This homemade lemon salad dressing is the one I make almost every week. If you know me, you know I am addicted to salad. It is a problem. It started when I was younger and now has resulted in my belief “a salad a day keeps you sane”. I love sharing a good recipe and it is your lucky day because this is my absolute favorite salad dressing recipe of them all. Salad de Maison aka the Jackson salad. From kindergarten to 12th grade, I had this almost everyday for my school lunch. I cannot emphasize it enough that this zesty dressing might change your life, but don’t take it from me – try it out!

Our Favorite Salad Dressing (Jackson Salad)

A zesty, garlicky homemade lemon vinaigrette made in a mason jar — our all-time favorite dressing, perfect on just about any salad.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5

Chill Time 2

Total Time 2 5

Servings: 1 jar

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

Dressing

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
Black pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic pressed
1/2 cup vegetable oil

To Serve

Lettuce
Parmesan cheese
Toppings tomatoes, avocado, croutons

Method

Fill half of a mason jar with fresh lemon juice.
Add the salt and sprinkle in pepper to taste.
Press the garlic cloves and stir into the lemon juice.
Stir while slowly pouring in the vegetable oil until the jar is full to the brim.
Shake well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Pour the dressing over your salad mix and enjoy!

Why We Love This Homemade Lemon Salad Dressing

Store bought dressing always tastes a little flat to us, and the ingredient list is usually a mile long. This homemade lemon salad dressing has five things in it, and every one of them earns its place. The lemon keeps it bright, the olive oil makes it feel rich without being heavy, and a little honey rounds out the sharp edges. It takes about five minutes to shake together in a jar, and it keeps in the fridge for a week, which means salad on a busy night is suddenly not a project.

Tips for the Best Lemon Salad Dressing

Use fresh lemons if you can. Bottled juice works in a pinch, but the flavor is much sharper and you lose that soft citrus sweetness. Shake the jar hard right before you pour, since the oil and lemon separate as it sits in the fridge. If it tastes too tart, add a little more honey a half teaspoon at a time. If it tastes flat, it almost always needs salt rather than more lemon. We love this one on arugula with parmesan, on a simple cucumber and tomato salad, or drizzled over roasted vegetables straight out of the oven.

-xo Hope

More recipes from our kitchen

One Comment

Easy Homemade Lemon Salad Dressing