Make your summer salads come alive with this Pesto Salad Dressing. Only 3 ingredients!
If you want to go the extra mile and start by making your own pesto, try our recipes for a simple Lemon Basil Pesto or this Ramp Basil Pesto.
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Why Make This Recipe
- Pairs beautifully with summer vegetables like tomatoes and cucumbers
- Delicious drizzled on a salad or used to toss pasta
- The perfect use for that ½ jar of leftover pesto!
🥗 Ingredients
- Pesto: Any kind of pesto works, from basil to ramp to arugula to spinach. Feel free to use either store-bought or make your own pesto.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice is always recommended. Try adding some lemon zest as well. Replace with white wine vinegar or cider vinegar as an alternative.
- Olive Oil: Use your favorite olive oil here, or replace with a neutral oil like Grapeseed Oil or Walnut Oil.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk together 4 tablespoons pesto and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in 4 tablespoons olive oil, whisking constantly. Whisk in ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Taste, and add more salt or pepper as necessary.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Pesto Salad Dressing
Basil pesto, so easy to make in the summer when basil is everywhere, goes deliciously well with all sorts of other summer produce. Tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggplant, summer squash to start. Try it with stone fruit as well, like in this Peach Burrata Caprese Salad. And, pesto is lovely with creamy Italian cheeses like mozzarella and burrata.
This dressing actually lasts about two weeks in the refrigerator. Thanks to the lemon juice, the pesto doesn’t become discolored over time. Shake well or give it a good whisk before using, as the oil will separate as it sits.
This dressing does not freeze well, but pesto itself does! If you have leftover pesto from a recipe you made or from a store-bought jar, just scrape into an ice cube tray and freeze. Pop out the cubes, and you’ll always have some pesto to make this recipe when you need it.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
The consistency of this dressing will vary depending on how runny or thick your pesto is. Also, you may find you want a thicker dressing to dollop on a mozzarella ball, or a thinner dressing to toss with a green or pasta salad. Adjust the amount of olive oil you add accordingly.
We love to store our pesto vinaigrette in a mason jar with a lid on it. It keeps well, and you can just shake the jar with the lid on to recombine the dressing before serving.
If your dressing separates, and whisking or shaking vigorously isn’t helping, try using an immersion blender or adding the dressing to a small food processor. Whizz for a few seconds, and it will come together.
This same technique can be used to make a red pesto salad dressing—just start with my Tomato Pesto rather than a traditional basil pesto.
Now that you’ve got your basil pesto salad dressing, how to make the most of it? Of course, drizzle it over your salad greens. We’ve been making a summer salad on repeat around here starting with mixed greens, adding cucumber chunks, and cherry tomatoes, then topping with feta cheese and a good slug of pesto dressing.
The dressing is also fantastic drizzled over a Caprese salad, or tossed with this easy Orzo Pesto Salad or this Tuna Pesto Pasta Salad.
Other Delicious Dressings
Homemade salad dressing makes all the difference. Now that you’ve tried this one, check out some of our other favorites:
If you try this Pesto Salad Dressing recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Pesto Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons pesto
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together pesto and lemon juice.
- Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly.
- Whisk in salt and pepper.
- Taste, and add more salt or pepper as necessary.
Notes
This dressing lasts about two weeks in the refrigerator. Thanks to the lemon juice, the pesto doesn’t become discolored over time. Shake well or give it a good whisk before using, as the oil will separate as it sits. Expert Tips:
To make your own pesto, try our recipes for Simple Basil Pesto and Lemon Ramp Pesto. The consistency of this dressing will vary depending on how runny or thick your pesto is. Also, you may find you want a thicker dressing to dollop on a mozzarella ball, or a thinner dressing to toss with a green or pasta salad. Adjust the amount of olive oil you add accordingly.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this pesto vinaigrette recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we’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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