Lemon Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

A bright and zesty lemon vinaigrette is perfect to use as a salad dressing or as a marinade. The dijon mustard adds flavor and zippiness and there’s a bit of sweetness from the honey. 

Today I am sharing a staple Lemon Honey Mustard Vinaigrette recipe that you can use for so many things. It’s our family’s go-to vinaigrette for many different salads, such as the Arugula Salad that I am including in this recipe. It’s very bright and fresh with the lemon juice and zest being the most important character and the honey gives it a bit of sweetness. The dijon mustard not only adds flavor and bit of a zippiness, but it also helps to emulsify the vinaigrette to create that perfect creamy texture, not the broken dressing that we sometimes see with the oil floating on top and the rest of the ingredients swimming below.

One of my secrets to success for the perfect salad dressing is to use a small or medium glass mason jar to mix it in. Not only is it a great storage solution if you don’t use it up right away, (less dishes – always a plus), but mixing it in the jar does a really great job emulsifying the dressing. It’s the perfect method to bring the oil and the rest of the ingredients into a homogenous mixture, so that you have a beautiful, creamy yellow dressing to drizzle on your salad. This dressing is also great to use as a marinade for poultry, fish or meat – which I use all the time. Use this vinaigrette as a base and get creative with other flavors, adding different combinations of fresh herbs, using other citrus (lime or orange) instead of lemon juice, adding some minced shallots, etc.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon lemon juice, plus 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 Tablespoon honey

1 small garlic clove, grated

4 Tablespoons olive oil

salt, ground black pepper, to taste

Arugula Salad:

4-5 oz arugula

1 pint cherry tomatoes

2 small cucumbers, cut into circles

1 avocado

1 small red onion, sliced

Instructions:

Whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, mustard, honey and garlic in a small or medium mason jar.

I like to grate the garlic on a microplane rasp grater so that it is really fine, but if I am making the vinaigrette in advance or want a more mild garlic flavor, I simply crush the garlic clove slightly and put it into the vinaigrette whole. This way, the garlic flavor is still there, but it is not as harsh.

Pour in the olive oil, close the jar and shake it vigorously, until the vinaigrette is evenly mixed and looks creamy and emulsified.

Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste. Of course, you can adjust the level of sweetness and acidity too, by adding a bit more lemon juice, mustard, or honey, or adding more oil to mellow it out.

Add fresh herbs to give different flavors to the vinaigrette, such as chives, parsley, dill, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, etc.

Dress the salad right before serving. Store the dressing in the refrigerator for a few days up to a week.

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