Mix up this delicious homemade vinaigrette dressing in just a couple of minutes and then watch as it doesn’t separate! That’s right, with one secret ingredient we’ve created a vinaigrette recipe that stays emulsified.
Whether it’s lemon balsamic or cilantro lime, whether you use honey mustard or dijon, or make it with white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, the options are endless and the base recipe is the same.
Why I Love Homemade Salad Dressing
We love good homemade vinaigrette in our house. It’s such a great economical way to add a variety of flavors to your salad, without all the questionable ingredients that might be in regular dressings.
But what I don’t love about homemade vinaigrette is the inevitable separation that occurs between the oil and vinegar. With one tiny change in the ingredients, you can now make a vinaigrette that won’t separate!
And unlike the grocery store brand, this ingredient won’t make you question whether or not you should feed it to your family.
Basic Vinaigrette Recipe
Wondering what a basic vinaigrette is made of? The formula for vinaigrette is simple with just a few ingredients. From there you can make additions and substitutions to find the exact flavor that you and your family enjoy most.
Ingredients Needed
- 1 Part Oil – My favorite when it comes to salad dressing is to use 100% pure olive oil (I like to buy mine in bulk from Azure Standard). You can also use avocado oil, sunflower seed oil, or even something unique like white truffle oil or toasted sesame seed oil.
- 1 Part Acid – Typically speaking, this would be some kind of vinegar. You can use apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, seasoned rice wine vinegar, or whatever you have on hand. Alternatively, you can use lemon juice, lime juice, grapefruit juice or even orange juice.
- 1/4 Part Molasses – When you add molasses to your salad dressing it’s going to help emulsify all the ingredients together. The flavor doesn’t overpower the dressing because the acid will cut through the molasses flavor.
- Pinch of Salt and Pepper – Don’t forget the salt and pepper! You know we love our Redmond Real Salt, this is what really brings out all the flavors in the salad dressing. (Using that link for Redmond Salt will automatically give you 15% off your order!)
- Seasonings – We love adding a smashed garlic clove or two. Seasonings are completely optional and so versatile. Add in dried basil, thyme, oregano, a dash of cayenne pepper, or even this homemade herbed garlic salt.
- Mustard – We usually lean toward using our homemade grainy mustard, but Dijon or even yellow mustard are fantastic.
- Sweetener – Our go-to sweetener for salad dressing is honey, but you could use maple syrup, coconut sugar, brown sugar, or even stevia or monk fruit sweetener for a keto option.
Depending on the kind of oil, vinegar, seasonings and mustard you use, you can come up with almost endless variations.
Vinaigrette Dressing Directions
- Add oil, acid, molasses, sweetener, mustard and seasonings to a jar (we like to use Mason jars or glass salad dressing containers. However, if you don’t mind plastic, these nifty containers have a built-in juicer for citrus.
- Seal with a lid and shake until emulsified.
- Taste and adjust seasonings.
- If you can chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes prior to use, it will help all the flavors marry.
- Enjoy on salads, as a marinade, or on cold pasta salad.
- Store in the refrigerator.
And that’s it! It’s now just as easy to make homemade salad dressing filled with ingredients you can smile about as grabbing a bottle off of the grocery store shelf. When you learn to stock your pantry with staple items, you’ll always have what you need on hand, and you’ll spend much less money on overpriced bottles at the store.
And by using our secret ingredient, your vinaigrette won’t separate before you’ve even had a chance to dress your salad!
Did you make this recipe? If so, please leave a star rating in the recipe card below. Then, snap a photo of your salad dressing and tag us on social media @homesteadingfamily so we can see!
More Recipes You May Enjoy
- Homemade Mayonnaise
- Homemade Garlic Salt
- Apple Scrap Vinegar
- DIY Non-Stick Cooking Spray
- DIY Onion Powder
- Growing Oregano
- Homemade Butter
- Growing & Pressing Your Own Seed Oil
Homemade Vinaigrette Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil or oil of choice
- 1/2 cup vinegar of choice
- 2 Tablespoons molasses
- 1 Tablespoon mustard of choice
- 1 Teaspoon honey to taste (or sweetener of choice)
- pinch salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- additional seasonings of choice
Instructions
- Add oil, acid, molasses, sweetener, mustard and seasonings to a jar (we like to use Mason jars or glass salad dressing containers).
- Seal with a lid and shake until emulsified.
- Taste and adjust seasonings.
- If you can chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes prior to use, it will help all the flavors marry.
- Enjoy on salads, as a marinade, or on cold pasta salad.
- Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
- We like to mix our salad dressing up in Mason jars or glass salad dressing containers. However, if you don’t mind plastic, these nifty containers have a built-in juicer for citrus.
