Ken's Steak House Vs. Wish-Bone: Which Italian Salad Dressing Is Actually Healthier?
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Stroll through the salad dressing aisle, and you'll find a dizzying array of Italian dressings. Tried-and-true brands Wish-Bone and Ken's Steak House both offer some zingy varieties, but the calorie-conscious may want to reach for Wish-Bone's Italian Dressing over Ken's Steak House Dressing & Marinade. Per unit weight, Wish-Bone's dressing contains around half the fat and calories. Though that comes with a major caveat: The first ingredient listed in Wish-Bone's product is water, so it is a more diluted salad dressing. Still, Wish-Bone is the healthier choice when compared gram for gram.
For a two-tablespoon serving, Wish-Bone Italian dressing has 9 grams of fat and 90 calories. Comparatively, Ken's Steak House dressing has 17 grams of fat and 150 calories. Both products are also relatively high in sodium, with Ken's having the most. Two tablespoons of Ken's Steakhouse dressing accounts for 450 milligrams of sodium or 20% of the recommended daily intake, while the Wish-Bone dressing has 290 milligrams of sodium or 13% of the recommended intake. The listed ingredients are pretty similar, except for that generous quantity of water in the Wish-Bone dressing, which likely accounts for its generally lower nutritional values. Wish-Bone's dressing also contains parmesan cheese and dried egg yolk for a touch of umami, so it has a slight amount of cholesterol and is not suitable for vegans.
Wish-Bone has fewer calories and fat but both work in a balanced diet
Despite its name, Italian dressing is actually more of an American invention than an Italian one, and Wish-Bone and Ken's Steak House both claim to be the original progenitors of the popular condiment. The story begins in the 1950s with Wish-Bone opening its flagship restaurant in Kansas while Ken's Steak House opened in Massachusetts. Both restaurants claimed to serve recipes brought over from the Old World, and the flavorful dressings became so popular they were bottled and sold in grocery stores.
In addition to brightening up a salad, Italian dressing can be used as a marinade or drizzled over garlic bread. It is generally made with oil, an acid such as lemon or vinegar, and punched up with herbs and spices. Grocery stores these days offer a huge selection of Italian dressings, and Ken's Steak House Italian Dressing with Romano actually ranked second in our list of favorite store-bought salad dressings, with Wish-Bone only coming in seventh place. Whichever salad condiment you prefer, they can both be integrated into a balanced diet.