Vinaigrette Dressings

The simplest salad dressing—and an easy recipe to riff on with your own favorite flavors—is the classic vinaigrette, using oil, vinegar, and mustard. The standard ratio is three parts oil to one part vinegar, and the most basic version uses olive oil, white wine vinegar, and a dollop of mustard, plus salt and pepper. But there’s no reason to hold off there: switching the vinegar for a balsamic or Champagne upgrades it instantly, while using a citrus juice like lemon, lime, or grapefruit brings a fun zing. You can get creative with other oils, like avocado, pumpkin seed, or hazelnut. And the mustard can be switched out for a little honey if that matches the other flavors better.

Once you have the ratio down, you simply add the emulsifier (mustard or honey) to the acid, and blend, whisk, or shake it. Then add the oil, just a tad at a time, blending, whisking, or shaking, until it is completely incorporated. If you’re using the vinaigrette right away, you don’t need to worry as much about completely emulsifying the dressing—even if you just throw it all together and shake it in a tightly-closed jar, it will last a few minutes, enough for you to dress the salad. If you want it to hold emulsified for a week, use a blender.

Once you have the ratio, the dressing world is your playground: you can add herbs, spices, nuts, whatever you want your salad dressing to taste like. For most ingredients, you can add them in before you make the emulsion, as they’ll help bring the dressing together.