Parsley Vinaigrette (Parsley Salad Dressing with Fresh Herbs)
Lindsey Neumayer
This parsley vinaigrette salad dressing is easy to make and packed with fresh ingredients, unlike store-bought dressings. Its flavor complements any salad, and it can also be used to marinate the protein of your choice. Made with fresh parsley, lemon juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, it brings a vibrant and tangy flavor to any dish!
Juice lemon. Slice and juice your lemon to get 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
1/4 cup lemon juice
Prepare parsley. Remove the leaves of parsley from the stems. This helps prevent your dressing from being too chunky, and it also helps the flavor from becoming too muted.
Add lemon juice. Pour lemon juice into your mixing jar.
Add balsamic vinegar. Add in balsamic vinegar to the lemon juice.
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Add garlic. Add your garlic cloves. Depending on how garlicky you like it, you can add 1-4 cloves or more!
1 clove garlic
Add honey. Drizzle in honey.
1 tbsp honey
Season. Add your salt and pepper.
1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
Blend. Blend well with your immersion blender, until all ingredients have been combined.
Emulsify. While blending, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of olive oil.
1/2 cup olive oil
Add parsley. Add the de-stemmed parsley, and blend well, until all the leaves have been mixed in.
1 bunch parsley
Serve or store. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 14 days.
Notes
ℹ️ troubleshooting tips
dressing won't come together - Avoid pouring all the olive oil in at once, and instead, slowly stream it in as you are blending the mixture so that it emulsifies. Emulsifying means the ingredients blend and bind together instead of being separated.
too thick from the fridge - when you refrigerate this dressing, it will thicken and congeal together. Set it out up to 30 minutes before serving, or run it under hot water to help it come to temperature quickly. You may need to give the bottle a shake to reincorporate the ingredients.
♻️ customize your parsley salad dressing
oil - while the flavor of olive oil works well in this recipe, you can absolutely use another oil! Avocado oil, canola oil, or grape seed oil are all great options.
sweetener - use whatever sweetener you have on hand! Maple syrup works great, but I've also used agave and even infused simple syrups for this recipe. My favorites to use include lemon infused syrup or lemon honey syrup; the infused syrup sweetens the dressing while also boosting the citrus flavor!
other herbs - use whatever fresh herbs you have on hand for this dressing. Basil, oregano, and thyme would all work well! Check out this recipe for an herb vinaigrette featuring a blend of herbs!
vinegar - you can use another type of vinegar, like apple cider vinegar, champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar. I recommend sticking to a sweeter vinegar over a more bitter one like plain white vinegar.