Avocado oil is a hot new oil, and it’s here to stay! This Healthy Avocado Oil Dressing shows how to make homemade dressing using avocado oil.
This California Salad with Avocado Oil Dressing was created in collaboration with DeLallo. All opinions are ours.
Our Pretty Simple Cooking Book Tour took us across the country, staying with friends and family along the way. I love seeing what’s in people’s kitchens and one thing caught my eye on these visits. Several times I noticed avocado oil lying on the counter. Olive oil is pretty standard, but I was intrigued: why avocado oil? When I asked this question to separated friends, they all had a similar answer. Avocado oil is a tasteless cooking oil with a very high smoke point, making it perfect for sautéing and frying. And it has a unique flavor that’s delicious when tossed with a green salad or an avocado oil dressing. Is Avocado Oil the Hot New Thing? Yes, but it looks like it will stay! And after making this healthy avocado oil dressing, we’re hooked.
Related: 25 best salad recipes
All about avocado oil
When DeLallo came to us to create a recipe using her extra virgin avocado oil, we didn’t know much about avocado oil. Healthy avocado oil dressing is a great place to start, but there are many ways to use this healthy oil. Here are a few things we learned about avocado oil:
- Avocado oil comes from the first cold pressing of the fruit and has all the health benefits of raw avocados. Packed with healthy monosaturated fats and antioxidants, it’s a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals.
- The taste is nutty, buttery, fruity and slightly sweet, just like a fresh avocado.
- The oil is extremely versatile with a high smoke point, perfect for basting, seasoning, dipping, marinating and cooking over high heat.
- DeLallo Avocado Oil is made from fresh, hand-picked Chilean Hass avocados and produced in Chile.
- Each bottle contains the oil from approximately 12 whole avocados!
Related: 10 Homemade Vinaigrette Recipes
How to make homemade salad dressing with avocado oil
How to make homemade vinaigrette with avocado oil? It’s essentially the same as other salad dressings you mix up at home, with one caveat. We learned that while making this avocado oil dressing Avocado oil does not work like olive oil. Using the amount of acid (citrus or vinegar) that we would normally use in an olive oil vinaigrette resulted in a watery consistency when we used avocado oil. Because there was no emulsion, the dressing did not stick to the lettuce leaves. So in our avocado oil dressing recipe, we left out the vinegar and added more Dijon mustard to tone down the texture! The resulting avocado oil dressing is perfectly creamy and flavorful, perfect for any salad.
Another great dressing: Lemon Tahini Sauce
What is a California salad?
We came up with this Californian salad to go with our healthy avocado oil vinaigrette. We coined the name California Salad because it’s loosely based on a salad we ate in LA while on a book tour of California! Although our salad turned out very differently from the original, it’s incredibly delicious and a perfect way to show off the flavor of the avocado oil and vinegar dressing. The salad includes veggies, chickpeas, fresh dill, and ricotta salata cheese, a delicious cheese we’ve eaten and loved on several salads in California. If you can’t find ricotta salata cheese, feta crumbles will do, too.
Plus, all of the fresh salad ingredients here were purchased from our local farmers market and grown by our favorite farmers on Full Hand Farm. So you could call our version an Indiana salad…? Be sure to shop locally whenever possible!
And you: have you tried avocado oil? Would You Make This Healthy Avocado Oil Dressing? Let us know in the comments below! As always, show us on Instagram when you make our salad or dressing by tagging @acouplecooks and @delallofoods.
Take it up a notch! Prepare this salad with grilled avocado.
How to find avocado oil
DeLallo is our favorite avocado oil and good news! You can find it online here or at a local grocery store that stocks DeLallo products.
Looking for healthier side dish recipes?
This California Salad with Avocado Oil Dressing is a delicious, healthy side recipe; Here are some other side dish recipes on A Couple Cooks:
This recipe is…
This California Salad with Avocado Oil Dressing is vegetarian, gluten-free, naturally sweet, and free of refined sugar. For vegans and vegetarians, leave out the cheese.
The description
Avocado is the new trend oil, but it will stay! Here’s how to make a delicious vinaigrette with avocado oil.
For the avocado oil vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup DeLallo extra virgin avocado oil
- ½ tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1/2 small clove of garlic, grated
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Ground fresh pepper
For the salad
- 1 2 heads of Boston lettuce or quality fresh local sprouts, enough for 8 cups
- 2 carrots
- 2 Green Onions
- 4 radish
- 15-ounce chickpeas, optional
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- Shredded fresh dill
- Ricotta salata, sliced or crumbled feta (omit for vegans)
- For the Avocado Oil Dressing: Measure the avocado oil into a glass measuring cup. In a medium bowl, whisk together white wine vinegar, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, grated garlic, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. Then gradually pour in the avocado oil while stirring constantly until it is completely incorporated and a creamy emulsion is formed.
- Wash and dry the lettuce and cut into bite-sized pieces (no need to cut if using baby lettuce). Using a vegetable peeler, peel the carrots into strips. Thinly slice the spring onions and radishes.
- If using chickpeas, drain and rinse, then toss with a drizzle of avocado oil, ¼ tsp kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper.
- To assemble the salad, arrange the vegetables on the serving bowls or plates. Garnish with chickpeas, carrots, radishes, almonds, torn fresh dill and crumbled ricotta or feta salad and drizzle with avocado oil dressing.
- Category: salad, side dish
- Method: Raw
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: Salad, avocado oil dressing, avocado oil dressing, avocado oil, how to make homemade avocado oil dressing, homemade dressing, healthy avocado oil dressing avocado, healthy salad, side salad, summer salad
