These three homemade salad dressings will spice up your salad game: Spicy Honey Dijon, Avocado, Cilantro & Lime, and Asian Sesame.
My intern Emily and I have been brainstorming recipes to develop together, and I said “I need some good homemade salad dressings for the fridge.” She created these three based on some dressings she made at a farm a few years back. I’ve been using them ever since on my salads, and they are all winners!
All three are made in a high-power blender, and each recipe makes about a cup of dressing that should be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
Spicy Honey Dijon
This will be your new house dressing! The perfect addition to a fresh pear salad with goat cheese and arugula. The use of apple cider vinegar gives it some spice, but it is mellowed out with the sweet undertones from the honey.
Combine in blender:
- 3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup
- ½ cup olive oil
- S+P to taste
Avocado, Cilantro & Lime
For a thicker dressing that also serves as a great dip for veggies or even a spread for sandwiches, the avocado, cilantro, and lime is a perfect pick. Garnish with more cilantro if you’re using it as a dip! It’s also great on thicker salads, like massaged kale.
Combine in blender:
- 1 whole medium ripe avocado
- 1 tbsp of fresh garlic
- Small handful of cilantro
- 1.5 tbsp fresh lime juice
- ½ tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp of olive oil or avocado oil
- ¼ cup of Greek yogurt
Spicy Asian Sesame
This recipe adds an extra kick to the traditional Asian sesame with the addition of spicy mustard and serves as a delicious marinade for chicken. Use the blender for the dressing base and then pour the dressing into a jar with sesame seeds and shake to incorporate.
Combine in a blender:
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp spicy mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ tsp of soy sauce in a blender
Stir in 2.5 Tbsp sesame seeds after dressing is blended.
I loved the thick avocado lime on my prep day kale salad which was massaged with a little olive oil and lime juice on Sunday and dressed before eating. Thomas brought me half a sandwich from Ivy Provisions and some chips to have with my salad for lunch!
What’s the most unique ingredient you’ve ever used in salad dressing? I need to buy some pepper jelly so I can make the dressing that Jessica made for me a few years ago!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Homemade salad dressings all the way! So much healthier than store-bought varieties. The spicy honey dijon dressing sounds delicious! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Jennifer says
Those look amazing! Do you know the calorie counts for any of them?
KathEats says
I just plugged the Dijon into My Fitness Pal. Assuming it makes 16 tbsp and 1 serving is 1 tbsp, it’s about 70 calories per tbsp. (That’s about how much I use on a salad). The sesame is probably similar. The avocado is harder to input, but I guessed about 50 calories per tbsp based on 13 tbsp results.
Jennifer says
Thanks so much!
meme says
umeboshi puree/ plums ! A lady i know used to work for a super famous designer and he would have her make umeboshi salad dressing. It is healthy and delicious. Those dressings all look like winners making the avocado one asap
Jess T says
Whenever I make homemade dressing and keep it in the fridge I get annoyed with how it solidifies and I have to let it come to room temp before I use it (and then I worry about bacteria growth from doing this multiple times). How do you deal with this? Or am I doing something wrong?
KathEats says
I usually just shake/stir it vigorously and that seems to break up some of the clumps. You could also just portion out your serving in the bottom of your bowl and then either let that come to room temp or microwave it for a few seconds and then you wouldn’t be bringing the whole thing to room temp multiple times?
Erin says
My very favorite homemade dressing is Mama Pea’s cinnamon vinaigrette!
Jenny says
Hi! It would have been awesome to have a print option in this post for the dressings. Maybe next time?
KathEats says
I’m sorry; I kept the formatting more simple.
laura says
Love this! Homemade dressings are the BEST! I didn’t know you had an intern–that’s so fun! Do you pay her? Is she receiving college credit? What kinds of tasks does she help with? Just recipe development, or behind the scenes blogging stuff as well? It would be fun to do a Q & A with her!!
KathEats says
Yup, I shared in this post. She’s getting course credit towards her nutrition program.
Ttrockwood says
I’ve been making my own white kimchi and end up with excess kimchi brine which is delicious and very flavorful yet slightly funky. I’ve been using it instead of vinegar in vinegrette for salad dressings and it is AMAZING. The unique umami from the brine is amazing on salads, and i get a bonus of all the probiotics
Last time i made an avocado dressing it went wonky in a day- how did you store this avocado based version ? Does it go brown?
KathEats says
Mine lasted about three days in the fridge. It never turned brown but I got kind of yucky after a while
Earn says
I love Dijon mustard. Delicious. Thank you