We love this home made balsamic French dressing! It’s tangy, candy, and really easy to make that we whip up a batch nearly each week. It’s scrumptious on the whole lot from leafy greens to pasta salad.

I’m a giant fan of home made salad dressings, and this balsamic French dressing is the one I take advantage of! I all the time have what I have to make it in my kitchen, and it goes rather well with absolutely anything.
Positively don’t miss my suggestions for including a little bit of jam or turning this right into a creamy dressing with mayo or bitter cream. I like this dressing on our balsamic strawberry salad! For extra home made dressings, see our honey mustard dressing, creamy ranch, or this easy Italian dressing.
Key Substances
- Balsamic Vinegar: Use what you’ve gotten. Most of us have the inexpensive bottles with skinny, fairly tart vinegar inside. That’s what I’ve assumed in our recipe under. You probably have thicker, aged balsamic vinegar, it can nonetheless be pretty in our recipe. We advocate that you simply style it earlier than utilizing it to make the dressing. If it tastes candy with out something added, you’ll not want any sweetener. If it’s tart and acidic, you’ll wish to add a bit of sweetness with maple syrup, honey, or jam.
- Dijon Mustard: I exploit mustard in numerous my salad dressing recipes and find it irresistible for this balsamic dressing. It helps the components emulsify and makes it style extra like what you might be served in nicer eating places. Entire-grain mustard is an efficient substitute.
- Olive Oil: Use your favourite extra-virgin olive oil. I like fruiter, lighter olive oils, however use what you’ve gotten or love.
- Sweetener: Maple syrup and honey are pretty (I solely add a bit of bit) and steadiness the tartness of balsamic vinegar. If you need a bit of extra taste, attempt jam. I particularly love strawberry or fig jam.
- Mayo or Bitter Cream (Non-obligatory): If you happen to favor creamy dressings, add a spoonful of mayonnaise, bitter cream, or crème fraîche.

Simple Balsamic French dressing
Do-it-yourself balsamic French dressing is a staple recipe in our home. We like vinegary dressings and use twice as a lot olive oil as vinegar. To make a much less vinegary dressing, add extra olive oil to style. I like so as to add a bit of sweetener to the dressing. Maple syrup or honey is beautiful, or add a bit of fruitiness along with your favourite jam (strawberry jam is particularly good). If you’re utilizing a thicker balsamic vinegar or one that’s aged, it might already style extra candy, so it’s possible you’ll not want so as to add sweetener.
Makes 3/4 cup
You Will Want
1/4 cup (60ml) balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon maple syrup, honey, or strawberry jam
1/4 teaspoon fantastic sea salt
1/4 teaspoon recent floor black pepper
1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil, or extra to style
1 tablespoon mayonnaise, bitter cream, or crème fraîche, non-compulsory to make creamy
Instructions
1Whisk vinegar, mustard, sweetener, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl till properly blended.
2Whereas whisking, slowly stream within the olive oil till utterly integrated and the dressing has thickened.
3Style after which modify with salt, pepper, olive oil, or sweetener as wanted. To show it right into a creamy dressing, whisk in mayo (bitter cream or crème fraîche).
Adam and Joanne’s Suggestions
- Storing: Maintain in an hermetic container or jar for as much as 1 week.
- Easy methods to make in jar or blender: As an alternative of whisking components collectively, place all of the components in a screw-top jar and shake to mix. Or, use a blender. Add all components to blender then mix till thick.
- Word in regards to the vinegar: You probably have actually good high quality balsamic vinegar, you would possibly solely want so as to add olive oil, salt, and pepper to make a scrumptious French dressing. It would naturally be thick and have a little bit of sweetness. However most of us don’t use tremendous expensive balsamic for on a regular basis salads! So, for a extra budget-friendly possibility, we use common balsamic vinegar (round $15) and add just a few issues to spice up the flavour. A contact of Dijon mustard provides complexity and a bit of brown sugar brings in a few of that sweetness you discover in these costly bottles. This fashion, you get a scrumptious, well-rounded French dressing with out breaking the financial institution.
- Dietary data are estimates.
Vitamin Per Serving
Serving Dimension
1 tablespoon
/
Energy
87
/
Complete Fats
9.3g
/
Saturated Fats
1.3g
/
Ldl cholesterol
0mg
/
Sodium
71.4mg
/
Carbohydrate
1.3g
/
Dietary Fiber
0g
/
Complete Sugars
1.1g
/
Protein
0g
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