Lemon Vinaigrette
Brighten up your next salad with this tangy and sweet homemade Lemon Vinaigrette dressing. This is a fresh, vibrant blend of lemon, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Give it a try and you may never go back to bottled dressings!
We always need good, basic recipes, don’t we? And one of the most basic recipes you can have at hand is a light, fresh citrus vinaigrette.
I’ve always preferred making my own salad dressings anyway – they’re more economical and just plain taste better than commercial ones. Plus, I can have a different dressing any time I want without half-used bottles cluttering up my fridge.
This delicious Lemon Vinaigrette is full of fresh flavors. And not only is it excellent as a salad dressing, I often drizzle it over steamed vegetables (it’s great on asparagus or green beans!), grilled chicken, and even baked or broiled fish.
This versatile recipe takes just 5 minutes to make and can be adapted to almost any citrus you might have on hand. I’ve used it to make orange, tangerine, and even grapefruit vinaigrette (which is perfect with tomato and avocado, by the way!). You’ll love it with a simple salad of tomato, cucumber, and feta cheese.
🛒 Ingredient Notes
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- Apple Cider Vinegar – Along with lemon juice, provides the tart, acidic base for the dressing.
- Honey – Sweetens the dressing just enough without being overpowering.
- Lemon – It wouldn’t be “lemon” vinaigrette without it! The bright, fresh flavor is enhanced by using both the juice and zest of the lemon.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Use a good brand since it’s a major component of the dressing and will be enjoyed without any cooking.
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🥄 How to Make Lemon Vinaigrette
For this dressing, choose a juicy lemon with bright yellow, unblemished skin. Zest and juice the lemon.
Mix together the apple cider vinegar, honey, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil.
👉 PRO TIP: Because this vinaigrette doesn’t use mustard like a traditional vinaigrette, it won’t emulsify well. Be sure to re-whisk or stir well before serving each time.)
May be stored for up to one week in the refrigerator.
Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
📖 Recipe
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Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
- Juice of a lemon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Mix together the first six ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Gradually whisk in the olive oil.
Notes
- Because this vinaigrette doesn’t use mustard like a traditional vinaigrette, it won’t emulsify well. Be sure to re-whisk or stir well before serving each time.
- May be stored for up to one week in the refrigerator.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
🧾 More Recipes You’ll Like
- Spring Salad with Strawberries and Sweet Balsamic Dressing
- Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Green Goddess Dressing
- Pear Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing
- Winter Shrimp Salad with Citrus Dressing
- My Favorite Greek Salad with recipe for Greek Salad Dressing
— This post was originally published on January 5, 2016. It has been updated with additional information.
Will use this on seafood salad, sweet peppers, roasted potatoes as well as your suggestions!! ❤️
Do you think Aida is speaking of key limes?
That’s one of my favorites. Try it on a salad of greens and fruit!
Miss P
The balance of lemon and honey sounds perfect! What a lovely salad dressing, Lana!
Thanks Liz. It’s a long-time favorite around here.
This is such a useful recipe that you can use over and over again!
It is, Sues!
Why don’t you ? Try my Mexican lemon vinaigrette, it’s so different and it is not so bad.We use it with a plain of salad greens, with chunks of tomato, onions, green pepper,cucumber, avocado and some fresh radishes.
1/2 cup white vinegar
juice of 2 green lemons
2 to 3 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder to your taste
any vegetable oil, we use corn oil, about 3/4 cups more or less
Shake and it’s ready.
Sometimes you can make some changes and mix some mustard, honey or a raw tomato in the blender, a thousand things your mind imagines.
As you can see my English is from a Mexican lady, hope you understand me.
Oh, that sounds delicious, Aida! I would love to try it, but I one question. When you say “green lemons” do you mean the standard yellow lemon that has not yet become ripe?
Also – I understand your English very, very well :-) You’re doing better than me, because I can’t say any Spanish!
Hello Lana , thank you for getting in contact with me, I enjoy very much your recipes.
It’s been a short period of time that we get yellow lemons in Mexico and very expensive, (I use to smuggle a few from the US.) now you can buy one big yellow and you get 10 small green lemons for the same price and the taste is very different, sometimes I like more the green ones but maybe because I am use to it, and the yellow ones they call them here “Limón Americano” because it’s more sweeter.
So to have the Mexican taste you need green ones and to have International taste you use Yellow ones.
If you like to eat “Ceviche” that’s very easy and it’s just delicious and you use almost a 1/2 kilo of green lemons divided, first you put 1 Kilo of raw fish in regular edible pieces for 4 hours to marinate in lemon juice to cover completely, then you throw away the juice.
For the vinaigrette:
1 cup or more Ketchup, Lemon juice, a few drops of worchester sauce, Chili sauce and 1/2 cup Olive oil mix it to taste for salt and in the meanwhile do the ceviche with the fish, 1 big onion finely chopped, (1 or 2 or 3 Jalapeños chilies ) chopped, 2 to 3 big firm tomatoes and 1 avocado chopped some parsley and a lot of Cilantro, and the rest of the lemon juice, mix everything together with the vinaigrette, let rest for 30 min before you eat it for the flavors to mix.
You eat the ceviche with saltines or salted crackers. You can use any kind of fresh fish, keep it always at the fridge when marinating and the chili ? it depends if you like it too hot.
Bon appetite !
Thank you, Aida! I always enjoy hearing other people’s recipes – especially ones from other countries!