Simple & Bright Homemade Lemon Vinaigrette

This simple lemon vinaigrette will brighten up any salad! It's just the right amount of punchy and tangy, and only takes five minutes to make. Not to mention, it's super versatile, so you can use it to sauce up your grain bowls, pasta salads, or even for marinating chicken!

this recipe

Looking for a simple homemade salad dressing recipe to keep in your back pocket? Look no further than this simple lemon vinaigrette to enliven your meals - a tart and tangy lemon dressing that brightens any salad, grain bowl, or pasta salad. It's perfect for this simple wheat berry salad with feta, and I even love drizzling it over roasted veggies, like these herb roasted beets or roasted radishes.

Especially in spring, summer, and fall months that are bountiful with fresh produce, this vinaigrette is exactly the little something needed to make us even more excited about eating all the veggies. Let's make some!

Key Ingredients & Notes

• Fresh lemons - We'll use lemons as the acidic component of this lemon vinaigrette recipe.
• Extra virgin olive oil - Since dressings and vinaigrettes are often the star of the show, I love using a high quality extra virgin olive oil.
• Dijon mustard - Note, I used a grainy mustard pictured here, but smooth Dijon mustards also work. They look a little bit creamier and less grainy, though both are delish!

Optional: Add some finely minced garlic for a savory flavor (I use a microplane to make this super easy!). You can also swap in honey or agave nectar to sweeten instead of maple syrup, and make a creamy version by using mayo instead of (or in additional to) Dijon.

Let's Make This Lemon Vinaigrette!

Step 1: Add all ingredients to a jar that can be sealed tightly (such as Weck jars or mason jars). Secure the lid on the jar.

Step 2: Shake the jar vigorously until the ingredients are well combined, then serve on your favorite salad!

When you're done making this recipe, you'll definitely want to try our homemade basil vinaigrette!

Success Tips

Here are some of my favorite tips for making this vinaigrette as easy and delicious as possible:

1. Lemon squeezer - My family bought me this lemon squeezer for Christmas a few years ago (see image below!), and it is in my top five kitchen tools because we use lemons so much! It does an amazing job of extracting as much juice as possible from each lemon without needing to give it a death squeeze with your hands and getting sticky juice everywhere. Highly recommend!
2. Blender method - If you don't mind cleaning out your blender, you can also blend the ingredients together to achieve an even smoother consistency (and you can also skip dicing your shallot or garlic when doing this method).
3. Go beyond salads - This vinaigrette recipe is truly all-purpose and can be served with more than just salads! I highly recommend trying it in this late summer veggie pasta salad, in grain bowls, as a chicken marinade, or on roasted veggies. Sometimes I even transform my one pan chicken and leeks leftovers into a salad with a drizzle of this vinaigrette!

Lemon Vinaigrette FAQs

Pairing

Looking for ways to use up your lemon vinaigrette?

Did you make this lemon vinaigrette? Don't forget to leave a star rating 🌟 and comment below, and tag me on Instagram and Pinterest so I can see what you made!