Greek Salad Dressing is the perfect way to add bright, zesty flavor to your salads. Whisk it together with simple ingredients and enjoy!
Homemade salad dressings are an excellent way to turn around a bland salad and make it something delightful. The next time you’re tossing together a fresh salad for a Side Dish or lunch, add Homemade Ranch Dressing, Italian Dressing, Blue Cheese Dressing, or this wonderful Greek Salad Dressing.
Table of Contents
- Sabrina’s Greek Salad Dressing Recipe
- Ingredients
- Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- How to Make Greek Salad Dressing
- Recipe Card
- Chef’s Note: Why Make Homemade Dressing
- Nutritional Facts
- Tips & Tricks for Homemade Dressing
- What to Pair With Greek Dressing
- How to Store
- Frequent Questions
- Greek Dressing Variations
- Related Recipes
Sabrina’s Greek Salad Dressing Recipe
Greek Salad Dressing is a classic vinaigrette dressing. This variety of dressing is made with a simple emulsion of oil and vinegar for a rich and tangy flavor. For my Greek Vinaigrette, you’ll use olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, and lemon juice. The herby and zesty mixture beautifully complements classic Mediterranean flavors.
Making your own dressings only takes a few minutes, and it’s a great way to up the flavor of your favorite salad recipes. You can make this dressing with just 5 ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry. The tangy flavor is so much bolder and fresher than the store-bought version of this Greek Dressing!
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup Olive Oil: Olive oil makes an excellent base for simple salad dressings. Compared to other kinds of oil, it has health benefits due to the antioxidants in the oil. It also adds a delicious earthy, slightly herbal flavor to the dressing.
- ¼ Cup Red Wine Vinegar: For a classic vinaigrette base, mix the oil with equal parts vinegar. Red wine vinegar has the sharp, tangy taste that you expect from vinegar, along with a slightly sweeter, fruity aroma.
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice: The zesty flavor of fresh lemon juice complements the dressing mix and helps enhance the fresh ingredients in your salad.
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano: Oregano adds stand-out flavor notes with its lightly spicy, herbal taste.
- Seasonings: Season with salt and pepper to enhance the dressing’s flavor. The recipe calls for ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. However, you can adjust the amount that you add according to taste.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Mixing Bowl: Add all the ingredients to a medium mixing bowl to blend the salad dressing.
- Whisk: Use a small metal whisk or a fork to quickly whisk the simple ingredients together.
- Funnel: You can pour the dressing from the mixing bowl over a large salad or use a kitchen funnel to pour the salad dressing into a bottle to store or serve.
- Food Processor: If you add mayonnaise or mustard to emulsify the dressing, use a food processor to blend the ingredients thoroughly.
How to Make Greek Salad Dressing
Time needed: 5 minutes.
- Add Ingredients
Add olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, kosher salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl.
- Combine
Whisk well to blend the Greek Salad Dressing ingredients, and pour over the salad right away.
- Optional: Emulsify
The oil-based dressing will separate over time. If you want to stabilize the mixture, try adding mayonnaise or Dijon mustard and blend the dressing in a food processor. You don’t want the mayonnaise or mustard to overwhelm the fresh vinaigrette flavors, so be sure to only add a small amount. The creamy ingredients will hold the vinegar and oil together.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper to a bowl.
- Whisk well just before adding to your salad.
- It will separate if it sits, to emulsify you can add mayonnaise or dijon mustard and add to a food processor.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note: Why Make Homemade Dressing
There are lots of reasons I love to make my own salad dressing. I can usually make a delicious dressing with ingredients I already have in my kitchen so I don’t have to run to the store to buy a whole bottle. Plus flavors in homemade dressing are fresher, and it’s a great way to avoid artificial flavors, additives, and preservatives often found in store-bought dressing blends.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Because Greek Dressing separates over time, it’s not the best make-ahead recipe. However, you can combine the ingredients in advance and remix them before serving. Pour the mixture into a glass bottle or jar for storage, and keep the Greek dressing in your fridge for up to 3 days. Whisk to incorporate the ingredients before serving.
Nutritional Facts
Tips & Tricks for Homemade Dressing
Homemade salad dressing is quick and easy! Follow these tips to make the perfect dressing in no time.
- Mix thoroughly
- Oil and vinegar naturally separate, so it’s important to mix the two main ingredients thoroughly before serving your Greek dressing. After thoroughly whisking, the two ingredients will combine into one mixture. They will, however, separate again if left to sit.
- Use fresh juice
- Citrus juice is a common ingredient in vinaigrette dressings because the acidic flavor complements the vinegar. For the best zesty, bright flavor in your Greek Vinaigrette, use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
What to Pair With Greek Dressing
- Greek Salads: The classic way to serve Greek Salad Dressing is drizzled over a fresh Mediterranean salad. Enjoy the zesty dressing over Simple Greek Salad, Greek Pasta Salad, or Greek Orzo Salad for a traditional combination of flavors with tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese.
- More Salads: This is the perfect dressing to top off other fresh green salad recipes or even a simple Cucumber Tomato Salad. For a filling dinner, this dressing would taste great on a Steak Salad. You can swap the steak for Grilled Chicken for a bit lighter main course salad.
- Appetizers and Sides: You don’t just have to use this on a salad, the zesty dressing is great to add flavor to rice, Quinoa, and Roasted Vegetables, or serve it with crostini for dipping.
How to Store
- Store: If you have any leftover dressing, you can store it in a mason jar or another airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge. If you’ve already added the dressing to a fresh vegetable salad, you can cover the dish in plastic wrap to keep in the fridge for later. Dressed salad is best eaten within a day or two.
- Serve: To serve leftover dressing, check to see if the ingredients have separated and remix before adding it to your salad. If you’ve stored the dressing in a tightly sealed jar or bottle, you can simply shake the container to recombine the ingredients before eating.
- Freeze: It’s better not to freeze this recipe as the ingredients will separate and change texture during the freezing and thawing process. You’re much better off making this homemade dressing fresh than trying to freeze a large batch.
Frequent Questions
This simple oil and vinegar-based dressing is a light and flavorful option that you can add to your salad without increasing the fat or sugar content by much. It’s an excellent, flavorful condiment that you can enjoy while keeping your dish light and healthy.
In this recipe, and most Greek Salad recipes, you’ll find a combination of olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and oregano.
Greek Dressing Variations
- Vinegar: You can alter the tangy dressing recipe based on the vinegar that you use as the base ingredient. Instead of red wine vinegar, try using balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar.
- Greek Dressing with Garlic: You can enhance the Greek Dressing with bold garlic flavor. Try adding minced fresh garlic or garlic powder to add the flavor you want to the dressing recipe. To avoid overwhelming the other ingredients, start with 1 minced garlic clove or ¼ teaspoon powder. You can always add more garlic later if you want to, but once it’s added, there’s no going back.
- Lemon Greek Dressing: If you love the fresh, lemony flavor in this recipe, you can emphasize it more by mixing in an additional tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to the easy Greek dressing blend.
Related Recipes
Salad Recipes to Pair with Greek Dressing
