes call for sweet pickle relish instead of cornichons, but this is actually characteristic of Thousand Island dressing. Since the two dressings look so similar and are made from a mayonnaise-ketchup base, they’re often mistaken for each other (and, in some cases, just swapped interchangeably). The main difference between Russian and Thousand Island is the sweetness. Thousand Island dressing has a sweeter quality, while traditional Russian is more robust. Thousand Island also contains hard cooked egg and citrus, like orange or lemon.

1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. prepared horseradish
2 Tbsp. onion, grated using a box grater
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. cornichons, finely minced
¼ tsp. smoked paprika
2-3 dashes hot sauce

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour for the flavours to develop. If you like your Russian dressing spicier, season to taste with additional horseradish and hot sauce. (Remember that the horseradish flavour will continue to blossom over 24 hours.)

Store, tightly-covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Makes about 1½ cups.