Easy Vinaigrette in a Jar

This Easy Vinaigrette in a Jar is a quick, homemade mason jar dressing bursting with fresh flavor for any salad! Shake it up in minutes with your choice of vinegars for endless variations-no need to buy store-bought dressing again! Perfect for any lettuce salad, pasta salad or bean salad, it's a kitchen staple you'll love.

A simple vinaigrette dressing is so easy, and you probably already have all the ingredients in the pantry!

This is my go-to recipe and really can work with nearly any salad. If it's summer and the fresh garden herbs are overflowing, try this Lemon Herb Dressing!

Shake up a jar and if you love salads like I do, try these favorites:

• Grilled Peach and Burrata Salad with Chicken
• Italian Mixed Greens Salad with Crispy Prosciutto
• Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad
• Asparagus Salad with Crispy Prosciutto
• Maple Butternut Fall Harvest Salad

Ingredients and Variations

Pantry staples and a fresh garlic clove make the simplest dressing with incredible flavor!

• Garlic - This is your big flavor! Mince up 1 clove of fresh garlic to add sharpness to balance the sweet honey.

• Salt and Pepper - A vinaigrette flavors your whole salad, so a generous seasoning with just salt and pepper will give your dressing that tangy goodness and let your other ingredients shine!

• Dijon Mustard - Dijon is an emulsifier, meaning it naturally helps oil and vinegar hold together. You can use regular dijon or the seedy country dijon mustard.

• Honey - Honey is optional, but I love a hint of sweetness to balance all the acidity in this mason jar vinaigrette. You can also substitute real maple syrup.

• Red OR White Wine Vinegar - The vinegar you choose will give you its own flavor, allowing you to make lots of variations with this basic recipe! I love white wine vinegar, but you can also use red wine, champagne, white or regular balsamic or even fresh lemon juice. You can also combine vinegars, adding in a bit of raspberry or tarragon vinegar with the basic white wine.

• Olive Oil - Use a good olive oil here, it brings a lot of flavor and creaminess to your dressing. Traditionally, a vinaigrette ratio uses more olive oil than vinegar, 3 to 1. I love the flavor punch that the vinegar brings, so I like to keep the vinegar and olive oil about equal parts. Makes it simpler to eyeball the amounts too!

See recipe card below for full quantities.

Instructions

Salad dressing in a jar is meant to be easy! You can throw it together in a few minutes as dinner is just hitting the table!

Step 1 - Mince a clove of garlic and add it to a jar along with the salt, pepper, mustard and honey.

Step 2 - Add the oil and vinegar and screw on the lid tightly.

Step 3 - Shake it really well until it looks emulsified. Drizzle it over your favorite salad!

As it sits it will separate, which is why the jar is great, just shake it up again!

Storage

• Store this honey garlic vinaigrette in a jar in the fridge for a month.
• The olive oil will solidify in the fridge, so set it on the counter about 15 minutes before using so it can come back to room temperature. Then give it a good shake!
• A small jar of vinaigrette is plenty for several salads, just keep it in the door of your fridge as you would a store-bought dressing!

Recipe Notes & Tips

• The basic vinaigrette ratio is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar.  I like the tangy vinegar taste, so to make it even simpler, I just do equal parts.

• After making your own vinaigrette a few times, you won't even need a recipe. Just add a small spoonful of dijon, honey, salt and pepper, mince in the garlic, and eyeball your oil and vinegar to be equal parts. Super easy!

• White or red wine vinegar are the basics, but you can try champagne, white or regular balsamic, or play around with combinations of your favorites like half white wine and half tarragon vinegar. You can also use fresh squeezed lemon juice in place of or in combination with some of the vinegar. 

• Unlike your store-bought vinaigrette, you'll know exactly what's in your jars with no preservatives or sugar!

• A salad is an easy side dish when you just need something green and healthy, and if your dressing is already made and ready, you can throw it together in a few minutes! 

• When your jar of dijon is almost gone, don't scrape out every last bit, make this salad dressing right in the mustard jar!

Salads to Serve it With

When you always have a homemade jar of vinaigrette in the door of your fridge, adding a quick salad to dinner is easy! Try your jar salad dressing on:

• Any basic veggie salad with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and croutons

• A fruit-nut-cheese salad, with ingredients like dried cranberries, pomegranate seeds, chopped apples, pears, or berries with different toasted nuts like walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, or pecans.  Top it with cheese such as shaved Parmesan, goat cheese, feta, or blue cheese. Try my Pear Blue Cheese Salad with Glazed Honey Walnuts, this Blue Cheese Apple Walnut Salad, or this Blueberry Goat Cheese Salad.

• A salad for dinner like this Chopped Dinner Salad with Roasted Potatoes or this Blackened Chicken Chopped Salad

• Pasta Salads - Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad or Tomato Cucumber Orzo Salad

• Bean Salads - White Bean Salad with Arugula, Kale White Bean Salad or this Lemon Feta White Bean and Green Bean Salad

• Non Lettuce Salads - Green Bean Salad with Tomato and Feta, Panzanella Bread Salad