Homemade Italian Dressing Mix Recipe
Making your own Homemade Italian Dressing Mix takes about 5 minutes and uses simple seasonings you probably already have in the pantry. Keep a jar on hand to make homemade Italian dressing, season meats and vegetables, or use in recipes that call for a packet of dry Italian dressing mix.
Besides being convenient, making your own seasoning mixes can be much more affordable than buying individual packets at the grocery store. You also get to control exactly what goes into the mix.
Why Make Homemade Italian Dressing Mix?
Those little seasoning packets are handy, but they can get expensive, especially if you use them regularly. This homemade version makes about 1/2 cup of dry Italian dressing mix, so you can mix up a jar once and have it ready whenever you need it.
It is also easy to adjust. You can reduce the salt, use a salt substitute, or tweak the seasonings to suit your family.
How to Use Italian Dressing Mix
Obviously, you can make Italian salad dressing with it, but that is only the beginning. This is one of those seasoning mixes that is surprisingly useful to have in the pantry.
Try it:
- Mixed into homemade Italian salad dressing
- Sprinkled over chicken, pork, or beef before cooking
- As seasoning for roasted or grilled vegetables
- Mixed into pasta dishes or pasta salad
- Added to marinades
- In recipes that call for dry Italian dressing mix
I keep it right alongside my homemade taco seasoning and homemade onion soup mix. Once you start keeping homemade seasoning mixes in the pantry, it is hard to go back to buying the little packets.
How Much Homemade Italian Dressing Mix Equals One Packet?
If a recipe calls for one packet of Italian dressing mix, use about 2 tablespoons of this homemade mix.
One full recipe makes approximately 1/2 cup of seasoning mix, or enough for about 4 batches of Italian dressing.
Allergy-Friendly Homemade Seasoning
One of the reasons I started making my own seasoning mixes was simply knowing exactly what was in them. If you are avoiding a particular ingredient or cooking for someone with food allergies or intolerances, homemade mixes make it much easier to check every ingredient that goes into your food.
Just be sure to check the individual spices and ingredients you use if you are preparing this for someone with a specific allergy.
Storage
I store the spice mix itself in a mason jar in the pantry. Any airtight container will work.
To store the dressing you can buy dressing bottles at the dollar store, Amazon, or any home goods store.
Keep the spices on hand for months as long as they are in an airtight container. The dressing itself is best used within a week or two once it is mixed.
How to Make Italian Dressing
To turn the seasoning mix into Italian salad dressing, combine:
- 2 tablespoons homemade Italian dressing mix
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil or canola oil
Add everything to a jar or dressing bottle, close tightly, and shake well. Give it another good shake before serving.
Printable Label
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Click the button below to download the Italian dressing mix label printable
Homemade Italian Dressing Mix
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons oregano ground or leaves
- 1 tablespoon parsley dried
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons salt or substitute
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon basil dried
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme dried, ground
- 1/2 teaspoon celery dried leaves or flakes
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together and store in an air-tight container
Italian Salad Dressing
- Mix 2 tbsp of this mix with 1/4 cup vinegar, two tbs water, and 1/2 to 2/3 cup olive oil or canola oil.
- Shake before using.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally posted in Jan 2012. Updated in August 2026
This sounds great! The only kind of italian dressing I like is the Good season brand that you mix at home. I bet your recipe will be more like that. And even better I have most of the ingredients right now in my pantry except for the thyme and celery. Thanks for the recipe.
It is good! I tried it last night and it’s delicious! I’m going to use Hemilayan (sp) salt next time!
Do u have a ranch dip/dressing mix recipe by any chance. Those little packets of dry ranch mix are SOOO expensive.
thx
Yes, it is coming soon 🙂
Can’t wait for the ranch one. We go through an amazing amount of dry ranch mix and it is so hard to find coupons or to find it cheap. THANKS!
dang I wish I had just spent money on this stuff last night for a recipe I am making today 🙂 but this will be pinned for future use!
I just mixed up the seasonings…can’t wait to try it for dinner! Thank you for sharing!
My boyfriend and I are just starting to really get serious about eating better. We’ve been looking at recipes online and gathering info on all kinds of great dishes. We’ve come across tons of great dishes that need Italian seasoning packets. We’ve never bought Italian seasoning packets before so when we went to the store we were kind of shocked at the $1.30 – $1.50 price tag on a teeny tiny little packet. This recipe you posted came at the GREATEST TIME! Thank you so much for posting this. 🙂 I know purchasing some of the ingredients will be a bit pricy to start off with but I know we’ll save a lot in the long run, I can’t wait to try it out.
Thanks again and take care!
This was a good mix, but I changed it for my personal preference. I cut down the salt and omitted the sugar. I also added a dash of pepper flakes for a zing. But it has lots of Italian flavor.
Wonderful!! Can I share this on my blog and with your picture. I am so excited about this. Looking for a recipe for salad dressing with no soy!!
Hi, I am making this for a pantry staple instead of buying the premade mixes with all of the junk in them. I will be using this for pot roast and things like that instead of actually making dressing with it. Would you say that 2 TBS of this mix equals 1 packet of the store-bought mix? Thanks for your recipe! Can’t wait to try it out!
Also wondering how much you would wonsider is equal to a packet of mix that most recipes call for? Thanks so much for sharing:)
I use 3 tablespoons instead of the packet.
This sounds wonderful I am always trying to find a way to save space in my fridge this will be a nice fix to having to keep a dressing bottle around for forever, I can just whip up a batch when I need it. Thanks for the recipe!
I used it as a rub for a brisket and it was mouthwatering! I plan on using this way on my next roast. I put it on a rack above onions and beef stock. The steaks I cut off the brisket were moist and melt in my mouth.