Making salad dressing can seem intimidating to many of us. Either we’re a little afraid of it and keep hitting the bottle (bottled dressing, of course), or if we make our own, we get stuck in this one-dressing rut.
But if you take a few minutes to play with different oils and vinegars, you’ll quickly see how easy it is to make a homemade vinaigrette, and keep changing it up to keep your salads sparkling all year round.
The word vinaigrette may sound a little fancy, but it’s just French for oil and vinegar. OK, no, that’s not entirely true, but it’s definitely partly true and it helps make things a lot less scary.
Basically, you can make a salad dressing in two minutes. So the sky’s the limit, and becoming a salad dressing master is one of the easiest and most useful skills to master in the kitchen.
The most common oil to vinegar ratio is 3:1.
For most salad dressings, I lean towards extra virgin olive oil, first pressed or cold pressed if possible. Olive oils vary widely in flavor, from spicy to fruity, sweet to robust. You’ll gravitate toward certain flavor profiles, but that’s a good reason to taste your olive oil. This is also a good reason to treat yourself to a good one.
For some oil and vinegar salad dressings, you may want a more neutral-flavored oil, such as safflower or grapeseed. This can be the case when making a vinaigrette with Asian ingredients, or anything that doesn’t belong to the Mediterranean family.
There are also so many vinegars to choose from – a good reason to linger in the vinegar aisle at your market. Consider white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, rice vinegar (unseasoned vinegar is best for salad dressings), black rice vinegar, champagne vinegar, and apple cider vinegar.
Basically, you can make a salad dressing in two minutes.
-Cheyenne M. Cohen/Associated Press
And if you’re in a well-stocked market, specialty store, or farmers’ market, keep your eyes peeled for fruit vinegars (like raspberry, citrus, or fig) or other flavors, like vinegars with herbs or spicy vinegars.
You might also come across a store selling olive oils and vinegars. Sometimes they are available in bulk, stored in large drums, with bottles filled to order. This is a good place to discover many different varieties.
Here’s my favorite very basic salad dressing tip: use two different vinegars in your dressing. This creates a nice layering of flavors and takes everything to a slightly higher level, all in the extra 30 seconds it takes to open a second bottle of vinegar.
Some favorite combos: red wine and sherry vinegars; balsamic and red wine vinegars; unseasoned white wine and rice wine vinegars. I also like a mixture of fresh lemon juice and vinegar.
My family likes their vinaigrette on the vinegar side. We favor more of a 2:1 balance, and my oldest son is a 1:1 type, with balsamic being the vinegar of choice. Play with the balance until you reach the level of acidity you want.
There you go, you now have a mixture of oil and vinegar. Two additional ingredients that I think make a vinaigrette a vinaigrette are minced shallot (or another member of the onion family) and a little Dijon mustard. You can play around with different types of mustard, from German mustard to whole grain mustard.
And you definitely need to season with salt (I prefer kosher or flaky sea salt) and pepper (opt for freshly ground salt if possible). Use a light hand with salt when making the dressing, add a pinch of kosher or coarse salt to the dressed salad and toss it one last time before serving. It adds a little burst of taste and texture to salty a garnished salad at the very end.
If you take a few minutes to play around with different oils and vinegars, you’ll quickly see how easy it is to make a homemade vinaigrette and keep changing it up to keep your salads sparkling all year round.
-Cheyenne M. Cohen/Associated Press
Other great additions for salad dressings are fresh herbs, minced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes or minced olives, or a few tablespoons of crumbled or grated cheese, such as goat cheese, feta, blue cheese or parmesan. In the herb family, I lean towards tarragon, parsley, thyme, oregano and basil.
Ultimately, the dressing is so forgiving. Too fat ? Add more vinegar. Too tangy? Add more oil. Too bland? Add more salt, or maybe a little mustard. Too salty? Add more oil and maybe a little vinegar.
Additions like this mean you’ll simply have a larger supply of dressing to keep in the fridge when you’ve achieved your perfect balance. And since the dressing keeps well for a week or two (I usually make a big batch for this reason), nothing will be wasted.
Also, beyond lettuce salads, think about other uses for your dressing. Pour some over simply cooked vegetables like grilled asparagus, or use it in a mayonnaise-free potato salad, for example.
Vinaigrettes are a great way to have fun in the kitchen with your kids without having to resort to baking. Mine grew up experimenting with salad dressings – it’s like a chemistry project you can eat.
I once taught a cooking class for kids where we put about 10 different kinds of vinegar in small bowls and they dipped cubes of plain bread to taste the differences. They chose their favorites to make their own dressing to take home.
Here’s a basic recipe to get you started: Take advantage of the remaining salad days of summer.
• Katie Workman writes regularly about food for The AP. She has written two cookbooks focused on home cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.” She blogs at themom100.com/ and can be reached at Katie@themom100.com.
Vinaigrette
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup vinegar(s) of your choice
½ teaspoon kosher flaky sea salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, or more to taste
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot (optional)
Put everything in a container with a lid. Cover and shake. Are you not feeling well? Use immediately or store in the refrigerator. Shake it well before using it.
Katie Workman
