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cranberry vinaigrette

Jump To Recipe October 17, 2014 by Katie // 39 Comments »

Hi all, I have just a quick one today. It’s healthy, easy cranberry vinaigrette for dressing up fall and winter salads. You’ll want to keep this recipe handy, since it is a nice way to switch up your usual salad routine and it has tons of flavor. It is also special enough for Thanksgiving or your holiday table. Oops, is it too early to start talking about Thanksgiving?

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I mostly just have photos to show you since this is such a simple recipe. I mean, it is just a salad dressing after all . What is there to say? It is sour and tastes good on greens?

Speaking of photos, like the little wooden bowl? Carey’s dad made it, and she gave it to me when we were working on a photo shoot for EatingWell last week. [Yes I did a little styling, so much for being a recovering food stylist for the time being.] It was a lot of fun to play in the studio for for the day. My tweezers got a workout. But then I had to get back to my office to get the first half of my manuscript off to the publisher. Phew. I am whooped. I am even feeling a little sore throat action going on. Grr.

Anywho, so let’s chat about this cranberry vinaigrette. The cranberries are naturally very tart, so you only need a little bit of vinegar to get the right balance. I chopped some fresh thyme from my garden, and added that to the dressing. I always love a bit of allium in my dressings. In this case I used shallot from the farmers’ market. I also think a touch of agave or honey is nice to balance it out.

It pairs well with spinach, toasted nuts, and sharp cheeses. This would be killer on salad for Thanksgiving.

How to Make Vinaigrette Dressing

If you’re new to the world of homemade vinaigrettes, welcome! For most salad dressings, you can simply add all the ingredients into a jar and shake everything together until combined. But for this cranberry vinaigrette you’ll need to add everything to a food processor since not all the ingredients are liquid.

If this vinaigrette is too sharp for you, add a little more agave or honey, or scale back on the amount of cranberries you use. You could also try adding a bit more olive oil, but don’t add too much!

But like I said, this vinaigrette is super easy to make and tastes good with pretty much any fall dish.