Orange Dijon Salad Dressing

Sweet, tangy, full of citrus flavor. Ready to take your favorite salad to the next level.

For the printable recipe click here.

​Do you make your own homemade salad dressings?

Back before we had our sweet monsters, we never bought salad dressing. We typically dressed our salads with oil, vinegar, and simple seasonings. We washed and cut our salad greens, too!

But when five kids and, well, LIFE steered us toward the "easy buttons" of bagged salad kits, we got a little addicted to the punched-up flavors in more complex dressings. However, staring at the pile of questionably-recyclable plastic bags piled up on my counter after making salad for the family the other day, I decided it was time to reduce the waste.

The good news is that with just a little advance preparation and a handful of ingredients, a wonderfully flavorful salad with a tangy vinaigrette or creamy dressing can be just as easy, more eco-friendly, more affordable, and much more wholesome and delicious than its bagged-and-kitted counterpart. Orange dijon salad dressing is a great place to start.

Orange Dijon Salad Dressing

This orange dressing, an almost-creamy citrus vinaigrette, is bursting with flavor, ready to punch up spring mix salads, spinach salads, or any sort of green salad, like a mixture of baby spinach and other tender greens. Throw on a little goat cheese, fresh citrus sections, beets, grilled chicken--you name it--and a simple salad is ready in no time!

A handful of simple ingredients

Let's look at a few of them!

The mustard: I like to use an organic, prepared dijon-style mustard, but whole grain mustard would work as well. Even yellow mustard would do in a pinch, but dijon has a slightly more mellow flavor, so you may need to use a touch less overall if using traditional yellow mustard.

The vinegar: I really like white balsamic vinegar here. It's flavor is deep and sweet and not too harsh. Sherry vinegar, champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, or any other light-ish-colored vinegar would be a great backup. If wanting to pair this dressing with red meat like lamb or beef and sturdy herbs like rosemary, a regular dark balsamic vinegar would work, but otherwise I prefer the lighter ones here.

If the potential sulfites in wine vinegars are are issue for you, go with apple cider vinegar, or even plain white distilled vinegar if you desire.

The citrus: This is specifically an orange mustard dressing, but you could definitely play with this recipe to include lemon juice, lime juice, or grapefruit juice, or any other citrus juice, depending on the flavor profile you are going for.

When it comes to oranges, however, I highly recommend Cara Cara oranges. they are a bit more ruby-colored, almost like a grapefruit, and they have a wonderfully deep, sweet, citrus flavor. This recipe uses both fresh orange juice and orange zest. Remember to zest the oranges before squeezing them because it's a lot harder to zest the peels once removed.

I like to squeeze the oranges by hand over a fine mesh sieve to catch the seeds, but feel free to use whatever squeezing method you prefer.

Optional additions: I usually don't include fresh herbs in this recipe because I like to keep it a more versatile dressing. However, depending on the flavor profile you are going for, you could definitely mix things up by adding some fresh herbs for an extra flavorful dressing.

​Methodology

There are a few ways you can mix up this yummy orange salad dressing. Let's take a look:

1. The blender method: Blitzing up all the ingredients in a high-speed blender like a Vitamix creates a creamy dressing and requires significantly less chopping. If you're looking for a thicker, creamier, more texturally-uniform dressing, this will be the best way to do it. Our recipe follows this method, but you can also do . . .

2. The bowl and whisk method: This method requires you to very finely chop the garlic, shallot, and zest and whisk them up with the remaining ingredients. The seasonings will be less uniformly distributed, and you'll have a thinner orange mustard vinaigrette than you would using the blender.

3. The mason jar method: This method requires the same amount of chopping as the bowl and whisk method, but instead of the bowl and whisk, you'll place all ingredients in a small jar or similar airtight container, seal, and shake really well till very well blended/emulsified.

Whichever method you prefer, a mason jar or similar airtight container makes the perfect storage vessel for making the dressing ahead of time or hanging on to leftovers. The dressing should last in the fridge for at least a week. If making ahead, be sure to give it a good shake before using, just to make sure it's well emulsified in case of any settling!

Unlike most store-bought dressing, this homemade orange vinaigrette is super-fresh, completely customizable, and full of wholesome goodness! We hope you will think this homemade orange vinaigrette recipe is one of the best vinaigrettes you have tried!

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 shallot (or 1 very small one), coarsely chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, peeled

• 15 cranks black pepper

• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 2 T dijon mustard

• 1 T honey (or maple syrup for vegan)

• 1 T light-colored vinegar

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• zest of 2 oranges, preferably Cara Cara

• juice of one orange, preferably Cara Cara

Here's what you'll do:

1. Place all dressing ingredients in a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix, and blend on high till completely smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if desired--depending on vinegar used, you may wish to add a touch more honey or maple syrup.

2. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Give a little shake before using if made in advance.

For the printable recipe click here.

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