22 Healthy Homemade Salad Dressings Made with Olive Oil

February 04, 2021

Jazz up your salad greens with these healthy homemade salad dressings. These salad dressings use a base of olive oil to create a flavorful and delicious dressing. Whether it’s Greek Salad Dressing or Sherry Dijon Vinaigrette, making your own salad dressings is often a healthier option than buying a bottled one because you can cut back on the sodium, sugar and ingredients added to store bought versions.

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Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette with Shallots

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This healthy homemade salad dressing has just the right amount of sweetness without being cloying. Try it on a salad with fresh strawberries and spinach or arugula.

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Basil Vinaigrette

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Drizzle this basil salad dressing over sliced tomatoes or cooked green beans. Or toss it into a grain salad for a pop of fresh summertime flavor.

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Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

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This roasted red pepper vinaigrette recipe has a Spanish zing with the addition of sherry vinegar and smoked paprika. Purchased jarred roasted red peppers make this salad dressing recipe quick, or you can make it extra-special by roasting your own red peppers.

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Sherry Dijon Vinaigrette

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This healthy salad dressing takes just a few minutes to whip together and keeps for several days in the fridge. Try it with spicy greens, such as arugula, or any of your favorite dinner salads.

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Herb Vinaigrette

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This fresh herb vinaigrette dressing recipe is great tossed with mixed greens or as a dressing for cold pasta salads. To make a vegetarian version, swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth.

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Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette with Lemon

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A healthy, tasty homemade salad dressing is as simple as shaking a few ingredients in a jar.

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Greek Salad Dressing

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This simple Greek vinaigrette is so easy to make and so finger-licking good you'll never want to go back to bottled dressing again! Drizzle it over classic Greek salad, a green salad or even use it as a marinade for grilled vegetables or chicken.

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Parsley-Lemon Vinaigrette

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Parsley has a lovely grassy flavor--but feel free to use any herb, such as cilantro, rosemary, basil or dill, in this healthy salad dressing.

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Garlic-Dijon Vinaigrette

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This garlicky mustard vinaigrette is great to have in your repertoire as it goes with almost anything. The recipe makes plenty so you can fix it once and then have it on hand for several days. The garlic is delicious but bold here; use fewer cloves if you want to tone it down.

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French Dressing

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A homemade cousin of bottled French dressing.

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Citrus Vinaigrette

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This versatile citrus salad dressing gets a touch of natural sweetness from orange juice, which balances the acidity of the lemon juice. Use it in coleslaw for a mayo-free dressing, or drizzle it over winter greens with dried fruit and nuts.

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Orange-Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Ramps, wild onions that pop up in the spring, give this dressing both onion and garlic flavor. Use this healthy salad dressing to marinate flank steak or on a green salad with shrimp.

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Honey-Tahini Dressing

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Extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice are the backbone of this dressing, but it gets a unique toasty flavor from tahini.

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Olive Orange Vinaigrette

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Minced olives add a briny flavor to this healthy homemade salad dressing. The dressing keeps for several days in the fridge, so make a big batch to use on your favorite dinner salads and side salads. Try it on a salad with sliced red onion and fresh oranges.

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Cucumber Herb Vinaigrette

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As the base of this herb-spiked dressing, pureed cucumber provides a mellow grassy flavor and a luxurious texture. Pureeing vegetables into a salad dressing is a great way to give it body (and to sneak in more low-cal vegetables). Experiment with tomatoes, arugula and/or roasted garlic to create your own dressing magic.

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Cilantro-Lime Vinaigrette

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Orange juice and cilantro yield a tangy dressing that you'll want to have on hand.

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Spicy Mediterranean Vinaigrette

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Sweet raisins, honey and carrot juice balance the heat of crushed red pepper in this brightly colored vinaigrette.

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Classic Dijon Vinaigrette

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This is the ultimate classic red-wine vinaigrette. Be sure to use the best olive oil you have!

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Carrot-Ginger Vinaigrette

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This carrot-ginger vinaigrette recipe is so yummy, you'd never guess it contains 37% of the daily value of vitamin A from the carrots. Use this quick and easy ginger salad dressing tossed with zesty salad greens or with stir-fried greens.

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Easy Red-Wine Vinaigrette

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This versatile red-wine vinaigrette recipe is a healthy dressing for your salad but it's also delicious drizzled on grain salads or over grilled or roasted vegetables.

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Apple-Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Chopped shallots and Dijon-style mustard are the perfect additions to this apple-balsamic vinaigrette.

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Anchovy Vinaigrette

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Lemon juice, a touch of anchovy paste and minced garlic make this healthy salad dressing an eggless, not-creamy version of Caesar.

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