When you begin making our Orange Salad Dressing you’ll never go back to the bottled stuff again. This preservative-free homemade dressing has fresh citrus, sweet honey, garlic, and tangy balsamic vinegar. It’s perfect for any salad!
Sweet & Tangy Citrus Salad Dressing
Whenever we make a homemade salad dressing people are always asking for more details like:
“Where did you buy that dressing?” and “What brand is that salad dressing?”.
And then they are shocked to find out that it’s a homemade salad dressing! They are even more shocked when they learn it’s a dressing that only takes 5 minutes to make, too. We promise that people will be talking about this Orange Salad Dressing. It’s so flavorful and goes well with so many different greens and vegetables.
Fresh citrus juices are paired with sweet honey, tangy balsamic vinegar, and pungent garlic. The flavors come together to create a salad dressing that’s bursting with flavor (and NOT unnecessary and unhealthy ingredients!).
We love that this salad dressing can be made in less than 5 minutes and it doesn’t have any preservatives. Fresh, flavorful, and healthy are the key takeaways from this amazing orange vinaigrette. It’s also perfection when drizzled over our favorite bright and fresh Orzo Salad with Arugula!
What You’ll Need
Here is what you need to make Orange Salad Dressing.
- Olive Oil: You need an oil base to start the salad dressing and olive oil has a rich flavor that works really well for most dressings.
- Orange Juice: Fresh squeezed is best! Plus, you can add the zest from the oranges too for more flavor.
- Balsamic Vinegar: You could also use apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
- Honey: Maple syrup is a good substitute for honey if you don’t have any.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is going to bring out a ton of flavor to this dressing that balances perfectly with the sweetness.
- Dijon Mustard: We like to use dijon for this dressing because of its smooth texture and flavor.
- Salt and Pepper
Recipe Variations
The best part about making salad dressings at home is that you can often mix up the ingredients to make different variations pretty easily. Here are a few different ways that you can mix up this Orange Salad Dressing.
- Try using different citrus juices: You could use blood orange juice, lime juice, or even grapefruit juice instead of orange and/or lemon juice.
- Make it creamy: If you’d like to make this dressing creamy (and maybe use it as a dip!) you could whisk in plain greek yogurt or mayonnaise. It’s best to do this in a bowl after you’ve made the dressing.
- Add a little spice: Add some red pepper flakes and it will bring some heat to the dressing.
How to Make Orange Salad Dressing
This is one of the easiest recipes you’ll ever make and here are the simple instructions.
First, pour the ingredients into a glass jar or bottle with a cover. You’ll want to make sure that you can cover the container so that you can shake it up.
Then shake it up! After the dressing is mixed, you’ll want to let it rest for about 5 minutes for the flavors to fully develop.
Serving Suggestions
Here are some of our favorite ways to serve Orange Salad Dressing.
- Serve Orange Salad Dressing on ANY Salad: We have not found a salad that doesn’t work with this dressing. It can be as simple as a bowl of mixed greens or you can serve it with a more dressed-up salad like our Shaved Brussel Sprout Salad.
- Use it as a Marinade: You can also marinate chicken with this dressing. We recommend marinating for 1-2 hours and no longer than that or the citrus juice will dry out the chicken.
- Use it as a Sauce: This Orange Salad Dressing tastes amazing when it’s drizzled over our Air Fryer Shrimp.
How Long Will This Orange Vinaigrette Stay Fresh?
This dressing will stay fresh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Just make sure that you shake it up again before serving it.
Orange Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon orange zest, optional
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients in a jar cover with the lid and shake until well blended.
- Let rest for 5 minutes before serving or store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
