Classic Vinaigrette. Nothing, at least in the world of salad dressing, is as tasty and versatile as a classic homemade vinaigrette.  

I spoke at a mom’s group recently on how to produce Weeknight Gourmet-ish dinners with a minimum of fuss.  When I polled the audience if any one made their own salad dressing, only about 1/3 of the group said they did, but everyone should!  

You don’t need to be a gourmet cook to make this - it is completely foolproof!  There are no tricky steps and only two lines of “directions”.   

Making your own vinaigrette is SO much tastier than bottled dressing and faster than running out to the store to pick some up!  And, you probably always have the few ingredients you need on hand.

If you can level up your salad game, that is all you need to create a gourmet-ish side dish (or, with the addition of protein, a gourmet-ish entree) in no time!

This is the basic vinaigrette recipe adapted from Serious Eats.  You make it by putting the ingredients in a jar, and shaking to emulsify.  We keep a jar of this in the pantry at ALL times.  It is delicious and takes less than 5 minutes to throw together.  

If you mark the jar with the levels of stuff the first time you make it, you don’t even have to dirty a measuring cup!  

Easy Basic Vinaigrette

Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup olive oil

• 1/4 Cup neutral oil (such as canola or vegetable oil)

• 3 Tbsp vinegar

• 1 Tbsp water

• 1 heaping Tbsp dijon mustard

• Salt and Pepper

Directions

• Add ingredients to a jar with a lid that seals tightly

• Shake jar vigorously to mix!

That’s it! The basic premise is 3 parts fat to 1 part acid, with some mustard thrown in to help with emulsion and add a bit of sweet zing.  

You can substitute any flavor of oil or vinegar depending on the flavors that might pair best with your salad.  Lemon juice is an option to substitute for the vinegar as well.

You can also add any number of other things - honey or sugar (1/4 cup or equal to the amount of acid) for a sweeter dressing, minced garlic or shallots, grated cheese, poppyseeds, sesame seeds…the variations are limited only by your imagination!

We’ve got a lot of different flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars from our favorite local purveyor on hand, so we change up the ingredients to pair with whatever salad ingredients we are using. But even the grocery store offers an assortment of options.

Here are a few ideas:

• sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and toasted sesame seeds

• olive oil and raspberry balsamic vinegar with added sugar and poppyseeds for a sweet vinaigrette

• citrus olive oil and ginger flavored balsamic with added honey

• olive oil and lemon juice

GOURMET-ISH TIP: Before you add extras or dressing to your salad, ALWAYS season the greens with salt and pepper. This tiny change to how we assemble salad made a HUGE difference in taste. Salt is a flavor enhancer and paired with nice quality local greens, the salad becomes more than just a carrier for delicious add-ins and dressing. We use coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper for this step.

Simple salad, well dressed can be wonderful on its own, but you can level up any salad with the addition of fresh or dried fruit, crumbled, grated, or cubed cheese, and toasted or sugared nuts. Add a protein like shrimp or scallops, or chicken and it is a perfect, flavor balanced, and nutritious meal.

Another easy way to make a salad special is with homemade croutons - these are a quick and easy use for the stale bread cubes we keep in the freezer. Rather than feeding the birds with the end of a baguette that dried out before it got eaten (I know…leftover bread?? but it does happen once in a while!), we cube it and store it in the freezer for future use as croutons, bread pudding, or fresh breadcrumbs.

For croutons, toss the frozen bread cubes with olive oil and seasoning (salt and sometimes garlic powder or herbs de Provence), and sauté in a pan on the stove until lightly golden. Remove from pan to a bowl lined with a paper towel to cool.

We like the basic vinaigrette dressing with our Cobb entree salad with grilled chicken, hard-boiled egg, crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon, and pickled beets.  

We’ve used it with honey added for salad with lettuce, cucumber, celery, dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, and candied walnuts.

We’ve made a great side salad with lettuce, scallions, cucumber, celery, and diced crystallized ginger (or diced apricot) bits and dressed it with the vinaigrette made with ginger (or apricot) balsamic. 

Sweeter versions pair nicely with salads that include fresh fruit like this salad with fresh figs, walnuts, and crumbled blue cheese which we dressed with the vinaigrette made with fig balsamic and honey added.

What’s your favorite combination?

Other recipes that pair perfectly with a side salad:

The Best Quiche Recipe (that will ruin you for all other quiches)

Open Faced Focaccia with roasted veggies and mozarella

Hearty Vegetable Soup