White Balsamic Vinaigrette

There is no need to buy salad dressing at the grocery store once you learn how to make your own at home. This light and bright White Balsamic Vinaigrette recipe goes on just about anything and is a perfect balance of sweet, tangy and savory. Make a big batch and use it as a dressing for a salad, drizzled onto a grain bowl or as a marinade for fish or tacos.

So often you may be rushing to put dinner on the table and you feel like you can't be bothered to make a homemade vinaigrette for that big bowl of salad. Who has time for all that fuss when you can just buy store-bought dressing? Well if you've never made a basic vinaigrette, then you need to give it a try because it's anything but fussy! 

You can literally make a vinaigrette with just two ingredients and a whisk. And once you learn some basic know-how when it comes to creating an emulsification (plus how to balance flavors) you'll be experimenting and whipping up your own dressing in minutes! 

For this vinaigrette we'll use white balsamic (the slightly milder, lighter brother to regular balsamic vinegar) to create a tangy and sweet herb vinaigrette. It's the ideal salad dressing whenever you have ingredients you don't want to discolor, like apples, strawberries or soft white cheeses (using a regular balsamic vinegar would turn these ingredients brown or black). Plus we'll show you how to add some additional flavor to this basic vinaigrette.

Ingredients that Matter

You'll only need a handful of ingredients to make this delicious vinaigrette:

• White Balsamic. This Italian vinegar is like the little brother of regular balsamic. In fact it's made with white grape must (which includes the grapes, skins, seeds and stems) just like regular balsamic. The big difference is regular balsamic is cooked for a long time then aged while white balsamic is cooked and aged briefly. This helps prevent white balsamic from turning that classic caramel brown color of regular balsamic. Taste wise, white balsamic is slightly lighter than regular balsamic, but uniquely sweet and fruity on its own.

• Olive Oil. A vinaigrette is basically a mixture of oil with an acid (in this case white balsamic vinegar). We like olive oil for our dressings as its slightly fruity yet not overpowering like other oils. You could use whatever oil you have on hand, including extra-virgin olive oil, peanut, vegetable, safflower, etc.

• Dijon Mustard. Oil and vinegar will not stay combined without an emulsifying agent. In this recipe we use mustard to bind the watery vinegar with more viscous olive oil. Dijon is our favorite for this vinaigrette, but feel free to use a stone ground, spicy or whatever other mustard you prefer.

• Honey. While white balsamic is a little sweet on its own, we always like adding a bit of a sweetener to our vinaigrettes. In this case we use honey as it both emulsifies well into the dressing plus has a mild flavor not too dissimilar to white balsamic vinegar. Feel free to swap in maple syrup or leave it out all together if you are watching you sugar intake.

• Herbs. We technically don't refer to this as an herb vinaigrette, but we still like to add some herbs to make our dressing taste a little more complex. We use Italian seasoning, but you could use any dried herb you have on hand, or even chopped fresh herbs. Just note that fresh herbs will likely turn brown in the vinaigrette after a while.

• Shallot. A little minced shallot is a quintessential addition to a French vinaigrette, and while this is more of an Italian dressing, we still love the slight onion flavor it adds to this vinaigrette.

How to Make a Vinaigrette

Learning to make a basic vinaigrette is an essential kitchen technique, and luckily it's quite simple. But we'll show you some important steps to ensure the dressing turns out perfectly:

Storage and Serving

Transfer the dressing to an airtight container or mason jar and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. We always suggest labeling dressings (and put a date on it), as different kinds can look very similar. Before serving again be sure to give the jar a good shake so the white balsamic dressing mixes together. We do not recommend freezing the dressing, but if you don't use it all on your salad, here are some other recommendations for serving:

• Spoon over a savory melon salad.
• Drizzle over a blue cheese crostini.
• Use as a dressing for a spinach salad or peppery arugula salad.
• Use as a marinade for an olive tapenade.
• Add to seared shrimp or scallops.
• Add to seared shrimp or scallops.
• Drizzle over a grain bowl.
• Use as a marinade for grilled chicken or salmon.

Looking for alternatives or additions? If you don't have white balsamic or can't find it at the grocery store, you have two options. First, if you don't care about the color of the vinaigrette, just swap in regular balsamic vinegar. But if you want a light color dressing, swap in white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar. It won't taste quite as sweet, but it'll be similar. 

Try adding some fresh herbs like chopped basil, parsley, thyme or oregano. You could also add a grated clove of fresh garlic (or garlic powder) or a big pinch of red pepper flakes to add some heat. Or try adding whole grain mustard to add some texture to the dressing.

Serve this dressing with our Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad.

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