Easy lemon vinaigrette

This lemon vinaigrette is a must have staple in my kitchen. I make a jar of this easy lemon salad dressing almost every week and I use it for many meals. As with everything I do, it’s a very versatile recipe that can be customized to your own tastes. I love the lemony tartness of it on all kinds of salads.

I’ve written out this recipe in a reasonable size quantity for you as I think most people probably won’t use quite as much as I do. But if we’re being honest I usually triple or quadruple this amount in a quart sized jar because I use so much of it.

I use this on a wide variety of salads, but it also makes a great marinade. I also love to marinade chicken in it or use it to baste on chicken or fish as it cooks. It’s also really great on grilled or roasted veggies.

Lemon Vinaigrette Ingredients:

Oil

Olive oil is my usual pick for this but of course even olive oil has a large variation in flavor. Pick one that you like the flavor of. I really don’t think there’s a wrong answer here. You can also experiment with other oils, avocado oil is a nice neutral oil if what you really want to taste is lemon, or a combination of oils is nice too.

Lemon juice

Fresh squeezed is where it’s at. I wouldn’t recommend making salad dressing with bottle lemon juice. This dressing is all about that fresh lemon flavor and you won’t get that out of a bottle. You can freeze fresh lemon juice though, and that will always give you better flavor than bottled. I’ve also made this with Meyer lemons which is really nice, and I’ve mixed in just a little bit of other citrus juice like tangerine a couple of times too. This kind of recipe is all about customizing to your personal tastes.

Garlic & Shallots

Fresh is best! I wouldn’t recommend using jarred garlic for this, but if you can find the little frozen cubes those are great, or my store recently has had a tube of crushed garlic that really seems like the next best thing to fresh. Shallots are lovely finely chopped, if you don’t have them I would just skip this rather than substitute with onion.

Worchestershire sauce

This gives a nice bit of extra depth of flavor that you really don’t obviously notice is there but I do notice that something is lacking when I leave it out. I sometimes substitute with Bragg’s Aminos instead for just a slightly different flavor.

Dijon mustard

Really needs no introduction, a little mustard adds such a nice flavor. Usually it’s just enough that you don’t obviously taste it, but every now and then I add extra, especially if I’m using this as a marinade instead of on a salad.

Salt and pepper

To taste, of course. There’s no right or wrong here. I like mine salty but you might not. My usual go-to is kosher salt, but any kind you like will do. I’m partial to white pepper lately, I think it’s a richer and yet somehow also milder flavor.

How to make it:

The simplest way is to just dump everything in a jar and whisk or stir with a fork. This is how I do it most of the time. But if you prefer a more emulsified dressing, you can add the oil last so it sits on top and then use an immersion blender to mix. If you start with the blender at the bottom and move very slowly up the jar it will emulsify without having to add the oil a little at a time.

I think the dressing is fine out on the counter for a day or two, but since I make a large quantity at once I usually store this in the fridge. If you’ve used an extra virgin olive oil your dressing will probably solidify in the refrigerator, so I just try to remember to set it out on the counter about an hour before I intend to use it.

Author: Lisa Marsh

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Every Day Simple Lemon Vinaigrette

A bright and tangy versatile lemon dressing perfect for all kinds of salads.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 small shallot, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a jar and either whisk to combine or use an immersion blender to emulsify.
2. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Notes

As with all of my recipes, this one is very versatile and you can adjust any of the ingredients to your liking. More or less garlic, substitute vinegar of your choice for some of the lemon juice, use avocado oil instead of olive oil, or a combination of oils, etc. Sometimes I swap out the worchestershire sauce and use Bragg's Aminos instead. It gives a nicely different little umami flavor.

I especially love this on a salad of spring mix greens with strawberries, crispy prosciutto, and pistachios.

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Homemade Ranch Dip & Dressing

I don't think you can have a summer spread without crisp veggies and a homemade ranch to dip them in! Ranch is also basically my favorite summer salad dressing - I just find it so cool and refreshing. 

Ranch dip and ranch dressing have become classic flavors that a lot of us could not picture life without  But do you really need to buy it in a bottle?  I don't think so.  It's so easy to make from just ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry & fridge, there's really no need to ever buy it again!

This is a light and tangy sour cream & yogurt based Ranch Dressing recipe.  A lot of ranch recipes call for mayonnaise. Now don't  get me wrong - I LOVE mayo.  But not in ranch.  I want my ranch dip to be light and tangy.  And by light I don't mean low fat - you'll notice that I'm using full fat sour cream, yogurt, and milk - but I mean not oily, not heavy, not that richer flavor that comes with mayo.  I just prefer it this way.  But honestly you could take this basic blend of seasonings and add it to whatever combination of cream/yogurt/mayo/milk/etc. that you like.  It will taste great. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup sour cream (get some real sour cream, not one with a bunch of thickeners and extra stuff)

• ½ cup plain whole milk greek yogurt

• Up to 1 cup whole milk, depending on whether you want this more for dipping or pouring

• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons dried parsley

• 1 tablespoon dried chives

• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

• 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill

I wanted this to be a recipe that I could make with things I always have in the house.  A lot of recipes call for buttermilk, but I don’t usually have buttermilk just hanging out in my fridge.  You could certainly swap out the milk + lemon juice for buttermilk if you have it or prefer it, but I like flavor of the lemon juice anyway.  You don’t have to include the yogurt, you could just use all sour cream, but I like the tanginess that the yogurt adds.  The quantities of seasonings are definitely all about personal taste.  Sometimes if I’m looking for more zing I’ll add a lot more of some or all of the seasonings.  

So, in keeping with my usual style, this "recipe" is more of a guideline to get you started. 

Directions for Dressing: throw all the ingredients together and mix well.  I like to make mine in a Blender Bottle, it’s easy to mix and easy to pour out of.  But you can just as easily mix in a bowl with a whisk, and then pour in a jar.

Directions for Dip: mix together everything except the milk.  Then add milk a little at a time until it's the thickness that you want for dipping. 

The milk is where you can control the thickness – if you want a thick dip, don’t add the milk at all (and I would cut back on the lemon juice a little).  If you want a nice, pour-able dressing, add up to a cup of milk. If you’re going to leave out the milk altogether (and most of the lemon juice), then the blender bottle probably won’t work as it will be too thick, I would just put it all in a bowl and stir until well mixed.

You can totally make this right before serving, just try to let it sit for at least 10 minutes or so.  But it’s really better if you can make it ahead.  This is a big recipe – double the size of some of the original ones I looked at for ideas. If you're making dressing it will give you enough for several salads, or it will be a good size bowl of dip for a party. If I’m going to make something I always like to have extra.  Making something from scratch does take a little more time than just opening a bottle, but if you've made extra then the next time you want it you do get to just go to the fridge and open a bottle.

If you want to make this even faster the next time - just go ahead and double, triple, quadruple the dry ingredients and store them in a jar. Then all you have to do is mix it in with the wet stuff.

Enjoy!