🥄 Professional Kitchen · Sauces
Thousand Island Dressing
A fast, creamy restaurant dressing with finely diced gherkins, red onion and ketchup.
Time15 minLevelEasyMakesApproximately 2 kg
Behind the plate
This is a stripped-back production Thousand Island: four ingredients, no unnecessary garnish and enough acidity from the gherkins and ketchup to balance the mayonnaise.
Its success depends on knife work. Finely and evenly diced vegetables disappear into the dressing while still giving a little texture in every spoonful.
Why this recipe works
Mayonnaise provides the stable creamy base, ketchup brings sweetness, acidity and colour, and the two finely diced vegetables supply crunch and sharpness without thinning the sauce.
The recipe
Ingredients
- 100 g gherkins, finely diced and well drained
- 2 red onions, very finely diced
- 1.5 kg mayonnaise
- 250 g ketchup
Method
- Drain the gherkins thoroughly and dice them finely. Dice the red onions to the same small size.
- Place the mayonnaise and ketchup in a large clean mixing bowl and whisk until the colour is completely even.
- Fold in the gherkins and red onion until evenly distributed without overworking the mayonnaise.
- Taste against the salt and acidity already supplied by the commercial products, then cover, label and refrigerate.
Chef’s notes
- Excess gherkin liquor will thin the dressing, so drain before weighing.
- For a smoother service sauce, pulse the vegetables briefly but retain a little texture.
- Use pasteurised commercial mayonnaise and follow the shortest refrigerated shelf life among the opened products.
At the table
Serve with burgers, prawns, crisp salads, fried fish or as a dip for chips and raw vegetables.