How To Make Homemade Italian Dressing?

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Italian Dressing is a zesty, homemade salad dressing made with Italian ingredients, oil, and red wine vinegar. It complements my diet-friendly Hot Girl Summer Salad just right!

Italian Dressing

Amelia

Italian Dressing is a zesty, homemade vinaigrette made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, and Italian herbs, offering a fresher, less sweet alternative to store-bought dressings, and can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week with a quick shake before use.

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Prep Time 5

Total Time 5

Course Dressing

Cuisine American, Italian

Servings 0.67 Cups

Calories 559 kcal

Ingredients

¼ Cup (54.5 g) Olive oil
3 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 Tsp Honey
2 Cloves garlic, minced
½ Tsp Onion powder
½ Tsp Marjoram
½ Tsp Dried oregano
½ Tsp Dried basil
⅛ Tsp Ground thyme
½ Tsp Kosher salt
¼ Tsp Black pepper
1 Pinch red pepper flakes

Instructions

In a bowl, add all the ingredients and whisk to blend. The oil will separate, so mix again before using.
Keep it in the fridge for a week or longer.

Keyword Dressing, Italian Dressing

Dressing in Italian

When you make your own salad dressings, you can be sure of what ingredients are used. If you purchase it at the shop, many additional preservatives that you don’t need or desire are typically included.

Made with typical Italian ingredients, this dressing has a vinaigrette-like consistency. I use the dressing for my Italian Pasta Salad and my Pepperoni Salad, as well as for your lettuce salad.

Ingredients for Dressing

Oil: For my dressing recipes, I like to use olive oil, especially extra-virgin olive oil if available. Vegetable oil or another mildly flavored oil can also work well.

Vinegar: The red wine vinegar used in this recipe is produced by aging and storing red wine in barrels. Below, I’ll provide some alternatives to red wine vinegar.

Honey: The honey balances the dressing’s tanginess with a hint of sweetness.

Seasonings: Season the dressing with ground thyme, dried oregano, dried basil, marjoram, onion powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

How to Keep Italian Dressing Fresh

Once all the ingredients have been combined, store the dressing in an airtight container. You may keep it in the fridge for up to a week. The oil will separate, so make sure to mix the dressing thoroughly before using it.

Tips To Make the Best Homemade Italian Dressing

To get this dressing perfect, you don’t need a ton of insider knowledge or trendy advice. The following recommendations:

Use extra virgin olive oil. It has a better taste and is more nutritious than many of the vegetable oils used in store-bought dressings.

Bring your spices up to date. If your garlic, basil, and other herbs have been hidden away in your cabinet for longer than you can recall, it’s probably time to update them. The shelf life of ground spices is around six months after purchase. If you’re using vintage spices, the deterioration of aromas and flavors will affect the final dressing.

Use a glass jar with a lid. Although this can definitely be whisked in a bowl, it’s quicker and easier to store if you shake it in a jar.

Frequently Ask Questions

This recipe prepared about 2/3 cup of Italian dressing. That’s sufficient to top a big family salad. You can season your individual salads with as much or as little dressing as you like.

You can still prepare this dressing even if you don’t have red wine vinegar. Among the alternatives are:

white wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar

The taste of the salad dressing will change depending on the type of vinegar used.

This homemade dressing is less sweet and greasy than store-bought Italian dressing. Furthermore, the kind of vinegar you choose will somewhat change the flavor.