We Won't Be Buying This Salty Trader Joe's Salad Dressing Any Time Soon

While Trader Joe's consistent rotation of new products makes for a fun shopping experience, it also means it's difficult to decide what to buy. Should we always give in to those impulse purchases, or try harder to stick with what we know? Take the chain's salad dressings, for example. There are over a dozen varieties available, from Buttermilk Ranch to silky Organic Toasted Sesame. To help you sift through all the options, Chowhound ranked Trader Joe's salad dressings from worst to first. While some options impressed us, others fell way short. One thing we know for sure is that you won't catch us buying the chain's Goddess salad dressing.

This plain Goddess dressing came in last due to its strange flavor. While the dressing is creamy, it has overly salty, vinegar-forward notes that confused our taster's palate. Made with tahini, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice, it sounds like it should work, but we found it very unbalanced. Tahini is a lusciously creamy ingredient that tastes great in salad dressings, but this particular product misses the mark. The vinegar and lemon juice should have added subtle acidity to the nutty base of this dressing, but the tahini was muted instead, resulting in an overpoweringly acidic and salty flavor with barely a hint of tahini's signature earthiness.

Before any diehard TJ's fans come for us, know that this product is not the same as the retailer's Green Goddess dressing. That one came in at No. 2 in our ranking, while the No. 1 spot went to the Vegan Creamy Dill sauce. These options are much brighter, fresher, and balanced. 

While this pick made the bottom of our list out of all Trader Joe's dressings, other customers have echoed the sentiment online. Many point to its thick texture and excess of salt and tang. Others have shared ways to make it better, with some shoppers suggesting thinning out the sauce with oil or red wine vinegar. These additions might help cut through its intense creaminess. When tossed with greens or other salad ingredients, the unbalanced flavor of the goddess dressing is also less noticeable, so it might appeal to some palates more than others. To find out if the Goddess dressing is right for you, you might just have to taste it and see. Or, you can always try making your own, as some people argue that salad dressing is something you should avoid buying at the grocery store.