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This Italian Dressing recipe tastes just like the kind you’d get on a salad at your favorite Italian restaurant. It’s crave-worthy, and so easy to make!
How Do You Make Italian Dressing from Scratch?
All you need to make this dressing recipe is 7 ingredients and about 10 minutes of time. You can shake everything together in a sealed mason jar, but I prefer to blend the ingredients together so that it’s super-smooth. (Blending it is also faster, too, since you don’t have to take the time to mince the garlic first.)
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for Italian Dressing:
- Red wine vinegar
- Olive oil
- Spicy brown mustard
- Dried oregano (or Italian seasoning)
- Garlic
- Maple syrup (or honey)
- Salt
Feel free to make any swaps based on what you have in your pantry. I imagine that a white wine vinegar would work just as well as red in this recipe, and if you only have Dijon mustard, that should work, too.
How to Make the Best Italian Dressing
What makes this the best salad dressing? I think it’s the unusual ratio of oil to vinegar. Traditional recipes will call for up to 3/4 cup of oil for this amount of vinegar, but this recipe calls for a fraction of that, to cut down on calories and to avoid an overly oily taste and texture.
Instead, this recipe uses mustard as a natural thickener along with 2 tablespoons of water to bulk up the dressing. Adding a splash of maple syrup balances out the acidity in the vinegar, but you can use honey or any other sweetener you have on hand to do this.
Then you just have to toss everything in a blender and blend until smooth! You can taste and adjust any seasonings as needed, but the dressing develops even a better flavor after resting for at least 20 minutes, to let the flavors meld.
How long Does Homemade Italian Dressing Last?
This dressing recipe will last for up to one week in the fridge, when you store it in an airtight container. This recipe makes 1 cup of dressing, so you can double it if you need more than that as part of your meal prep routine.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (or honey, to taste)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or Italian seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
- 1 large clove garlic , minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 tablespoons shallot or red onion , diced (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.
- If you don't have a blender available, you can also combine the ingredients in a glass mason jar with a lid, and shake well to combine. Let the dressing rest for at least 15 mintues for the flavors to meld.
- Taste and adjust the flavoring, as needed. I sometimes need 1 more teaspoon of maple syrup to balance out the acidity, and I love adding a thick slice of red onion or about 2 tablespoons of diced shallot, to elevate the flavor. (But that's optional!)
- Store the dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. This recipe makes roughly 1 cup of dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is for roughly 2 tablespoons of dressing. This information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is only an estimate not a guarantee.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know what you think. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite salad dressing?
Made a pasta salad and it called for a Creamy Italian dressing, which isn’t available anymore from a popular brand of salad dressings, so I took this dressing, and to make it more creamy, I added a little bit of mayo and sour cream and it did the job. I would have used cashews to make it creamy, but I have a sister-in-law that can’t have nuts. Next time I do my salad I may try the cashews instead. It was very flavorful!
I make this all the time!!! It’s the best!!