Parmesan Vinaigrette
This quick and easy parmesan vinaigrette is tangy, cheesy and full of flavor. It blends up in seconds and is a beautiful addition to salads, roasted vegetables or mixed greens.
- 1 Erica’s ramblings on the recipe:
- 2 What you’ll need to make parmesan vinaigrette:
- 3 How to make:
- 4 Expert tips and variation ideas:
- 5 Ways to serve this homemade parmesan vinaigrette:
- 6 FAQs
- 7 If you love this homemade vinaigrette you’ll love my other flavorful dressing ideas!
- 8 Parmesan Vinaigrette Recipe
Erica’s ramblings on the recipe:
I call myself it’s a flavorful life. And one of the kitchen “things” I think you can do to make your life more flavorful is make homemade salad dressings. It can sound intimidating at first but once you master the art of a from-scratch flavorful dressing, there’s no going back to store-bought.
This parmesan vinaigrette is like a hybrid between a tangy vinaigrette and a creamy dressing. It has acidity from the vinegar but also has creaminess from the cheese.
There is no traditional ‘emusifier’ in this dressing, like egg yolk or Dijon mustard, but both the fresh garlic and parmesan cheese contribute to its cohesion. I recommend blending the dressing in a food processor or small blender for the best, smooth texture.
I love this dressing on my crispy chicken tender kale salad but I can’t think of any salad I wouldn’t eat it on!
What you’ll need to make parmesan vinaigrette:
Olive oil: extra virgin olive oil is a heart-healthy fat that provides flavor, texture and nutrition to many vinaigrette recipes. The fat helps the body to absorb key nutrients (aka vitamins and minerals!) from all the wonderful veggies in your salad.
White wine vinegar: white wine vinegar is a type of vinegar made from fermented white wine. It has a mild acidity and delicate flavor profile perfect for this dressing. You can find it at a regular grocery store in the baking aisle with the oils and vinegars.
Parmesan cheese: parmesan is an aged cheese that has a rich, sharp and salty flavor. I recommend buying a block of parmesan and grating it yourself for the best flavor. I like to get the parmesan wedge from Costco because it’s the best price.
Garlic: whole garlic cloves add beautiful flavor and a tiny bite to this parmesan dressing.
Seasonings: Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, sea salt and freshly ground pepper all add overall flavor and in the case of red pepper flakes, a little heat!
Honey: this dressing is not sweet at all, but a touch of honey provides the balance to combat the tanginess of vinegar and sharpness of parmesan. (you can sub maple syrup or agave)
How to make:
Place all ingredients in a small food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and emulsified. Taste and season with a pinch more salt, pepper or red pepper flakes, if desired.
Alternatively, you can vigorously shake together the dressing in a mason jar or salad shaker or wire whisk them together in a small bowl.
You could also use an immersion blender.
Expert tips and variation ideas:
- Use a block of parmesan (vs pre-grated) for great flavor
- Choose a good-quality extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh herbs are always a good idea so feel free to add fresh thyme, oregano, basil or parsley
- You can add a teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard for an additional emulsifying effect
- Use fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar to make lemon parmesan vinaigrette
Ways to serve this homemade parmesan vinaigrette:
- Tossed with crispy chicken tender kale salad
- To make simple green salads or a veggie-laden garden salad
- Drizzled on grilled or roasted vegetables
- As a dipping sauce for raw veggies
- On a cheese board as a dip or drizzle
- To make a lightened-up potato salad
- As the dressing for chicken salad, pasta salad, quinoa salad or a legume-based chickpea or lentil salad
- Garnish for soups
FAQs
Both red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar will work well as a substitute for white wine vinegar. Balsamic vinegar will also work but will significantly change the color of the dressing so beware of that!
I prefer and strongly recommend extra-virgin olive oil but in a pinch avocado oil, canola oil or grapeseed oil will work.
Store leftover vinaigrette in a mason jar or airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
Separation is completely normal. Simple shake or whisk again until smooth.
If you love this homemade vinaigrette you’ll love my other flavorful dressing ideas!
This is a great salad dressing for nearly any salad recipe and I hope you give it a try!
If you try and like this recipe please don’t forget to leave a comment and star rating down below! If you love more lifestyle, behind the scenes and ‘eating in real life’ type of content come find me over on Instagram, @itsaflavorfullife, I love connecting with you all there!
Print
Parmesan Vinaigrette Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: N/A
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3/4 cup dressing 1x
- Category: Dressings
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: American
Description
This parmesan vinaigrette is a lovely balance of tangy, cheesy, zippy, garlicky and smooth and works on nearly any salad, enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon honey
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a small food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and emulsified. Taste and season with a pinch more salt, pepper or red pepper flakes, if desired.
If you don’t have a food processor you could whisk the ingredients in a small bowl or vigorously shake in a mason jar until the ingredients are combined. You can serve chilled or at room temperature.
Notes
Store leftover dressing in a mason jar or airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
See above blog post for variation ideas, substitution recommendations and answers to frequently asked questions.
Would you like to save this?
We’ll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 136
- Sugar: 1.1 g
- Sodium: 217.5 mg
- Fat: 13.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 2 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 4.8 mg
This post contains affiliate links which means if you click and make a purchase, I receive a small commission. Thank you so much for your support and helping me continue to do what I do!!
Very good and easy to make.
Lasted a long time in refrigerator.
Shake well before using.
Hi! I will make honey lemon dressing and Parmesan version. Where could I purchase the glass serving decanter with glass cover and handle that was pictured? Thank you! Marilyn Schilling
I thrifted it so I’m not sure😭
Made this dressing over the weekend, and it’s the best salad dressing I’ve ever tasted. (This was my 1st attempt at a homemade salad dressing.) It was exactly what I was looking for! Light, simple and easy to make. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Woohooooo! Happy to hear Jenni! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for this review, I appreciate it 🙂
Very simple to make all pantry ingredients fantastic flavor! Second time making this. My husband can’t eat fresh garlic so I used roasted, great flavor. For it to keep longer we added shaved Parmesan to our salad. Thanks for sharing.
Roasted garlic mmmmm such a great idea! Thanks for making this KC and for your review!
This is THE BEST salad dressing I’ve ever had in my life! It’s the only dressing that has stayed emulsified even after refrigeration. All the others I’ve tried separate after sitting. I did add 1 Tablespoon of mayonnaise to this as well, so maybe that helped.
This dressing is so packed with flavor!! If I could give it more than 5 stars I would! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️