Favorite Homemade Vegan Italian Dressing Recipe

This vegan Italian Salad dressing recipe comes together in just a few minutes. It’s so much better than store-bought dressing. And it takes so little time to make that there’s really no reason not to whip this up, instead of buying a bottle of Italian dressing disappointment at the store.

A good Italian dressing recipe is truly a kitchen staple. I can’t imagine not having at least one variety of this flavor dressing in my recipe arsenal. It has so many uses! And it tastes like a little bit of Italy got itself bottled up in a jar!

Why You Need To Make Your Own Salad Dressings

If you’re not already making your own homemade salad dressing, than I’m going to share a few reasons to make it with you, that I hope will inspire you to get started.

The very first reason, and for me the most important of them all, is the flavor of homemade versus the flavor of store bought. Homemade dressing tastes better than it’s inferior mass produced counterpart. It is fresh and flavorful.

There are no lingering remnants of preservatives left in your mouth after eating it. You control the ingredients. Which means that you can eliminate additives and preservatives.

You can choose the purest, most wholesome ingredients to make your dressing. And you can control the quantity of less desirable ingredients; like, canola oil and sugar. Or just simply swap these ingredients out for healthier alternatives. 

All this … and it saves you a little money to make your own dressing too!

Ingredients Needed To Make This Recipe

Following is a list of ingredients needed to make this homemade Italian dressing recipe. A trip to the grocery store is probably not necessary, as they are kitchen staples. You likely already have them in your kitchen cupboards.

• OLIVE OIL – Extra virgin olive oil is the best choice for this recipe. It lends a really great flavor to the dressing.
• RED WINE VINEGAR – A good quality red wine vinegar is used to make this recipe.
• LEMON JUICE – Squeeze your own lemon juice from fresh lemons if you can. I freeze fresh lemon juice so that I have it on hand at all times in the kitchen.
• DIJON MUSTARD – Use your favorite dijon mustard in this dressing recipe. This ingredient contributes to the complexity of the dressing and should not be skipped.
• MAPLE SYRUP – The sweetness of real maple syrup balances the tangy flavor of the other liquid ingredients used to make this recipe.
• OREGANO, BASIL, GARLIC POWDER, ONION POWDER, THYME, PARSLEY, SALT, BLACK PEPPER – Fresh, high quality spices add more flavor to this dressing than their cheap counterparts. But use what you’ve got.
• CRUSHED RED PEPPER – This ingredient is optional. It gives the dressing just a little bit of bite.

How To Make Vegan Italian Salad Dressing

The really great thing about this recipe is that you can literally make it in a mason jar. Simply pour the oil and vinegar into the jar.

Add the rest of the ingredients. And shake vigorously, until well blended.

That’s all there is to it. You can eat it right away. But, if you’re able to make it ahead of time that’s best. The flavors will marry as they sit in the jar. It just gets better and better over time.

Variations For This Dressing Recipe

The oil and the vinegar are the main base of this salad dressing recipe. It’s important to use the best quality base ingredients that you can find. But you can very successfully switch out the varieties if you like.

Try avocado oil, or go with something lighter like grapeseed oil or sunflower oil. Vegetable oil, canola oil, and corn oil are not the greatest choices for any recipe. Unless, you are fortunate enough to find an organic variety.

The vinegar is one of my favorite ingredients to change up when making this recipe. There are just sooooooo many choices. A little white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, or champagne vinegar are some of my favorites. 

Some people like apple cider vinegar. I’m not a huge fan myself. But you do you. I also avoid plain white vinegar. Again, you do you. Feel free to play around with the type of mustard you use. And you can switch out the sweetener if you like as well.

If you want your dressing to have a bit of a cheesy flavor, you can add some nutritional yeast to the mix. It will make it just a bit creamy too. This is a great way to change things up a bit when you’re getting tired of the same old, same old version of the recipe.

This dressing recipe is HERBY. Really quite herby. If you love flavor, like I love flavor, that will be right up your alley. But, if you prefer something a little less powerful then go ahead and cut back on the quantities of herbs you put in your recipe.

You can, pretty successfully, cut as much as half the amount suggested. An alternative way to go here is to use as many fresh herbs as you can get your hands on to make this recipe. Fresh herbs make a really delicious dressing every time.

And, if you’re choosing to include the red pepper flakes in your dressing, you can play with the measurement for that as well. Give the dressing the amount of spicy bite that works best for you! 

Ways To Use This Dressing

The most obvious way to enjoy this classic Italian dressing recipe is on … well … a salad. A simple side salad, a big salad, grain salads, a cold pasta salad, or even just on top of a bowl of leafy greens.

But there are many other great ways to enjoy this vegan Italian dressing recipe and it’s amazing flavors. It makes a really great sandwich topping.

And a fabulous marinade or dipping sauce. I especially like to use it as a bread dip. A big loaf of crusty Italian bread dipped in this dressing is a real treat.

It’s the perfect way to add some extra flavor to a summer salad. Put a little in your next batch of potato or macaroni salad, and you’ll be very pleased with the results.

Drizzling it over roasted or grilled vegetables is pretty delightful too. And it’s especially great with beans. All the beans; white beans, black beans, red beans, green beans, wax beans.

How To Store Homemade Vegan Italian Dressing

I intentionally designed this recipe to use shelf stable ingredients so that it would store on the countertop for a period of time. It will keep, in an airtight container, on the countertop, for at least two weeks, if made as designed.

That will be more than enough time for you to work your way through a batch. This is going to very quickly become one of your favorite salad dressing recipes. It shouldn’t be around for more than that anyway.

If you choose to use fresh ingredients; like, fresh garlic cloves or fresh herbs, the dressing will need to be refrigerated. It will keep for about 10 days with these ingredients added, likely longer.

However, you will need to remove it from the fridge and allow it to warm up a bit before serving it. The oil will congeal in the cold temperature of the refrigerator. About 30 minutes on the countertop should do the trick.

Be sure to give it a good shake before you use it, no matter how it has been stored.

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