Salads are a feel-good food. They are packed with healthy ingredients like greens, protein, and veggies. But are salads always healthy? A seemingly nutritious salad can easily veer off course with the wrong salad dressing. This Zesty Lemon Vinaigrette is healthy, easy to make, and delicious!
A vinaigrette style dressing is traditionally made with oil and citrus juice. Herbs and spices add additional flavor, and help balance the acidity. Vinaigrettes are perfect as salad dressings, marinades, or drizzled over sauteed veggies.
Unfortunately, store-bought salad dressings often contain several unhealthy ingredients. Most list soybean oil as the first ingredient. Soybean oil is highly refined and it has almost no nutritional value. Keep reading the label and you might find ingredients like MSG, artificial flavors, artificial colors, or even disodium EDTA.
Making homemade salad dressing is an easy way to ensure that your salad stays a healthy choice.
I have fond memories of my grandmother making her own salad dressing. It was the only kind she ever used. She used a unique looking shaker bottle (like this one), and when it was time to eat she would pull it out of the fridge and set it on the table. I always enjoyed her salads, mainly because of her homemade salad dressing.
This salad dressing is flavorful and rich with just the right amount of zest. The dill and lemon essential oils take the flavor to another level. You’ll never want to use any other type of salad dressing again!
Ingredients
- 1 cup olive oil extra virgin
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 drops Lemon Vitality essential oil
- 2 drops Dill Vitality essential oil
- 1 pinch dried dill weed optional
- 1 pinch dried oregano optional
- salad dressing shaker
Instructions
- Combine olive oil and apple cider vinegar in a small mason jar
- In a separate bowl, whisk together dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, and chopped garlic
- Add to olive oil mixture and stir
- Mix in vitality essential oils, dill, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cover and shake to combine.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving
- Shake and drizzle over fresh greens or roasted vegetables
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks
Nutrition
This recipe was inspired by this Summer Vinaigrette recipe from Myra over at My Blessed Life. I tweaked it a bit to use ingredients I almost always have on hand.
Lemongrass Vitality is also a wonderful choice to use in a salad dressing. I just love the flavor of Dill Vitality essential oil, especially in deviled eggs.
Debbie Savant says
Hi! In your dressing recipe you include the link for the salad dressing bottle (in Amazon)- which size, large or small, is enough for this recipe? Thanks! I’m excited to try this!