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Red wine vinaigrette adds a pop to any salad! Whip up this red wine vinegar dressing recipe using simple ingredients in 5 minutes.

Red wine vinaigrette

Need a simple salad dressing to add life to a pile of greens? Look no further than this Red Wine Vinaigrette! The round, robust flavor of red wine vinegar is ideal for salad dressing, and this one delivers. It’s zingy and bright, with a strong acidity from the vinegar and a sweetness from honey. Red wine vinegar makes a super versatile salad dressing that works on anything from a kale salad to strawberry salad. Here’s what you’ll need for this zippy red wine vinegar dressing!

Ingredients in red wine vinaigrette

You know that bottle of red wine vinaigrette at the store with a creamy bright red dressing inside? It gets it’s color from Red 40: that’s a synthetic red dye. (We’re looking at you, Kraft.) That’s right: homemade red wine vinaigrette is not red! It’s naturally a yellow brown color, depending on the type of oil you use. Red wine vinegar is light in color and you only use a bit of it, so don’t look for a red color with this dressing. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for red wine vinegar dressing:

Red Wine Vinaigrette

Neutral oil vs olive oil

Both a neutral oil and olive oil work in this red wine vinaigrette! Here are a few pros and cons to using each one:

  • Neutral oil: Try grapeseed, organic vegetable or organic canola oil. We like the flavor best with a neutral oil (we used grapeseed). Another pro: the dressing doesn’t solidify in the refrigerator.
  • Olive oil: Olive oil is one of the healthiest cooking oils in the world. It has โ€œgoodโ€ fats or monounsaturated fats, which can have a beneficial effect on your heart when eaten in moderation. The flavor is still great with olive oil, though we liked neutral oil better here. The dressing also solidifies in the refrigerator when you use olive oil: make sure to bring to room temperature prior to serving.
Red wine vinegar salad dressing
Try this dressing on Endive Salad with Parmesan and Orange

Ways to serve red wine vinaigrette

This red wine vinaigrette is the perfect all-purpose salad dressing: it works in so many different applications from savory to fruity to sweet. Here are some salad recipes where red wine vinegar dressing works well:

Red Wine Vinegar Dressing

More homemade salad dressings

Homemade salad dressing tastes better and is all natural, with no additives or preservatives! Here are some of our favorite salad dressing recipes and healthy salad dressings to make at home:

This red wine vinegar dressing recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.

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Red wine vinaigrette

Red Wine Vinaigrette


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: About ½ cup 1x

Description

Red wine vinaigrette adds a pop to any salad! Whip up this red wine vinegar dressing recipe using simple ingredients in 5 minutes.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard*
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
  • ยผ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 6 tablespoons neutral oil (grapeseed or vegetable) or olive oil
  • Fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk the red wine vinegar, Dijon, maple syrup or honey, salt and garlic powder.
  2. Whisk in the oil 1 tablespoon at a time until a creamy dressing forms. Add a few grinds of fresh ground black pepper. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 weeks (bring to room temperature prior to serving*).

Notes

*Olive oil solidifies when refrigerated; neutral oil typically stays liquid. If desired, you can use up to 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard.

  • Category: Dressing
  • Method: Whisked
  • Cuisine: Salad Dressing
  • Diet: Vegan

Keywords: Red wine vinaigrette, red wine vinegar dressing

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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6 Comments

    1. Loved this recipe. So simple, yet different enough so that it stands out. Used it on romaine and also tender greens salad. Great on both.

  1. Hi…I’m going to make this tomorrow for my “premium romaine mix” bagged greens…I like the addition of Dijon, etc. I usually use EVOO, but will try my organic canola instead, based on your preferences as noted.

    This is my first foray into your recipes, having Googled ‘recipes for red wine vinegar dressing’ and finding this one. Perhaps I missed it, but is there a way to ๐Ÿ“Œ or save favorite recipes from your site? Or do I need to ‘share’ it to myself and save it somewhere like One Note? Thanks. Looking forward to checking out other recipes of yours, and also receiving them from emails.

    1. Hi! If you’d like to save recipes form our site, you can click the little share button in the bottom right and click “Save”. You’ll have to create an account to use it.

      Thanks for making!