Want to make salad dressing at home? This vinaigrette dressing recipe shows you how to make an oil and vinegar dressing using ingredients in your pantry.

Vinaigrette dressing | Oil and vinegar dressing

When it comes to eating “off the grid,” one of the easiest things you can do is throw out those bottles of purchased salad dressing in favor of the homemade variety. Not only does it taste exponentially better and avoids suspicious ingredients, but you can also clear out your refrigerator of all those half-empty bottles of unknown origin (just what year did I buy this, anyway?). Learning how to make a vinaigrette recipe isn’t as tricky as you’d think. Keep reading for our best vinaigrette dressing.

See Also: All Homemade Salad Dressings

Vinaigrette salad dressing | Vinaigrette recipe

How to make vinaigrette

To make an emulsion for this vinaigrette salad dressing, you simply whisk the ingredients by hand. In order to get the oil and vinegar to incorporate well, we use a medium-sized bowl to allow for enough movement of the whisk. (Trust us, we’ve done it in small bowls before and it’s almost impossible to get the oil and vinegar to meld.) The other tip for reaching an emulsion is adding the olive oil little by little. We typically add it tablespoon by tablespoon and whisk in between until the oil fully incorporates.

Interestingly, the Dijon mustard in this recipe also helps to form and lock in the emulsion. We’ve used this technique in our other vinaigrette recipes, like our Balsamic Vinaigrette and Italian Dressing.

Ways to switch up your vinaigrette dressing

This oil and vinegar dressing recipe is a good starting point for a basic homemade vinaigrette, so feel free to tweak it as you see fit. For the acid, try different vinegars like balsamic or apple cider vinegar, or use citrus juices like lemon, lime, and orange. Add a little minced garlic or shallot (just be careful, because a little goes a long way). In the summer, chop some fresh herbs and add them to the mix—oregano, thyme, or chives are particularly good. Extra virgin olive oil is a particularly good base oil, and we generally stick with olive oil for most of our vinaigrettes. We like olive oil for its light flavor and versatility. Plus, it’s fairly inexpensive compared to other oils on the market.

Ways to use vinaigrette dressing

Besides tasting delicious on salads, homemade vinaigrette dressing can be used to marinate fish or tofu, can be drizzled on sandwiches for a pop of flavor, can be tossed with potatoes to make a tangy potato salad, and more. The combination of oil and vinegar pairs well with a variety of foods and can easily jazz up any recipe. You can even use vinaigrettes as dipping sauces instead of ketchup and mustard. Baked potato wedges taste especially good with a honey mustard vinaigrette, but really anything is possible!

Vinegar salad dressing | How to make vinaigrette

How to store vinaigrette dressing

We recommend storing leftover vinaigrette in the refrigerator in a jar or container with a lid. Refrigerating usually makes the dressing go solid. If this happen to your homemade vinaigrette dressing, just run it under warm water for a minute and stir it up prior to using. Vinaigrette recipes made with fresh herbs are best used right away, but otherwise they’ll stay good for up to two weeks.

Looking for more homemade salad dressing recipes?

Outside of this homemade vinaigrette recipe, here are a few of our favorite homemade salad dressing recipes:

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This recipe is…

This vinaigrette dressing recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan (using maple syrup), dairy-free, and plant-based.