This bright vinaigrette features sunny meyer lemon juice along with dijon mustard, herbs, and olive oil. Light and delicious!
Try this meyer lemon dijon vinaigrette, and you may find yourself passing right by the salad dressing aisle in your grocery store without a second glance like I do. Most bottled salad dressings I have no time for—they are too sweet, too gloopy, too filled with preservatives.
And despite occasionally indulging in a dollop of Hidden Valley Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing at a restaurant or family member's house, I usually prefer to dress my salads with a bright vinaigrette.
And here's the closely guarded secret salad dressing manufacturers don't want you to know: it is insanely easy to make your own. Acid plus oil plus seasoning is really all it takes, and you can adjust the flavor to your own palate—or to complement whatever is in your salad that day.
They're so easy, I sometimes make them as I'm pulling together salad ingredients for the night, though I never regret making a larger batch and saving it in a mason jar for future use.
Ingredient Tips:
- In this recipe, I'm featuring the beautiful meyer lemon. Sort of a cross between a lemon and orange, the meyer lemon has a thinner peel and sweeter flesh and juice than a regular lemon. Meyer lemon season lasts from November through March, though I generally see them between the beginning of February through mid-March. My absolute favorite thing to do with them is to make a meyer lemon curd, but this meyer lemon dijon vinaigrette recipe is also up there. Try it, and you may be looking forward to meyer lemon season as much as I do!
- I use a half teaspoon of Penzey's Sunny Paris seasoning mix in this vinaigrette. I adore this seasoning, particularly on eggs, and it's wonderful in salad dressing. It includes dried purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf, and dill weed. But if you don't have this seasoning, it is absolutely fine to replace with any dried herbs you want—a basic Italian seasoning blend or herbes de provence would work just fine. Or just salt and pepper!
Other Salad Dressing Recipes
Now that I've convinced you to make your own salad dressing, let me introduce you to some of my other favorite dressings.
There are also easy and delicious dressings featured in my Kale and Brussels Sprouts Salad with Miso Dressing and my Vegan Buddha Bowl with Lemon Tahini Dressing.
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
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Meyer Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons meyer lemon juice squeezed from 1-2 meyer lemons
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon Penzey's Sunny Paris seasoning
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and Sunny Paris seasoning until smooth.
- Slowly drizzle in olive oil as you continue to whisk. This will help the vinaigrette come together rather than separate.
- Whisk in salt and pepper, and taste. Add more salt or pepper if desired.
- Store in a small mason jar with a lid in the refrigerator, and shake briskly before using.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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