- Bren Haas
- April 1, 2013
- 26 Comments
- Appetizers, Creative Recipes, Salads, Spring Recipes
- #gardenchat, Betty Timko Recipes, easy, gardening, holiday meal, menu, printable recipe, spinach, spinach strawberry salad, Timko, toledo, Toledo Blade, tradition
It does not feel like spring in my home and garden without serving up the Betty Salad Recipe with that amazing dressing. In today’s post, I share that recipe that is super easy to make. I’ll be adding a quick video showing you how to mix up that dressing if you can’t find it at the grocery store. Because the recipe is so easy to make you will find yourself adding this to your holiday menu. We love this recipe with ham at Easter and prime rib during the Christmas season.
Betty Salad Recipe
The dressing is super easy to make from scratch. Below is the recipe my mother-in-law gave me years ago. However, please note that this dressing is found in most of the grocery stores in the Midwest these days. If you can’t find it (which happens to me often) you can whip up a dressing at home with fresh ingredients you most likely have in your cabinet or pantry today. Below you will find those ingredients.
Betty Salad Dressing:
- Vegetable Oil
- Sugar
- salt
- Catsup
- Vinegar
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Sweet Onion
The dressing is best if you mix it up and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. I find blending it by hand or with a hand mixer set on slow works best.
The Betty Salad and Dressing Printable Recipe
In this post below you will find the printable recipecard. I hope you will consider printing this to use in your kitchen recipe box or sending it to a friend. Be sure to reach out to me and let me know if you tried the recipe or have been to a restaurant that serves this favorite of mine.
It does just not spring without Betty….. I hope you start inviting Betty to your spring celebrations or give this wonderful recipe a try this spring during the busy garden seasons because it is super easy to make.
This recipe can be found on my website!
About Betty Salad
Betty Salad became a family tradition shortly after I got married almost 20 years ago when my mother-in-law shared with me how easy it was to make the dressing from scratch. We use to have brunch up at The French Quarters after church from time to time and this salad was always on the buffet. Today you can purchase Betty Salad dressing at the local grocery store. The salad was originally from Timko Soup & Such a restaurant which was located on the northwest corner of Sylvania & Douglas in Toledo Ohio. Not long after Betty Timko died the restaurant closed, but her salad dressing is still produced and sold in jars at food stores. Find out more about Betty and her Family at The Blade / A family tradition at Food – Toledo Blade.
- Difficulty:: Medium
This is one of my favorite salad recipes to make during the spring season. Grow fresh spinach to make this Toledo favorite a real hit!
Ingredients
Directions
Notes
Ingredients
Directions
Notes
More Great Salad Recipes on My Website
Nutty Cranberry Chicken Salad Recipe
Click Here
Easy Tortellini Salad Recipe
Click Here
The Best Potato Salad Recipe
Click Here
Easy Homemade Coleslaw Recipe
Click Here
Red Potato Salad Recipe
Click Here
Watermelon Salad Recipe
Click Here
Thank you for checking out my website today!
Let’s Connect
Have you ever heard of Betty Timko before this blog post? Do you have a favorite seasonal tradition recipe? I would love to hear from you so be sure to comment below or send me a message on social media.
Happy Spring,
- Bren Haas
- Appetizers, Creative Recipes, Salads, Spring Recipes
- #gardenchat, Betty Timko Recipes, easy, gardening, holiday meal, menu, printable recipe, spinach, spinach strawberry salad, Timko, toledo, Toledo Blade, tradition
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26 Responses
Yum, yum, yum! Thanks for posting this!
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anytime Elena … thank you for commenting on my share!
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The recipe goes back long before the P’burg Wooden Indian. Betty was a friend of my mother where they started in the basem*nt of Collingwood Methodist Church where she served a whole host of church suppers. Betty was the cook and my mother helped to serve. Her husband George was the Guy Friday! This all began when the Timko kids and my siblings were in elementary school. Friend or not, my mother was never able to get Betty to share the recipe for her famous dressing.
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Hey Pam – thank you for sharing your story with me. I appreciate that information and enjoy this salad most any time of the year.
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I recently bought a jar of Betty’s Dressing at Kroger’s, then out of curiosity googled the recipe and found this site with the recipe and comments. I plan to make some in the hope of achieving a good result. Your comment in particular caught my attention. As a kid who grew up in West Toledo in the 60’s my family attended Collingwood Methodist Church on Phillips Ave. I remember church banquets and the food being really good. I especially liked a chicken ala king style dish they served. I also recall my mom volunteering for kitchen duty with Betty Timko.and perhaps with your mom too and my mom bringing home a recipe for an oven baked chicken that was coated with some kind of cereal, maybe Special K or cornflakes. I think l also remember Betty Timko being listed as the church’s official “hostess”. This was of course before her Soup & Such Restaurant on Sylvania and Douglas, and her days at the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg, Ohio. Anyway, thanks for sharing your memory and the recipe too, it was fun thinking back on those days.
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I hope you give the recipe a try. There have been times the grocery store doesn’t have this dressing so I make my own.
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Really enjoyed your post! The salad dressing featured is a lot like our Pulled Pork BBQ sauce that we make! Really great salad too! Nicely done 🙂 Have a great Monday
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PUlled Pork BBQ : I’m totally trying this dressing on mine next time. Thank you for the tip 2LadiesintheKitchen!
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This sounds delish!
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I used to go to Timko’s Soups n’ Such restaurant just for their Betty Salad — yummmmo! I’m definitely going to make this soon — thanks for sharing the recipe!
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Thank you for continuing this wonderful hometown salad. In my younger days I remember going to Betty Timko’s Soup and Such Restaurant at the corner of Sylvania and Douglas seeing Miss Betty making her rounds visiting at everyone’s table. Toledo has so much history contributing to the food world! I’ll be serving this Friday night to my son and his wife when they come home for his CCHS reunion.
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I worked for Betty at The Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg, Oh. One of my jobs was to prepare hundreds of Betty Salads! The original salad mixture was equal parts of head lettuce, romaine lettuce and spinach, stems removed of course. Layer a handful of greens mixture then add a layer of very drained, canned bean sprouts ( but I admit, fresh sprouts are Way better!) The one ingredient I Never see in any recipe but I promise, they were in there, was rinsed, canned Water Chestnuts! Just a few, for crunch! Then a layer of diced, hard boiled eggs, then top it all off with a generous handful of Real bacon bits!
I read the ingredients on the jar of dressing being sold in the stores and hand over my heart, ANCHOVIES were NEVER in that dressing when I made it!!! Always a hit at pot lucks.Reply
Thank you for sharing your experience with me Jennie! I totally appreciate your insight and can’t wait to try this recipe you shared.
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I always use diced water chestnuts! It adds an even better layer of crumch!
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Thank you for sharing this ingredient tip. I will have to give it a try next time we make this salad.
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Hi Bren! I lived in south Toledo from 1973-1990, but still have family in Maumee and Findlay. I went into mourning when I heard Soup’n’Such had closed, and even more so when the Wooden Indian and French Quarter closed. But the recipes I’d gotten from the Blade of Betty’s favorites have carried me through – her Parisian Vegetable Soup is a favorite here, too.
I’m writing from Springfield, MO – about 30 miles north of Branson – and almost no one has heard of Betty Timko or her famous salad, but I’m working on that! I’d fixed a big batch of The Salad (as we jokingly call it) for my partner’s parents on Sunday, but I still had plenty of ingredients for another batch when my partner came home and said he needed a side dish to take to a bike-shop cookout, and he wanted it to be as low-carb as possible. I substituted the baking version of Splenda for the sugar, measure for measure, pulled a pile of pre-cooked crispy bacon out of the freezer, got fresh bean sprouts from the local Asian market, diced water chestnuts (which has always been part of my Betty Salad recipe since the 70’s), and boiled up a dozen eggs, but I was oddly out of yellow onion, so substituted several shallots in its place for the dressing. About 15 minutes after their cookout started, my phone started blowing up with texts asking for the recipe for “this AMAZING salad!” So, from more than 700 miles away, a brand new generation are learning the blessings Betty brought to us all those years ago! One fellow’s wife was astounded that a *man* could come up with something this good – but I told her, “It’s easy when you’ve got a great recipe from a really good woman!” I trust there was laughter in heaven over that one…
Memories of sandwiches, fresh bread, astonishing soups, and great times with friends are tied to that little piece of Heaven at Douglas Rd and Sylvania Avenue. (And I can still taste the prime rib buffet at the Wooden Indian and the French Quarter – that was a weekend staple when I lived there!) So thanks for this wonderful trip down memory lane.
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Thank you for sharing your story and memories with me today Steve. It is wonderful to connect with you on this post.
Sad to say : French Quarters in Perrysburg has been closed and I am sure the building is being tore down. I will have to take a photo to share with you on this post next time I am up that way. Thank goodness we can document and share the wonderful times we had at these historic locations. They just don’t make recipes like they use to so hopefully we can keep the tradition alive.Reply
Update… I did some research and found the Timko Cream of Parisian Vegetable Soup in an old The Blade article. Created it with some fresh celery from my garden today so check it out and tell me what you think! http://brenhaas.com/timko-cream-of-parisian-vegetable-soup-recipe/
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Been Haas. Been a few years since I had Betty’s Salad. My friend told me it was included in their take out order from the Crow’s Nest. A restaurant near East Harbor State Park near Port Clinton, Ohio. I just started to crave that wonderful goodness. I have lived near Port Clinton since 1971. It was not discovered by me until a friend at work brought the salad to a potluck. That friend, was actually named Betty. So I just thought they were calling it after my friend Then they shared the story of another Betty. The Betty Timko’s Salad. I still smile today as I made this salad with the store dressing. What a newcomer I was. Then another friend invited me to Timko’s Soup and Such. Such heavenly food. My love for different soups has never wavered but nothing compared to Timko’s Soup and Such. Sad when it was no longer and also The French Quarter. So happy to rediscover the recipe on your site. I am going to make the dressing from scratch and hope to find some of her soup recipe. Thank you for taking me down memory lane. Blessings to you and your family. Merry Christmas.
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I worked for Timko’s Soup N Such from 1977 to 1986. I was a waitress and it really was one of the best places to work. I loved everything about the food, especially the soups. For years I have been trying to find a recipe for a cheddar cheese soup she would make occasionally. It was the best ever and I have never found another to compare. I have never been able to feel satisfied when I have tried to reproduce it. If anyone has any idea of what the recipe is I would be eternally gratefull. Thank you.
SandyReply
Thank you for sharing Sandra – I will be on the look out for a Timko Cheddar Cheese soup. I’ve got a few recipes I’ve used in the past. If you remember anything specific about the soup that would help me hunt it down do stop back and share on this section.
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The original salad recipe is listed on bettysdressing website includes head lettuce and romaine. We would frequent Timko’s Soup and Such and I can testify that your recipe is not correct.
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Back in the days of Betty Timko the restaurants in Ohio used Iceberg lettuce not Romaine. Thanks for commenting..
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Actually she used all three greens: head lettuce, romaine and spinach.
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Thank you so much for sharing this Lisa – I appreciate your help with this recipe and what you remember.
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