Lemon-Mustard Vinaigrette – The Simplest and Best Salad Dressing – Recipe
Salad greens with lemon-mustard vinaigrette
I’ve never understood why people buy salad dressing, when an infinitely more delicious, fresher, healthier homemade vinaigrette is only 30 seconds away.
I make variations of vinaigrette all the time, but today I want to share with you my absolute favorite, the one I return to at least once a week. I use lemon juice instead of vinegar, and a good amount of Dijon mustard. The result is bracing, fresh and citrusy.
The traditional ratio for vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. Depending on the intensity of your vinegar, this tends to produce a rather subdued dressing. Especially with lemon juice, I tend to prefer something around a 2:1 ratio. That is what I’ve specified in the recipe below, but you should always taste it and adjust to your preferences, the salad being dressed, and what you will serve it with.
Meyer lemons will give you an even better flavor than the grocery-store standard Eurekas, and of course you should use a tasty extra-virgin olive oil.
The worst thing you can do to a potentially great salad is try and dress it with the leaves still wet from washing. The dressing runs right off, leaving a watery, unappetizing mess. I’ve owned a number of salad spinners over the years, but was never really satisfied until I got this Starfrit Salad Spinner. It holds a lot of lettuce, is solidly built, and the crank handle lets you get up to a good speed fast and get the lettuce truly dry. I like it much better than the models that rely on a push mechanism to start spinning. Highly recommended.
There are two advantages to adding a significant amount of mustard to a vinaigrette. The first is obvious: it tastes good. The second is that it acts as an emulsifier, keeping the oil suspended in the vinegar. When made this way, you can get away with combining all of the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and simply shaking well. It isn’t necessary to drizzle in the oil while whisking in the traditional fashion, nor do you need a blender.
Salad dressings need to be highly seasoned with salt. Your salad will be lightly dressed, so if there isn’t enough salt to make the straight dressing taste pretty strong, it will be underseasoned when applied to the greens.
You can feel free to add additional flavorings to this dressing. It will happily accept any finely minced fresh or dried herb, garlic, shallots, citrus zest or spices.
One last thought: this dressing is delicious on a big salad with lots of ingredients. But don’t forget the joy of a simple salad of only lettuces, especially if they are fresh from the garden. You can grow (or find at a farmer’s market) varieties that are far too delicate to be carried in a normal grocery store. The texture and flavor of these greens is incomparable. Treat them right by washing gently, drying thoroughly, and dressing at the very last moment. They will wilt within a very few minutes after meeting their vinaigrette.
If you enjoy this recipe, I’ve got 149 more in my cookbook!
- Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard (e.g. Grey Poupon)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (preferably Maldon (aka the world's greatest salt)!)
- 4 tablespoons delicious extra-virgin olive oil
- Option 1: combine all ingredients in a small jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds until emulsified.
- Option 2: Combine the lemon juice, mustard and salt in a bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil while whisking continuosly.
- Taste and adjust the salt, and add more lemon juice or olive oil to achieve a pleasing balance of acidity.
This recipe looks fantastic. I’ve been using simple lemon juice and canola oil to dress my salads since I’ve gotten away from vinegar because it’s a food of decay. As much as I love the lemon juice and oil, it’s getting just a little boring. And as a mustard lover, I think that might be just the thing to spice it up!
This is a simple and delicious recipe! Try it with fresh greens from the garden.
A nice refreshing springtime salad idea!
I love this salad dressing! I made it for a bunch of fresh greens that I just was gifted from a friend’s garden. Thanks.
Very nice, I love to make my own dressings, will have to try this one sans vinegar. I may add a touch of honey!
I’ve never thought of using lemon juice in place of vinegar for a mustard dressing. I like Heidi’s suggestion of adding a but of honey, as well. Lovely.
I make a similar dressing, try a touch of maple syrup rather than honey!
Love it! So classic, so good!
I love this vinaigrette. Its a regular. And I wanted to let you know that A made those Dutch pancakes for me. I’m so grateful that you posted the recipe!
They were D-I-V-I-N-E!
@matt, @ellie, @hugging, @dana, @joy, @peppercorn – Thanks! I’m glad you like it. I never get tired of this dressing.
@A&N – glad the Dutch babies worked out for you!
@heidi, @john – good suggestions for variations, especially if you are dressing a little more robust salad.
Classic lemon dressing..Perfect!
It’s a great classic dressing, but I do have to recommend trying stone ground mustard instead of dijon. It’s amazing, trust me!
dressing looks divine….will try it tonight. With that said, I found the recipe doing an internet search for cooking with mustard flowers! Can I use them and how? First time growing mustard and it got away from me.
I don’t have any info about mustard flowers personally, but here is a good
reference for edible flower info:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFlowers/EdibleFlowersMain.htm
“I’ve never understood why people buy salad dressing” +1000!!
Good, fresh mustard is great, and I love lemon juice in salads! I also add a pinch of finely grated lemon zest sometimes!
My hubby makes the same dressing, fresh Lemons from out tree and he puts a little paprika in it, (2) cloves of garlic (crushed),… this is the bomb, we put this on everything!
This was too sour. i did not find it refreshing at all. i thought it was just me, but a friend agreed. Sorry.
+1
Add garlic and pepper and just a dab of balsamic vineger and your golden.
pepper and garlic make it over the top I think!
I cut the olive oil down to 2 tablespoons, and did add a bit more mustard and lemon juice to taste. Just as yummy with less oil!
Thanks for this. Just learned I need to stay away from vinegar (which I LOVE) so this was a nice dressing to find.
Oh good! Definitely a nice alternative. Why do you have to avoid vinegar?
I just did some muscle testing (applied kinesiology and NAET)) and found out that it is inflammatory to my body. This along with a laundry list of other foods, such as chili peppers, jalapenos (oh no!). I have been avoiding the foods my body doesn’t like for a few days and I have to admit, I feel much better. The second part of NAET will actually stop the allergies (be it food or environmental) so that when I do eat them, they will not affect me negatively. I can’t wait for that, so I can hug my vinegar bottle again.
Made your dressing tonight, it was just what the doctor ordered, literally.
🙂 kelly
I didn’t like this dressing at all. I even would prefer just to eat the greens bare. The olive oil is incredibly over powering and the lemon so sour. You can barely taste the mustard.
This recipe is not vegan! Dijon mustard has white sugar in it which is dyed with bones from cows.
Not dyed so much as filtered, but feel free to replace the white sugar with one of the natural brands that doesn’t use bone char. Here’s a good one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E9WB8G/?tag=poeticlicen07-20 . In all cases, the recipes that I indicate are vegan or gluten-free require you to choose ingredients that meet your own precise definition and needs. Same goes for vegetarian – some vegetarians worry about rennet and some don’t.
Just made it to put over wild rice salad with dried cranberries, dried cherries, green onions and toasted almonds. Delicious!
I love this! I added garlic to mine as I add garlic to everything and its a great addition. 🙂
Far Queue
Just made this and it’s wonderful! So easy! Thank you!
Over the top yummy. Thank you.
It is indeed a rather sour dressing, which I personally like, but adding a squeeze of honey, a pinch of black pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder rounds it out nicely.
This was great. I used a tablespoon less of the oil. Everyone loved it. Going to bring some to work when I have salad for lunch.
I usually make my own dressing without recipes but I tried this because I was browsing around a dressing with lemon and no vinegar. This recipe is my new favorite for it’s simplicity and deliciousness! Especially with the summer farmer’s market offerings right now. One question. Does using Maldon Salt benefit the dressing since it all just gets shaken together? I usually only use it if I’m sprinkling it on before serving a dish. Enlighten me!
I read the “recipe” info up and down including all the comments and I couldn’t find the actual recipe. I didn’t think the recipe would be things like “I use a significant amount of Dijon mustard” etc. I guess I”m used to something more specific.
Fixed!