Salad dressing is one of those things that people commonly buy from the store but they are so much better when you make it yourself. Store-bought dressings have so many additives and preservatives that make it so unhealthy. I’ve been making my own salad dressings for years. Another plus of homemade is that it is so much cheaper than bottled versions.

My sort of go-to dressing to make is balsamic vinaigrette. It’s just balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of honey or maple syrup. That’s it. If you looked at a bottle of balsamic dressing, you would probably find more ingredients than what I listed.

In the Love Real Food cookbook, Kathryne (the author) gives 4 recipes for simple salad dressings. I chose the liquid gold variety because it is her go-to dressing. This is the dressing that can pair well with any salad ingredients. It’s good to make a batch of dressing then keep it in the fridge so that it’s ready to use.

The dressing alone was super flavourful. I like the punch of lemon and garlic but it isn’t too strong because the dijon mustard and honey/maple syrup balanced everything. I put this dressing on a simple salad of romaine lettuce, diced gala apple, dried cranberries and chopped candied pecans. It all tasted so good together. There was tons of texture and sweetness, definitely not a boring salad.

BTW the candied pecans that I used were the ones I made from this cookbook, recipe #24 (pecans post). You need to make the pecans as well as this salad dressing, your salad game will never be the same.