Why should you be making your own vinaigrette?
Can we all take a moment to agree that we need salad dressing in our lives? Good, because spinach on its own is kinda gross. There are probably 100 reasons you should make your own salad dressing but for this post I am going to focus on the top 3.
The three biggest reasons you should be making your own salad dressing:
1. Healthier
Have you ever looked at the ingredients on a salad dressing bottle? There’s a lot of weird stuff that definitely doesn’t need to be there. Also anything that has an expiration date that’s 5 years away just feels weird. It’s probably closer to a twinkie than salad dressing. Making your own dressing gives you 100% confidence that you know what you exactly are eating.
2. Tastes WAY better
You are using fresh and REAL ingredients, it really makes a difference in the taste.
3. Customizable
This is the best thing about making your own dressing, you can make it however you want. You can add more herbs or more salt if you like it that way. ULTIMATE SALAD DRESSING FREEDOM…you can’t put a price on that.
Need I say more??
Now I know you are thinking
WhAt iF I DoN’T HaVe TiMe??
The amount of time it takes you to put four ingredients in a jar and shake it up is less time than it takes you to pick out dressing at the store…just sayin.
Every vinaigrette starts with 4 basic ingredients.
-Oil
-Acid
-Salt
-Pepper
The 4 PEOPLE WHO MAKE A SALAD DRESSING
Huh? Yes, this is the way I was taught, so stick with me. Each person is in charge of a different ingredient in the dressing so you end up with the perfect amount of each item. It’s all about balance.
Cheesy, I know, but this is how I remember it.
Spendthrift- Olive oil
Miser- Vinegar
Wise man- Salt
Crazy man- Pepper
Spendthrift-
Oil is the base of the vinaigrette. It carries everything. The spendthrift is in charge of the olive oil, because there is more of it than anything else in the dressing. For this you are going to want to use EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL. No exceptions and for dressing it is worth it to spend an extra $2 to get something better than what you usually get…trust me. Use as much oil as you want dressing.
Miser-
Vinegar is really what makes a vinaigrette, but since it’s such a strong flavor the miser puts it in…Be a lil’ stingy. Think 2 parts oil, one part vinegar.
Wise Man-
You can’t have a dressing without salt, but the vinegar adds the illusion of saltiness too. Be wise with the salt; you can add more later, but you can’t take it out after it’s in (how’s that for cooking wisdom?).
Crazy Man-
In my opinion you can never have too much pepper. Go crazy my friend.
Additional Tips:
Now while those four ingredients make a fine vinaigrette you will quickly run into one problem…oil and vinegar don’t mix very well. You can stick to those for ingredients and have a great vinaigrette orrr you can add a couple more things and have an AMAZINGLY MIND BLOWING vinaigrette.
Dijon Mustard- This is an emulsifier. AKA it helps the oil and vinegar mix better and not separate as easily. Think of it as glue.
Honey- A little bit of sweet takes your dressing to the next level… and it’s more glue.
Spices- Spice it up a lil’ bit
Now here’s where it gets really crazy…
Now that we have our map we can go crazy with different combinations and build different flavors….WHAT?
TIP: Try swapping out vinegar for lemon juice and you have a fantastic lemony dressing
TIP: Use balsamic vinegar and you have a vinaigrette better than anything you can find on a shelf.
TIP: Instead of honey add a scoop of raspberry jam and you have a raspberry vinaigrette.
TIP: Use lemon juice and add honey and dill…ultimate summer salad dressing.
TIP: Use white wine vinegar with Italian spices/herbs and you have a salad dressing that would rival any Italian restaurant.
TIP: Use half apple cider vinegar, half lemon juice, and add some Greek spices. Put that on your next pasta salad!
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!
Ready for part two of crazy?
Dressing is completely customizable to your tastes. For example, I usually add a bit more salt to mine because I’m a lil’ salty… but seriously you can make it completely to your taste. Make a few different dressings to figure out what you like.
I make my dressing in a jar, then shake it up and leave it in the fridge. It doesn’t get any easier than that to have fresh and delicious salad dressing.
Check out my Winter Kale Salad to see how to use your new vinaigrette making abilities!
