Lemon Vinaigrette
121 Comments
Updated Feb 15, 2022
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Lemon vinaigrette is a staple dressing recipe and instantly brightens any salad or plate of veggies. Made from just a handful of ingredients including fresh lemons, olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, and garlic it’s incredibly easy to make, and tastes much better than store-bought!
When it comes to dressing recipes I have two favorites – this lemon vinaigrette and a balsamic vinaigrette.
I much prefer simple vinaigrettes over creamy dressings and find that their flavors enhance and elevate the fresh vegetables or ingredients your pairing with them. And did I mention how easy they are to make?
After you make this lemon vinaigrette at home I promise you’ll never buy it from the store again. Because when you make it at home you can tweak the flavor profile to make it a little more tart and citrusy or a little more garlicky or herby. You could even make it a little sweeter with just a smidge more honey. And let’s be honest, fresh is always best.
Lemon Vinaigrette Ingredients
There’s just 5 main ingredients in this easy, homemade lemon vinaigrette, including:
- Lemons: Definitely use freshly squeezed lemon juice, and not lemon juice from a jar.
- Olive Oil: Grab a good quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Dijon Mustard: This helps to emulsify the dressing and adds a hint of spice.
- Honey: Just a smidge of sweetness to help balance the tartness of the lemons. You could also use maple syrup.
- Garlic: Just a couple of minced garlic cloves makes any dressing zing with flavor.
- Salt and Pepper: Season it to you liking.
Tips for Making This Recipe
This dressing is simple to make (it only takes two minutes!), but here are a few tips to make it perfect:
- Always use fresh lemons over a store-bought jar of lemon juice. Fresh lemons will always have a stronger, more vibrant flavor. Jarred lemon juice will fall flat.
- Many vinaigrettes call for a 3:1 ratio of oil to acid. I much prefer a 3:2 ratio, or something closer to that, as I’ve used in the recipe below. It’s a little less oily and far more flavorful. But feel free to adjust to your preference.
- The Dijon mustard adds that hint of spice and helps to emulsify the dressing. If you’d like it a bit creamier you can definitely add more, which would be closer to a Dijon vinaigrette.
- If you’re not a fan of raw garlic, you can swap in finely diced shallot for a milder flavor.
Two Minute Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe
Once you’ve got all your ingredients out, it’s as simple as adding them to a small mixing bowl and whisking them together. That’s it!
You can use this lemon vinaigrette on a variety of salad, including my Lentil Salad, Shrimp, Asparagus and Avocado Salad, Wild Rice and Arugula Salad and Watermelon Radish and Cucumber Salad. But really, it’s wonderful on just about anything.
For More Dressing Recipes and Vinaigrettes
If you love homemade dressings and vinaigrettes as much as I do, make sure to check out these other recipes:
- Champagne Vinaigrette
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Avocado Dressing
- Lemon Tahini Dressing
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
If you make this lemon vinaigrette, let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe
Description
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon honey, or maple syrup
- 1 garlic cloves, minced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk together.
Lisa's Tips
- This lemon vinaigrette will last for up to one week in the fridge in a sealed container (though it may lose some of it's bright flavor over time). Here are some of my favorite storage containers.
- Watch me make this lemon vinaigrette as part of my Meal Prep for Spring recipe video.
- If you do prefer a creamier dressing, give my lemon tahini dressing a try. And if you'd like to make this dressing Whole30 compliant, just omit the honey.
Nutrition
©Downshiftology. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Recipe originally posted May 2018, but updated to include new photos and info.
This is wonderful! I put it on salmon and salad and it was bright and flavourful.
Glad you found the perfect dressing for your salad Mary!
This is the most delicious, simple recipe that has helped me eschew bottled dressing on my salads. Stores well. Compliments all greens. Tonight I had arugula, beets and goat cheese. I use fresh lemon and some lemon zest. Yum
Always looking for recipes to use up the lemons from our tree. A nice problem to have, I know. This is delicious and is going into regular rotation for sure.
simple. savory. sweet. great. 10/10
I’m a bit confused – I thought honey and maple syrup were not allowed on the whole30 diet and here it is in the vinaigrette (?)
Hi Nan – if you’re doing a Whole30, just omit the sweetener from the vinaigrette. :)
WOW!!! Minimal ingredients yet extremely flavorful…a definite keeper!!!
Glad you enjoyed this lemon vinaigrette Donna!
So good! Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Sheryl!
I love your simple healthy recipes.
I can’t use Dijon mustard. Would dry mustard work?
If so, how much?
I would say the next best thing is to use a stone ground mustard.
very nice
I don’t think your vinaigrettes get enough love. I’ve made many of them. They’re easy and delicious. You’ve done all the work with so many vinaigrette recipes for any salad or any occasion. Thank you!!
Love this. Much better than store bought. How about a Champagne Vinegrette? I found one I loved but it’s been discontinued.
I actually have a champagne vinaigrette recipe on my website – just use the search bar for it :)
Thank you so much for sharing a good recipe.
Love the fresh taste of Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing!!
I just tried your Lemon Vinaigrette and I love it! I can’t eat raw garlic or onions, so I added some Pensey’s French Dressing herbs to the mix and it is delicious. I will be trying more of your dressings.
I have been using downshiftology for a while now. And I almost love all of her recipes. Now it became my main go to website for breakfast, lunch, and dinner reference. Thank you so much for taking the time to share these recipes with us. They are all phenomenal. And I love how versatile they are. And there is always room for modification. I myself comes from a cuisine that is full of flavor. So the falvours that are provides here are absolutely tasteful.
WONDERFUL recipe, I double it. Shake, Shake, Shake & enjoy! Oh… also add the zest of the lemon.
I made this several time and it always comes out delicious after I make my salad and add my dressing it I shave Asiago cheese on to it’s so good that’s all I want is the salad
Should it be regrigerated?
Yes, homemade vinaigrettes should always be refrigerated.
Thank you for this recipe! It was super easy to make and absolutely delicious!
Glad you enjoyed this lemon vinaigrette Tara!
It was perfect with our salmon dinner.
Wow… love your approach and recipes…thanks!
Thanks so much Deb! Hope you enjoyed this lemon vinaigrette :)
It’s so hot and humid in Florida now and this delicious and nutritious salad is the only thing that I’ll eat. Thank you!
It was good. I added some dill weed 1/2 tsp.
Thanks a lot for sharing this tasty recipe. My family loved it. We will make it more often now.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Stephanie!
I gave you a try and it turned out be my husband’s favorite salad dressing. Thank you Lisa
Happy to hear this lemon dressing was a success!
Thanks, Lisa! Made this with yellow mustard since I was out of Dijon mustard, and it was delicious on my roasted veggie pasta salad. Love the bright lemon flavor.
Sounds great on top of a veggie pasta!
I took your base recipe but had to omit olive oil and garlic as they were not available. Even then, this came out superb. I hope to add the oil and the garlic next time. My new favourite dressing :-)
This one is just spot-on. Just combined this dressing with the mediterranean chickpea salad and it is soooo yummy!
I usually like more oil than acid, but this recipe is such a winner as-is. I make mine in my Vitamix. It thickens like a mayonnaise.
Thxx for posting it, Lisa.
Wonderful! Glad this vinaigrette turned out perfectly in your Vitamix.
Mmm, so much lemon goodness 😋
Hi Gail – Definitely a staple dressing for any salad!
I just served this with a salad using some apple and Parmesan crisps. Oh so good! I’m keeping this recipe, thanks.
Hi Mara – That sounds like an extremely fresh salad with the apples and parmesan crisps! Glad you enjoyed this recipe :)
I made your lemon vinaigrette dressing last night for the first time and it is wonderful! Fresh and tart, just right on my salad at work today. I know it will become a staple in my household!
Hi Susan – I’m glad you enjoyed this vinaigrette! It truly is a staple for any salad :)
This salad dressing has changed the game for me ! I loved it and i will definitely keep making this salad dressing. Thank you for the recipe!!
Wonderful! I’m happy you found a new favorite dressing Ani. This is a classic vinaigrette and so versatile. :)
It was overwhelming strong. I was very disappointed. I used it it on the shrimp asparagus salad. It actually upset my stomach. My husband ate it but did not like the strong lemon flavor.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe Tammy. Given that this recipe doesn’t have much sugar (compared to store bought versions) it will have a stronger flavor, but you can always reduce the ratio of lemon juice to olive oil as I mention in the post. :)
Hello!! How long does it last in the fridge?
This will last for up to one week in the fridge.
I haven’t used store bought dressing in weeks! Takes 2 minutes and it’s so good!
Yay! Yep, this dressing is a keeper! ;)
Lisa, I just tried this recipe and it is fabulous. I love making my own dressings. We eat a lot of salad. I just bought the best dressing bowl from NoCrumbsLeft. Thank you for this recipe. I printed it and it will go into my recipe binder.
Hi Cat – I’m so glad you loved the dressing and so much so that you’re adding into your recipe binder! I’ll take that as a compliment! :) And yes, Terri at NoCrumbsLeft is great! I’ll have to check out her dressing bowl for myself.
Hands down THE best dressing ever!! The only thing I changed was I added a couple splashes of white wine vinegar and put in the zest of one lemon. I will never buy store bought dressing again…this stuff is gold!! I make it in a mason jar and just give it a shake and drizzle on my daily salads.
I’m happy you love the recipe! It’s amazing how much better homemade dressings taste, isn’t it? :)
I love this dressing! I’ve been making it regularly since July hehe. Thank you for it! What size Weck jar do you have the dressing in?
I believe that’s the 1/2L tall mold jar. So happy you love the lemon vinaigrette Elizabeth!
This is a really nice dressing Lisa. Many thanks. Eating it with a salad right now! :)
Wonderful! I’m glad you’re enjoying it Ursula!
This is the best dressing I’ve ever tried! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Yay, so happy you loved it Carmen!
How is the garlic supposed to be prepared? Minced? By hand? Or through a garlic press?
Hi Logan – good catch! They’re supposed to be minced. I just fixed on the recipe. :)
And you can mince either by hand or through a garlic press (I prefer the latter).
Tried the dressing twice already and i love it! Added to so-called “lazy greek salad” (without olives pepper and onion) and it worked out really well.
The main thing is that I can control the sour lvl to match my fiance’s tastes, so he could also eat something healthy :)
Awesome – so happy you enjoyed it Elisabeth! :) x
Great recipe! I add a minced shallot and make it weekly as part of meal planning.
Yes, minced shallot is a great addition to this recipe and it’s a little more mild flavor to the garlic. Wonderful!
It’s the simple things in life that make us happy and this is not only simple to make but very flavorful. I made this to use on a salad with avacado and left over grilled shrimp. It was outstanding. Great for summer time.
I agree! I’m all about simple and delicious. ;) So glad you enjoyed this lemon vinaigrette Chris!
I like to make my own dressing and this is right up my alley. Love lemony things so I already know I’m going to love this.
And lemon vinaigrettes are perfect for brightening up recipes for spring right now. :)
You can’t beat a classic lemon dressing, this sounds spot on and so versatile!
So true! And agree that it’s super versatile.
Once you make your own dressing it is very hard to go back to store bought. I will be adding your wonderful recipe into my rotation!
I agree completely! Hope you enjoy it Sara!
This looks so bright and delicious! I love that it’s less oily than many vinaigrettes.
Thanks! And yes, I much prefer more acid in my vinaigrettes. :)
This is awesome, it is light and flavorful, we have a meyer lemon tree and I always use meyer lemons to make this. I use with arugula beet salad with shaved parmesan it is a perfect complement for this salad.
You’re so lucky to have a Meyer lemon tree – I’m jealous! And yes, so delicious with an arugula salad. I have a recipe for one coming later this week! ;)
For the lemon vin.dressing
Try using rice vinigar!
Yes, feel free to adapt and use any vinegar you prefer. :)