Click here for a printable PDF recipe card Italian Dressing

About a year and a half ago we stopped buying pre-made salad dressing from the store. Have you looked at the ingredients??  If you’re curious, check out Rodale News’ 6 Dangerous Salad Dressing Facts to find out what is in some of those store bought salad dressings.

Scary, right?!?  Now I won’t lie, there are times when we buy ranch dressing from the store to go with hot wings 😉  Our diet is NOT perfect!  We just try to do clean and healthy as  much as possible.  And there are “cleaner” options for store bought dressings on the market.  But you should really try this one out!

I have a couple of variations on the Italian dressing, which I have included (balsamic vs. red wine; spicy vs. not).

Ingredients: Light extra virgin olive oil; balsamic or red wine vinegar; dijon or spicy brown mustard; minced garlic; Italian seasoning; garlic powder; onion powder; salt; pepper; honey; *crushed red pepper flakes (optional).

The one I made today was with balsamic vinegar (I’ll show you the difference later).  I always make two batches when I make this.  One for Hubby WITH the red pepper flakes (he likes it spicy) and one without for me.  It’s up to your taste buds 🙂

Why the honey?  The recipe didn’t start out that way.  I found the bite of the vinegars to be a little too strong, so I had to figure out a way to break that strong acidity.  Store bought dressings use sugar, so honey was my go to.  You can try it without, but it makes the flavor so much smoother.  Trust me!

Dijon or spicy brown mustard…I think the flavor is basically the same within the dressing so I just use whatever I grabbed from the store.  Either way the mustard is a MUST!  This is your binder.  This is what is going to keep the oil and vinegar from separating.

Regardless of the type of vinegar you use (balsamic or red wine), it’s always a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to oil.  That’s pretty much my standard for all my homemade dressings.

Now you don’t have to buy a fancy dressing bottle.  Mason jars work just fine!

Add your seasonings.

A helpful tip with the honey: Spray your measuring spoon with cooking spray (make sure you wipe off the excess) or rub a little oil on it with your finger.  Your honey will pour right off the spoon!

Shake it up and there you have it!  It doesn’t even need to be refrigerated.  We just leave ours on the counter.

Here’s the key, make it the day before you want it.  Sure you can use it immediately, but it won’t taste the same.  You want the Italian seasoning to re-hydrate and the minced garlic to release their flavors.  Then it’s like this perfect, yummy union! 🙂  If you don’t have all night, at least give it an hour.  Try it for yourself…taste it right after you make it then taste it the next day.  Big difference!

Click here for a printable PDF recipe card Italian Dressing

This is what it looks like if you use red wine vinegar (the lighter colored one on the left). And it does taste very different.

Click here for a printable PDF recipe card Italian Dressing