I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again: salad is one of my all-time favorite foods.
& for the record, I’m always the first to admit that claiming salad as one of your favorite foods is completely lame…but I stand behind it nonetheless! Because when you think about it, it makes total sense.
A good salad (we’re not talking about bad salads here – life’s too short for those!), is hard to beat. With layers of fresh & bright feel-good flavors, & textural crunches & pops in every single bite, a good salad is the kind of meal you can’t help but crave.
& when it comes to good salads, salad dressing is like the icing on the cake. It’s the single element that ties all of those fresh & bright textures & flavors together into the kind of cohesive dish that you can’t help but keep going back into for bite after bite after bite.
Because salad dressing is one of the most important components of a salad, I’m a huge proponent of making it myself. Making homemade salad dressing is so much more cost-effective than buying store-bought, & a billion perfect fresher than the stuff sitting on the shelf at the store. Plus, when you make it yourself, you can control exactly what goes in it (no weird chemicals or additives)!
For all those reasons & more, I’m so excited to share 3 of my staple vinaigrette recipes with you today:
- pwwb’s All-Purpose Vinaigrette
- Easy Greek Dressing, &
- Herby Green Goddess Vinaigrette
All 3 are made with super simple pantry ingredients (seriously – you probably have most of them in your pantry right now!) that, when combined, create the kind of flavor bomb dressings that you can’t help but drown your salad in. I’m certain you’ll turn to them again & again!
Olive Oil: the heart of a good vinaigrette.
Before we jump into the recipes, we gotta talk olive oil.
DeLallo’s olive oils are 100% authentic. Their EVOO is made with a blend of 4 different kinds of olives to create an amazing flavor profile that’s floral & peppery all at once. Plus, they cold-press their olives, meaning no heat or chemicals are used to extract the oil, resulting in superior flavor.
I swear, it’s the secret ingredient to these vinaigrette recipes, & so many other recipes that come out of the pwwb kitchen. Highly, highly suggest grabbing a bottle ASAP!
Vinaigrette Recipe #1: pwwb All-Purpose Vinaigrette
Drawing inspiration from the pwwb all-purpose grilling marinade (pwwb’s most popular recipe this summer!), I really wanted to create an easy vinaigrette recipe that would pair with practically everything. Enter this thing of beauty, the pwwb All-Purpose Vinaigrette.
Tangy, bright, garlicky & slightly sweet, All-Purpose Vinaigrette is absolutely addictive. I could honestly eat it with a spoon! It.is.so.good.
This simple vinaigrette recipe calls for minimal ingredients, but each packs a mean punch of flavor: golden balsamic vinegar for sweet tang, lemon juice for brightness, Dijon for extra tang, garlic for bite, & honey or maple syrup to balance it all out with some sweetness.
& my very favorite part? You can serve it up with almost anything. The sweetness & subtlety of the golden balsamic vinegar makes it a great pair for delicate greens like spinach or arugula, while the garlic & Dijon give it the oomph to stand up to hearty ingredients like kale or brussels sprouts.
My go-to pairing? A simple arugula salad with roasted chicken, veggies & goat cheese.
GRAB THE FULL PWWB ALL-PURPOSE VINAIGRETTE RECIPE HERE!
Vinaigrette Recipe #2: Easy Greek Dressing
The first salad I ever truly fell in love with was a Greek salad. & by “salad”, I mean it was basically a chicken gyro, chopped up & served on some iceberg lettuce. No wonder I fell in love, right?! ? What did me in, though, was the Greek dressing that the salad was tossed in. This Easy Greek Dressing is a nod to what I remember about that dressing – & boy, it lives up to its reputation!
Made with just 6 ingredients (you probably have them all in your pantry right now!), this Greek Dressing is so freakin’ easy to make. But don’t let the simplicity of the ingredients list fool you – it’s an easy vinaigrette, but it’s absolutely packed with punchy, bold flavor.
& best of all, its uses are endless. With tons of red wine vinegar, garlic, & oregano, this Greek vinaigrette can add extra quintessentially Greek flavor to any Greek-inspired dish.
My go-to pairing? A simple Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, olives & feta), beefed up a bit with creamy avocado & crispy chickpeas. ? Hello, flavor bomb!
GRAB THE FULL EASY GREEK DRESSING RECIPE HERE!
Vinaigrette Recipe #3: Herby Green Goddess Vinaigrette
I’ll just go ahead & say it: I’m such a sucker for anything called “goddess.” Goddess bowls, goddess sauce, goddess dressing – if you tell me it’ll make me feel like a goddess, I’m SO in. I bet you can guess how I feel about Green Goddess dressing, right? ??
I’ve always been obsessed with Green Goddess dressing, but also have always wanted to lighten it up a little (or a lot). Why weigh down the gorgeously fresh & fragrant flavor of fresh herbs with tons of mayo & dairy?
I mean…imagine what would happen if instead of weighing them down, we lifted them up with garlic & lemon & honey. That, my friends, is exactly how we got to Herby Green Goddess Vinaigrette. & it is straight-up magic. ✨
Made with fresh herbs (basil! parsley! chives!), lemon, garlic, honey & olive oil, my Green Goddess vinaigrette is so fresh, so punchy, & so perfect for taking pretty much anything up a few notches in bright, feel-good flavor.
My go-to pairing? A seasonal salad with tender greens, grilled chicken, & tons of fresh seasonal produce. DROOL.
GRAB THE FULL HERBY GREEN GODDESS VINAIGRETTE RECIPE HERE!
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