Homemade Italian Dressing
Zippy, zesty Homemade Italian Dressing is delicious on salads and makes an excellent marinade...plus it's all-natural and easy to make!
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Have you jumped on the make-your-own-salad-dressing bandwagon yet? Because if you haven't, there's no time like the present.
Why Make Your Own Dressing?
Fresh, homemade Italian Dressing is so much tastier than store-bought.
It's also way less expensive.
And best of all, it's free of any icky ingredients or additives!
I have always loved Italian Dressing, both for its flavor and its versatility. Not only is it tasty on green salads, but it's also delicious on sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, pasta salad, or as marinade for chicken, pork, or beef. And while I've enjoyed some yummy bottled Italian salad dressings over the years, nothing compares to making it yourself from scratch.
When I was growing up, my mom always bought the Italian Dressing seasoning packets that came with that special glass cruet marked with lines to indicate how much oil, how much water, and how much vinegar to add along with the seasonings. As a child, it was actually always my job to "make the dressing." So I'd do my measuring and then...shake, shake, shake! Salad was served.
How to Make Italian Dressing
But would you believe that making your own from-scratch Italian Dressing recipe is just about as effortless?! Sure, there are a few additional ingredients involved beyond a packet of dry seasonings. But it still only takes a matter of minutes to whip up a fresh batch:
- Measure ingredients.
- Shake, whisk, or blend. And...
- Serve. That's it!
As a bonus, you can customize it to your own tastes, tweaking the herbs and spices as you see fit.
Ingredient Notes
I like to make this recipe with extra-virgin olive oil, but a neutral vegetable oil (like canola or safflower) will work as well, if that's your preference.
As for the vinegar, I honestly can't decide if I prefer white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar. Both of them yield a delightful dressing, but the results do taste slightly different. Dressing made with white wine vinegar seems slightly more acidic to me and the flavor is probably more akin to store-bought dressing, whereas I feel like red wine vinegar adds an extra undertone of flavor. I love them both and, as a result, I typically alternate which one I use...or sometimes I make a batch of dressing using half white wine vinegar and half red!
Spring is here, so it's time to bid adieu to soup season and bring on the salads! And I really believe that once you try this Homemade Italian Dressing, you won't be going back to store-bought!
It's better than what you can get at The Olive Garden, yet it's made with real, straightforward ingredients.
Who can argue with that? 😉
More Homemade Salad Dressings
- Creamy Italian Dressing
- The BEST Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Lightened-Up Honey Mustard Dressing
- Homemade French & Catalina Salad Dressings
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Asian Salad Dressing (Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette)
- Thousand Island Dressing
Homemade Italian Dressing
Video
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil OR neutral vegetable oil, such as sunflower or safflower
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar OR red wine vinegar OR a combo of the two
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 to 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
- ¾ teaspoon garlic salt
- ¾ teaspoon dried parsley
- ¾ teaspoon dried basil
- ⅛ teaspoon dried oregano
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Measure all ingredients into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously until well-blended and emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper if necessary. (Alternatively, you may whisk ingredients together in a bowl, process ingredients in a mini food processor, or blend them in a blender.) Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator; allow to come to room temperature and shake well before using.
Hi there. I am on a special detox where I cant have sugar or honey. Is it ok to just eliminate it?
Thank you
Yes, you may leave out the honey! It's only in there to curb the acidity, not add sweetness.
HOLY Cow! WOW this is amazing. Thank you so so so much for this. My husband and I went to Olive Garden last night and got more salad to go.
I'm reusing yesterday's salad and notice how little dressing they gave (which is fine, of course, it's to go) 🙂
Go I googled how to make home made one instead of going to the store and clicked on this link first.
WOW
WOW
WOW
PERFECT! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I used this dressing for a pasta salad. It was DELICIOUS. My 4 and 5 year old said, "mom, this is so good, you need to make it more often." Hard to deny that request.
Yay! The best compliment. 🙂
One step I like to take is adding all dried ingredients to the vinegar and allowing them to steep for about 5 minutes. It really brings out the flavor better, as emulsifying (blending) immediately locks the dried herbs behind the oil. Slightly chilling the liquid ingredients before blending also helps with emulsification, and prevents the oil from bittering if it gets too hot in a blender or food processor. Then pour the room temp oil into the processor of your choice slowly, and your dressing will be less likely to separate!
Most excellent!!
Excellent!
I love that the ratio of oil to vinegar is 2: instead of 3:1. I find 3:1 to be too greasy and not enough tang. I also liked the addition of grated parmesan cheese. I added this to a pasta salad and it's really tasty.
this turned out so well. My guys really liked it.
Hi. Would this dressing recipe taste okay or make much of a difference without the red pepper flakes? I want to make it niw and that ia the only ingredient I don't have.
It'll turn out just fine without the red pepper flakes, Jordan. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
I love making fresh salad dressings and this one was amazing!
I actually used this recipe as a marinade for chicken breadts and it was so good. I marinated it for about 12 hours and then we used the chicken in our salad. There wasn't a piece of chicken left over. Thanks!
Sounds delicious, Samantha! I agree...this dressing does make a great marinade. 🙂
Amazing. Got my husband eating salad!
Love this - THANK YOU
Yay, yay, yay! Best kind of compliment. 🙂
homemade dressings are always the way to go, love the flavors in this one!
So happy you enjoyed it, Noelle!
This is such a delicious recipe! Love homemade dressing!
I totally agree, Nellie...homemade dressing is so much better than store-bought!
My mom used to make homemade dressings. While I cook mostly from scratch this is an area I have not tried. I am going to make homemade dressing tonight
I hope you enjoy it, Jackie! Homemade dressings are so easy and so much better than store-bought. 🙂
Great recipe except but I used olive oil. With all the research out there, canola oil needs to be avoided like the plague!!!
Olive oil is what I prefer to use as well, but as the recipe indicates, pretty much any neutral oil will work. 🙂
To emulsify it you will need a blender. If you don't want to bother with that and still want it emulsified, you can add a teaspoon of mayonnaise or mustard or both. Tastes even better this way.
We don’t have cheese if any kind in our house. Do you think it would change the flavor much to forgo a cheese altogether?
It will still be good without any cheese, Jennifer...just more like a regular vinaigrette. 🙂