While it’s easy (and still really yummy) to stick with plain old olive oil and balsamic vinegar, it’s just as easy to whip up these four salad dressings that pack in way more flavor and add more zip and zing to your salads – making you more excited to eat them! Each one of these four dressings has just four ingredients, most of which are pantry staples, so you really can just toss them all together and have them ready to go any time throughout the week when you’re putting together a leafy green salad…we keep ours in mason jars, so we’ll even just throw them in our bag as we’re running out the door so we can make a salad at work as well.
So, for our four salad dressings we picked an apple cider vinegar dressing, and easy balsamic dressing, peanut sauce dressing and a lemon herb vinaigrette. Trust us, each one of these comes together in under five minutes, so there’s no reason not to make them. Plus, don’t feel limited to use them only on salads…they make delicious roasting sauces as well. The balsamic and lemon herb vinaigrette taste amazing on roasted broccoli, and we love tossing some diced sweet potatoes in the peanut dressing before roasting them to perfection. Seriously, the flavor of these is incredible and you won’t regret trying them out. Along with being super easy and all being made up of ingredients you already have, there’s no reason not to!
1. Apple Cider Vinegar Dressing
With a bit of bite from the garlic and mustard, balanced by a touch of sweetness from the apple cider vinegar, this dressing is refreshing and flavorful and can spruce up any salad!
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoons garlic, minced
2. Easy Balsamic Dressing
Don’t even think about buying a balsamic vinaigrette when you can whip up your own that’s guaranteed to have way more flavor – plus, you can customize it however you like. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil are the base, but it’s the maple syrup and Dijon that make this special – it’s not one to be skipped!
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
3. Peanut Dressing
Evoking some of our favorite elements of Asian cooking, this peanut dressing comes together in a snap and immediately makes us excited to make a big salad or roast up a big pan of veggies with this drizzled on top.
- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic
- (water, to thin)
4. Lemon Herb Vinaigrette
Perhaps one of the most classic flavor combos, bright lemon and fresh herbs will always be one of our go-tos. It’s refreshing and makes everything taste amazing – we’re always so happy we made this.
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh herbs, minced (dill, cilantro, parsley, chives, etc.)
Directions
Mix all ingredients together and use immediately or keep stored in an air-tight container.
