Do-it-yourself Italian Dressing – Sally’s Baking Dependancy
Revealed: 01/09/2025
This vinaigrette-style selfmade Italian dressing is zesty, vibrant, and filled with daring, recent taste. It takes solely about 5 minutes to organize with a mixture of pantry staples and some recent substances. Making your individual Italian dressing is extremely simple and way more scrumptious than something store-bought.
I initially revealed this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photographs and extra success suggestions.
Earlier than you attain for store-bought dressing the subsequent time you make a salad, let me present you ways easy it’s to make recent, zesty selfmade Italian dressing from scratch. I do know it sounds odd to have a salad dressing recipe on a baking web site, however that is one in every of my most favourite “dipping sauces” for selfmade breads like artisan bread and ciabatta bread, and clearly pairs nicely with selfmade croutons. 😉
It’s actually simpler and extra handy to choose up a bottle of dressing from the shop, however I promise this fast recipe delivers far superior taste in only some minutes. With a handful of straightforward substances, and not one of the unpronounceable components, this selfmade Italian dressing will elevate your salad to the subsequent degree.
I’m assured when you strive it, you’ll all the time desire a jar on the prepared in your fridge.

Right here Are the Elements You Want & Attainable Substitutions
Don’t let the prolonged ingredient checklist make you nervous! Most of those substances are most likely already in your pantry or spice drawer. You’ll want:
- Further Virgin Olive Oil: I all the time use additional virgin olive oil right here for its superior taste, however you need to use avocado oil, grapeseed oil, or sunflower oil if that’s what you may have.
- White Wine Vinegar: Vinegar is an apparent necessity for any vinaigrette-style dressing. I like to make use of white wine vinegar, however purple wine vinegar additionally works. These are the one two vinegars I like to recommend right here; different vinegars will lack the flavors mandatory for traditional Italian dressing.
- Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated Parmesan cheese is most popular. You’ll need the finer particles of cheese quite than the lengthy shreds. Parmesan will be expensive, so if you happen to don’t really feel like choosing it up OR if you wish to maintain the dressing dairy free, you’ll be able to depart it out.
- Purple Bell Pepper: Just a little little bit of chopped purple bell pepper is often included in Italian dressings as a result of it provides taste and a little bit of freshness. You’ll want to cube it into very small items in order that they’ll evenly disperse in your salad dressing.
- Dried Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Garlic Salt, and Pepper: The large taste makers! I normally attain for dried herbs and spices for ease, however you need to use recent if you happen to favor. See recipe Notes for precise quantities.
- Minced Onion (Dried or Contemporary): Once more, I usually use dried minced onion for ease, however be happy to make use of recent minced onion or shallot if you happen to favor. I additionally use dried minced onion on everything-style selfmade bagels.
- Lemon Juice: Only a splash of fresh lemon juice helps brighten and stability the flavors.
- Honey or Sugar: This provides a touch of sweetness and balances the flavors within the dressing. Don’t depart it out—the dressing can style bitter with out it. You should use honey or common granulated sugar.


Use Your Do-it-yourself Italian Dressing in These Recipes:
This recipe yields about 1 cup of dressing, so that you’ll want an air-tight container with a minimum of 1-cup capability. Ideally, one thing barely bigger is finest so that there’s sufficient room when shaking the substances collectively. A easy canning jar works (and listed below are some nifty tops to make pouring a breeze), or you need to use a salad dressing shaker like this or this.
As soon as combined, the dressing lasts for as much as 2 weeks within the fridge. For longer storage, you’ll be able to freeze it for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than utilizing. (Tip: You should use a silicone ice cube tray to freeze small, individual-sized parts of dressing. Freeze the dressing within the ice dice tray, then switch to a zipped-top bag for storage.)
Sure, this recipe can simply be doubled (or additional multiplied) for giant batches.

Extra Contemporary Salads & Do-it-yourself Sauces/Toppings:
When you see how simple it’s to make selfmade Italian dressing, you’ll love having this recent, flavorful possibility within the fridge. Listed here are a number of extra of my favourite salads and different from-scratch sauces and toppings:

Do-it-yourself Italian Dressing
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook dinner Time: 0 minutes
Whole Time: 5 minutes
Yield: About 1 cup
Class: Dinner
Technique: Whisking
Delicacies: American
Description
This vinaigrette-style selfmade Italian dressing is zesty, vibrant, and filled with daring, recent taste. It takes solely about 5 minutes to organize with a mixture of pantry staples and some recent substances.
Directions
- Mix the entire substances in a bowl or a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Whisk or shake till the combination is nicely mixed. Style the dressing and add extra seasonings if desired.
- Retailer the dressing in an hermetic container or jar within the fridge for as much as 2 weeks. Shake nicely earlier than utilizing.
Notes
- Freezing Directions: For longer storage, you’ll be able to freeze this salad dressing for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge earlier than utilizing. (Tip: You should use a silicone ice cube tray to freeze small, individual-sized parts of dressing. Freeze the dressing within the ice dice tray; as soon as frozen, switch the cubes to a zipped-top freezer bag for storage.)
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Box Grater | Citrus Juicer | Canning Jar (with elective pour tops) or Salad Dressing Shaker (like this or this)
- *Oil: As a substitute of olive oil, you need to use avocado oil, grapeseed oil, or sunflower oil if that’s what you may have.
- *Vinegar: You should use purple wine vinegar as a substitute of white wine vinegar. I don’t counsel every other vinegars for this dressing.
- *Parmesan Cheese: You’ll want to use freshly grated Parmesan cheese. You’ll need the finer particles of cheese quite than the lengthy shreds. Parmesan will be expensive, so if you happen to don’t really feel like choosing it up OR if you wish to maintain the dressing dairy free, you’ll be able to depart it out.
- Can I Use Contemporary Herbs As a substitute of Dried Herbs? Sure, completely. Use 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons finely chopped recent parsley (or extra to style), and a pair of teaspoons every finely chopped recent basil and recent oregano.
- Can I Use Contemporary Onion? Sure. As a substitute of dried minced onion, you need to use 1 Tablespoon of recent finely minced yellow or candy onion, or shallot.