Pour this Lemon Garlic Dressing over your favorite salads or roasted vegetables with the flavors of lemon, shallot, garlic, olive oil, and oregano.
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This Lemon Garlic Dressing is an easy to prepare vinaigrette with basic ingredients that pack a punch. Usually, a vinaigrette has vinegar in it, but this one uses lemon as the acid instead. It’s a simple dressing that’s loaded with lots of flavor.
In addition to the base of lemon and olive oil, there’s shallot, garlic, and oregano added that really come through. I like the flexibility of this vinaigrette since its flavor goes well with most vegetables and protein. It’s pretty versatile, just like most vinaigrettes, you can even drizzle this over roasted vegetables. If you don’t like vinegar, a lemon dressing is also great because it has that tart tangy flavor you need, but without puckering from the acidity.
HOMEMADE DRESSINGS
In 2019, my husband and I took a cooking class at Sur la Table and one tip we learned was about making dressings from scratch. The takeaway was that with a simple rule of thumb, you can make any dressing you want. It’s this: 1 part acid to 3 parts oil, plus flavor. This makes it easy enough to tailor to your liking as well. For instance, in this dressing, I used more like a 1:2 ratio so the olive oil wouldn’t overpower the lemon.
Making salad dressings at home is so simple because they’re all made from pantry staples. All you need is this basic formula to create any flavor you’d like. Another thing about homemade dressings is that they usually taste so much better than the store-bought equivalents. Probably because the ingredients are freshly mixed together. Plus, it’s so much cheaper and usually lower in calories.
MAKE THIS LEMON GARLIC DRESSING
This recipe will make ¾ cup or 12 tablespoons worth of dressing. 1-2 tablespoons are generally enough to dress one salad. So, you will have enough to store rather than make it every time you need it. If you would rather make it fresh though, cut everything in half to get 6 tablespoons or by 4 to get 3 tablespoons.
To make the large batch of this dressing, shake it up in a glass mason jar. The leftovers have to be kept in the refrigerator if you’re adding ingredients that need to be refrigerated to it. Ex: the garlic and shallot. But, if you don’t add these until you want to eat, the dressing can be left at room temperature and you can mix these in when you’re ready to eat. The plus side of doing this is that you don’t have to wait for your dressing to come to room temp – olive oil will thicken in the fridge. Otherwise, make it as it says and wait for it to warm a bit.
If you want to make a smaller batch, simply whisk it in a bowl.
THE VINAIGRETTE FORMULA
Fat – olive oil is used here which gives the dressing body and richness (3 parts)
Acid – vinegar or lemon, gives the dressing tang (1 part)
Flavors:
Garlic, shallot, or onion – adds intensity
Honey or maple syrup – adds sweetness
Dijon mustard or Greek yogurt – adds creaminess
Seasonings – herb, freshness
Salt & pepper – brings out the flavor of everything above, pepper will add more zip
NUTRITION
This dressing recipe makes 12 ounces of dressing. A serving is 1 tablespoon and the recipe has 12 servings. In each serving, there are 56 calories.
AS ALWAYS, IF YOU MAKE THIS – PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW!
Lemon Garlic Dressing
Ingredients
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½-¾ cup olive oil
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp minced shallot
- 1 tsp oregano
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
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Combine all ingredients in a big mason jar, cover, and shake!
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Store in the refrigerator. Warm-up a bit before serving either by leaving out on the counter or by holding under running warm water for a bit.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
If you make this recipe or any others on Bite your Cravings, please leave a comment and a rating below! I’d also love to see and feature your delicious creations on my Instagram page, so post your recipes on social media and tag them with #biteyourcravings!
Yum
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