How to Make Homemade Salad Dressing
recipe adapted from A Couple Cooks
- Use a roughly 3 to 1 ratio of oil versus acidic ingredient*
- For the acidic ingredient, you can use balsamic, red wine, apple cider, sherry, or other vinegar; OR lemon, lime, or orange juice
- Feel free to add in chopped herbs, minced garlic, minced shallot, fancy salts, etc.
- Store in a glass jar with a tight lid in the refrigerator; bring to room temperature and stir/shake before serving.
*Note: I’ve seen everything from 3-1, 2-1, 3-2, to ½ cup-3T. Consider this a place to start and adjust your ratio to your taste. Our Market Manager likes hers 1-1!
I might also add that honey, mustard, maple syrup, etc. make wonderful and flavorful additions to this basic dressing. And DO try flavored oils and vinegars. One of my favorite combos is a Dijon mustard dressing made with lemon-infused olive oil and tarragon vinegar. It’s great on potato salad too!
Jazz up your salad greens with these tasty additions:
- Homemade croutons (see below)
- Chopped cooked egg
- Crumbled bacon
- Shaved radishes
- Diced Beets
- Grated Carrots
- Shredded/Crumbled Cheese
How to Make Homemade Croutons
also from A Couple Cooks
- Slice or tear the bread: Cut the bread into cubes, keeping in mind that 1 medium slice of bread is about 1 cup of cubes. You also can tear the bread into small pieces, which makes for crispier croutons with crevices that catch the dressing!
- Mix with olive oil and salt: Place the cubes in a bowl and mix them with olive oil and salt. (Add garlic powder for garlic croutons.)
- Bake for 15 minutes: Simply bake the croutons at 300F for about 15 minutes until they’re crunchy and golden brown.
