Easy Homemade Vinaigrette Recipe: Fresh & Flavorful in Minutes (2024)

Every week, I make a tasty vinaigrette in my meal planning routine. My family loves it and it’s a great way to add flavor to any dish. This simple vinaigrette goes well with salads, roasted vegetables, and grilled proteins and helps us reach our healthy eating goals.

What is a vinaigrette?

A vinaigrette is a dressing, a very simple mix between an oil base and an acid, usually vinegar or lemon juice. The ratio that I use is one part acid two to three parts of oil. I like tangy and robust flavors, so I usually use apple cider vinegar or wine kinds of vinegar.

This mixture can be enhanced with Dijon mustard, fresh or dried herbs, nuts and seeds, salt, and aromatics.

How to use a vinaigrette?

A salad dressing in the fridge helps me and my kids eat more fresh vegetables during the week. This recipe is so versatile, and it is perfect to drizzle on top of:

• Pasta salads
• Raw veggies
• Greens like spinach, arugula, kale, collard greens
• Roasted vegetables like broccoli, string beans, artichokes, asparagus, and cauliflower.
• Buddha bowls ( a Buddha bowl with a grain like brown rice, protein or bean-like chickpeas, roasted vegetables, greens, and a delicious dressing).

How to flavor a vinaigrette?

When you have the perfect ratio between oil and acid in your vinaigrette you can start adding more flavors to it. Adding ingredients will not only elevate the flavor of the dressing but it will also elevate its nutritional value.

• Raw garlic: You can press garlic with a garlic presser or grate it with a Microplane zester
• Other aromatics like scallions, shallots,or onion work great in this recipe.
• You can add lemon zest, orange zest
• Seeds, like hemp seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, or pepita seeds.
• You can add dry spices like orégano, dill, marjoram or fresh like cilantro, mint, parsley
• Some type of sweeteners like maple syrup, agave or even sugar
• You can add nuts like pistachios, and walnuts. In the gallery below I give you an example, with hazelnuts.

If you buy raw nuts and seeds, roast them at low heat in a cast iron pan and then peel them with a kitchen towel before adding them to the dressing. 

How to store it?

Just keep it in a tightly closed jar in the fridge. Depending on what you add to it it is the time it will keep fresh in the fridge. If you flavor it with dry spices or flavored salt it will last longer. If you add nuts and seed it will keep fresh for a shorter time.

So, here is the recipe for this delicious and super easy to prepare once a week simple vinaigrette.

Other homemade dressing you will love:

• Italian vianigrette
• Lemon dressing
• Vegan ranch dressing
• Walnut dressing