Dijon Mustard Dressing (5 Minutes!)

Here’s a must-have homemade vinaigrette for salads: Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette! It’s flavorful and perfectly balanced⁠ – and it only takes 5 minutes to prepare.

This Dijon Mustard Dressing is as easy as it gets. Really! There is no need to squeeze lemon juice or chop garlic. No, just a few ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. The taste of this vinaigrette? Well, it’s our new favourite: it’s perfectly balanced, tangy and flavorful. And it only takes 5 minutes to make this easy homemade dressing. It will be your new date!

What’s in this Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette?

One of the keys to a long-term healthy diet: make your own vinaigrette! Before Alex and I started cooking a lot, we had a collection of medieval salad dressings in our fridge. Seriously, who knows when some of these dressing bottles came into existence! Since then we have completely stopped buying salad dressing and started making it. It’s easy to prepare and you know exactly what’s in it: no preservatives or very high in sodium.

What are the ingredients of this Dijon mustard? We hope you already have them in your pantry so you can start making them right away. Here’s what you need:

• Dijon mustard
• white wine vinegar (Yes, it saved you a trip to the store for a lemon!)
• maple syrup to balance the taste
• olive oil
• Salt

The key to creating the perfect emulsion

An emulsion is when a vinaigrette becomes creamy and uniform in texture. If you use olive oil and vinegar you may find that they tend to separate. Whipping your emulsion properly will keep it creamy while it sits. (If kept in the fridge, it often separates, so you can whisk it again before serving.)

Here’s what to do to make an emulsion that stays creamy:

• Use a medium sized bowl. Believe it or not, we had trouble using a bowl that’s too small to make a salad dressing. You need enough space for the whip to move vigorously back and forth.
• Whisk together the olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time. The gradual addition of olive oil allows for the perfect integration of the oil. You can also baste it little by little, but we find it easier to add 1 tbsp, then whisk, then add another and whisk again.

10 ways to serve this Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

This Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette is so quick to make it’s our new favorite! Of course, we have plenty of healthy homemade dressings that we love. But this one might be the easiest! Another bonus: It’s also a vegan dressing. Here are a few salads where it would work well or easily replace the dressing listed in the recipe:

1. Asparagus Salad Loaded with sautéed asparagus, radishes, feta cheese, and lemon, this salad pairs perfectly with Dijon mustard vinaigrette.
2. Best Green Salad This green salad is a versatile salad that goes great with any meal!
3. Orange Fennel Salad The spiciness of this Dijon vinaigrette would replace the citrus vinaigrette here!
4. Easy Arugula Salad This Easy Arugula Salad pairs great with this easy dressing.
5. Classic Spinach Salad Substitute a balsamic vinaigrette for the Dijon vinaigrette here: it would be just as good!
6. Beet Salad Like apple salad, Dijon dressing works with beets too!
7. Niçoise Salad Cut the dressing down in this main course salad!
8. California Salad This green salad pairs just as well with Dijon instead of avocado oil dressing!
9. Beet Blackberry Dijon Dressing works with beets, too!
10. Summer Vegetable Salad Skip the sesame ranch dressing here for this vegan dressing!

This Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.