The Secret To Great Homemade Dressing Is Starting With Your Jam Jar

Stretching a dollar when cooking at home is always a good idea. The rising costs of groceries have affected homes across America, and whether you're cooking a gourmet meal for one or meal prepping for a week for enough to feed a football team, it's vital to use every last part of every ingredient. Apple peel has tons of uses. Potato skins may be the world's best appetizer. Every bone from your freezer stash is perfect for bone broth. And when it comes to condiments, the sky is really the limit. Don't believe us? Take it from America's tv cooking sweetheart herself, Rachael Ray, and test her genius leftover jam hack for yourself.

The Rachael Ray Show says the remnants of a jam jar don't need to be relegated to the trash can. They can and should both be salvaged. Ray says the last few swipes of raspberry jam are especially useful for an unexpected savory application: a salad dressing.

Rachael's technique involves adding some dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil to the jar with the last tablespoon or two of jam still in it. Shake, whisk, or agitate, then you're ready to roll. This hack is especially ingenious because it comes together right in the jam jar itself. No need to buy a special vinaigrette shaker or dirty an extra bowl. Just pop the lid on, shake away, and dress your fresh greens. Many salad dressings use some sweet component and raspberry jam has sweet and tart notes that help balance the bracing vinegar, smooth olive oil, and signature tang of the dijon mustard. The mustard isn't only for taste, it actually also helps emulsify the vinaigrette and keep it from separating. Rachael notes this jammy condiment is also excellent as a dipping sauce for chicken. And don't stop at salad dressings and vinaigrettes when it comes to using up the jam jar, either.

Chef and cookbook author Caroline Chambers is the creator of the jargarita, which uses the remnants of any jam jar to mix a sweet and tangy cocktail that you can then drink right out of the jar itself. Rachael also suggests making flavored (courtesy of the leftover jam) whipped cream right in the bottom of a jam jar. Just add cold cream, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Then shake for a couple of minutes and you end up with strawberry-flavored whipped cream.

Though she uses raspberry jam, Rachael Ray's technique opens up the door to making the most of the bottom of any jam jars. The only limitations are the contents of your fridge. So definitely don't throw out those nearly empty jam jars. Just pull out the protein and vegetables that are already there and get ready for homemade salad dressing that's economical, delicious, and endlessly fun.