The One Newman's Own Salad Dressing We Wouldn't Pick Up Again - Tasting Table

"Since the early 1980s, Paul Newman has been slinging salad dressings for a good cause. The actor started by simply giving away his signature salad dressing as a holiday gift. But it was so popular that Newman decided to team up with his friend A.E. Hotchner and start selling it - and donating 100% of the profits to charity. The brand took off and has since expanded to produce a wide variety of products and dressings, with some, of course, being better than others."

"In addition to sampling each of the dressings over fresh salad greens, our taste-tester also tried each of them straight from a spoon, ensuring that she got the full flavor profile from all angles. As with any ranking, there has to be a last place pick, but given that ranch dressing originated in California right around the same time that Newman was a local, you might've expected his brand to have a decent recipe. Alas, we were none too impressed."

"It's not that we thought that Newman's ranch dressing was horrible, just that it fell behind the other offerings. It landed right in the middle of the ranch dressing spectrum. Its texture was on the thinner side compared to the original Hidden Valley ranch, with a flavor that was a bit too oily and mayonnaise-heavy - not the tangy, creamy, herby tasting sauce one usually looks for."

"A quick scour of the internet will show you that the rating we came up with is pretty consistent with the overall opinion of this particular salad dressing. Newman's Own ranch dressing has an average of 3.3 stars out of 5 on Amazon reviews, and 3.1 stars out of 5 over at Walmart. Though among the less positive tirades are plenty of positive ones, too."

Newman's Own began in the early 1980s when Paul Newman gave away his signature salad dressing as a holiday gift, then partnered with A.E. Hotchner to sell it and donate 100% of profits to charity. The brand expanded into many products and dressings. Tasting involved sampling dressings over fresh salad greens and straight from a spoon to assess full flavor profiles. In a comparative evaluation, the ranch dressing ranked lowest among Newman's Own offerings, noted for a thinner texture and an oily, mayonnaise-heavy flavor instead of tangy, creamy, herby notes. Online ratings average about 3.3 stars on Amazon and 3.1 on Walmart.

Read at Tasting Table