Making your own homemade salad dressings can actually be fairly simple, and the taste is far superior to the store bought stuff. Plus most packaged salad dressings are full of unnecessary additives (including refined sweeteners) that you would never cook with at home…so this is a great place to start when it comes to making the switch to real food. Below is a super simple recipe for the pictured Mustard Vinaigrette along with some other tips and recipes to keep your salads fresh and fun!
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First of all, I must share:
The Best Salad Dressing Invention Ever!
This bottle may not look like much, but detailed on the side are 8 different salad dressing recipes in a “fill to here” type fashion. It does call for some refined oils and such, but nothing that can’t easily be substituted for more whole ingredients. The recipes include Asian, Caesar, French, Greek, Italian, Vinaigrette, Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Honey Mustard – all which you can make and store in this bottle. We’ve had ours for several years now and it’s as good as new – we absolutely love it! And many of our family and friends now have one of these salad dressing bottles as well because one holiday season I went a little crazy and bought one for just about everybody I know. I just love practical gifts and at less than $9 a pop this one is hard to beat. :)
Okay, so back to recipes. Here are a few easy ones to get you started…along with the vinaigrette below!
- Blue Cheese Dressing
- Ranch Dip (can also be thinned out with milk to be more of a dressing)
- Honey Mustard (equal parts honey and mustard)
- Also, don’t forget – just plain Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar!
Simple Mustard Vinaigrette
This is a great place to start when it comes to making the switch to real food. Below is a super simple recipe for the pictured Mustard Vinaigrette along with some other tips and recipes to keep your salads fresh and fun!
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 pinch paprika
- pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pour all ingredients into a small mason jar. Put on the lid and shake vigorously (i.e. emulsify) until well blended.
Store the dressing in the jar in the fridge - the oil will harden when cold so be sure to let it sit out or warm it up a bit each time before using.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
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I’m not rating your recipe because I didn’t actually follow it – but it made a great “jumping off” point for me to create the dressing I needed today! I had made some spicy chickpeas (not roasted) for my husband, and they needed some sort of dressing. I normally avoid vinaigrettes because they’re too oily for my taste, but by making it myself I could adjust the proportions. I used 4 parts EVOO, 3 parts just plain distilled vinegar, and 1 part yellow mustard. I added no other herbs or spices because the chickpeas were so spicy. For myself I made up a bowl of spinach and bitter greens and added the chickpeas tossed with the dressing as a topper. Delicious! [side note – it also fit my Weight Watchers meal plan perfectly]
I tried this yesterday and it is so good. I just added a teaspoon of garlic powder, so that I can store this on the counter. This way I can use it when I need to and not have to worry about it getting so thick.
What would you recommend to increase the viscosity of vinaigrette dressing so they cling a little better to the greens?
Hello. I think the mustard helps a lot.
Just had to compliment your dressing bottle choice. We have that same one, and we absolutely love it!!
As an alternative to diet salad dressing, I mix 1 tsp. of prepared mustard and 1 tsp. honey for a side salad. (Yes, I measure.) 20 calories.
Hi, how long can each of these be stored in the fridge, approximately. Thanks!
I use either whole grain mustard or dijon (instead of the yellow mustard) and sometimes I use dried shallots (that I get at World Market) if I’m worried about being stinky after eating it with garlic, lol.
Is it absolutely necessary to put homemade vinaigrettes in the fridge if all of the ingredients are normally stored out of the fridge? I’m just trying to save time by not having to thaw the dressing every time I want to use it. Thanks!
Hi. Yes, if you want to extend its shelf life for a few days.
Is there away to increase the other ingredients or just add less oilive oil?
Hi. You can decrease the olive oil if you’d like. It will have a stronger vinegar and mustard taste.
I am wondering if I can substitute mustard seeds or powdered mustard for the prepared mustard. I must eliminate sugar/vinegar from my diet. If so, how much would I add? I also plan to substitute lemon juice for the vinegar. Thanks!
Hi Margie. That is not something we’ve tired but I think mustard powder should work. This might help in making the substitution: http://www.myrecipes.com/how-to/cooking-questions/dry-mustard-vs-prepared-mustard. Let us know how it goes.
The recipe is perhaps fine as is, but it must match the right salad. It’s taste is actually quite mild and must be matched with greens that themselves are mild (spinach, iceberg, romaine, green leaf). In a salad with bitter greens (dandelion, escarole, etc.), veggie greens (radish, carrots, etc.), and/or strongly flavored veggies (red onion, bell pepper, etc.), this is not the right dressing, getting overpowered by the tastes of the salad items themselves to the point that besides a ‘wetting’ of the greens, it doesn’t add its own flavor.
The idea is a good one, and playing with ratios will fix it if you like bitter greens in your salads (more vinegar and/or a stronger vinegar, more and/or a stronger mustard, like spicy brown).
Is there an alternate oil that can be used in this dressing or in ones like a vinaigrette or balsamic vinaigrette other than olive oil…maybe one that is a bit more budget friendly?
Hei Tiffany. Put a teaspoon of good quality virgine oil on a small piece of white bread and taste it. Do the same with any other oil so you know by taste the different oils. When I do not want the olive taste in my dressing I use rapeseed or sunflower oil and then put the taste I want into it. For instance with salad and game patee I do not like the olive oil taste. There I use a simple chutney like dressing, maybe cherry jam, chili,garlic and oil. With duck salad I use plum jam, chili, garlic and oil. AND. Never serve anything with more than 5 ingridients.
Hi Tiffany. Olive oil is really such a healthy oil to use in dressings. I would suggest cutting back rather than cutting it out. Avocado oil is another good option for dressings with a neutral flavor but the cost is similar.
I prefer grape seed oil
Do you know how long the salad dressing would last in the fridge in a tightly sealed mason jar?
Hi Trish – We often leave it for a week or so, but have honestly never gone longer than that because we consume it. The olive oil will solidify in the fridge but you can run the bottle under hot water to return it to a liquid. – Jason
Hi Trish. It should be okay for a couple days. ~Amy
This was awesome! I usually just do oil and vinegar on my salad because of the lack of “real food” salad dressings in my grocery store. I cut the recipe in half (in case I didn’t like it–that’s quite a bit of olive oil for a test recipe!). I also used spicy Dijon instead of yellow mustard. I love it. I stopped eating salads months ago because I was sick of just oil and vinegar. I think I’ll have to pick up some more lettuce at the store this week!