I grew up on Good Seasons Italian salad dressing packets that my mom mixed with oil and vinegar. Years later, vinaigrettes are still my favorite way to dress a salad. Though I’ve tried lots of bottled kinds over the years, there’s no doubt that homemade vinaigrettes truly do taste best–and a batch takes just a minute or two to mix together. Here are my four favorites:
This one is our everyday salad dressing. It’s also the one that gets the most compliments from dinner guests. Make this recipe for a dinner party or backyard BBQ and I can almost guarantee someone will ask for the recipe. But here’s the critical part: You MUST use white balsamic vinegar! It’s not the same without it, trust me. If you’ve never used it before, white balsamic is lighter in flavor and color than regular balsamic. (At our grocery store, they’re stocked right alongside each other.)
Get the recipe for Everyone Loves This Vinaigrette.
There are tons of recipes for berry vinaigrettes out there–but not too many for apple vinaigrettes, which I discovered when I set out to develop this recipe for Stemilt Growers. I went through many, many test batches until I found just the right combination. I LOVE this dressing (and so does my former veggie-phobic husband). Just toss everything together in the blender to make a batch.
Get the recipe for Creamy Apple Vinaigrette.
I love lemon vinaigrette on both green salads and cold quinoa salads. My basic recipe: 1/2 cup olive oil + 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice + salt and pepper to taste + pinch of lemon zest. You can also whisk in a dab of mustard or a couple drops of honey.
I went off the rails trying to replicate the sweet Shallot Vinaigrette from the Cosi restaurant chain’s Signature Salad. I finally discovered one that comes awfully close.
Get the recipe for Shallot Vinaigrette.
What’s YOUR favorite salad dressing?
Get more salad recipes:
Katie @ Mom to Mom Nutrition says
I grew up on Good Seasons salad dressing too! I can’t wait to try the salad dressing “everyone” loves!!! We are making BBQ chicken tonight and I think a garden salad would be the perfect accompaniment 🙂
Sally says
Thanks Katie. Just be sure to use the white balsamic–it’s the key! 🙂
Kristin K. says
I have gotten away from serving dressed salads to my family ever since one day I woke up and realized it was just vegetables smeared with grease. I mean that defeats the whole point of serving greens to dump on a couple thousand calories of greasy oil on the dish. Besides, so many of the trendy entree recipes are also grease and garlic based. Too much fat! So now I am back to serving stir fried or boiled veggies and I try to slide in some raw grated veggies once in a while. We still have salads but no dressing. Just some salt & pepper or other dry spices, sometimes a little diluted vinegar & honey and often some chicken or ham to put some nutrients into the mix. I remember when the whole salad thing became a religion back when everyone was obsessing over fiber and then the selling point was it had some vitamins without the calories but now we pour on calories. It makes no sense nutritionally.
Sally says
Hi Kristin–dressings don’t have to add a lot of calories. The Apple Vinaigrette has only 93 calories in two tablespoons. And we need fats in our diets for many reasons, including the fact that they help us feel full and help us absorb fat-soluble vitamins that are in the vegetables in our salads. And olive oil especially is rich in monounsaturated fats that have been shown to be heart-protective. So while I think a vinegar/honey mix also sounds yummy, you don’t need to avoid oil-based dressings completely.
Jessica @ Nutritioulicious says
These all look delish, but that creamy apple vinaigrette is calling to me the most! Definitely trying that this fall!
Katie says
That Shallot Vinaigrette looks unreal! I will be giving that a try! xo
Cheryl says
The apple vinaigrette looks delicious, but when I follow the link I don’t see the recipe. Do you mind re-posting? Thank you!
Sally says
Oh no! I see that glitch too. Let me contact Stemilt and see what the problem is. Stay tuned!