Mustard Salad Dressing
The newest addition to my healthy salad dressing collection is here: Mustard Salad Dressing which is made with brown German mustard, grated shallot (or onion) and white wine vinegar. It is full of bold bright flavor and pairs with a variety of salad ingredients. It was inspired by the salad dressing I loved on a recent trip to Germany.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe For Mustard Salad Dressing
We just got back from a 10 day trip to Germany and I fell in love with the delicious tangy mustard salad dressings we had there. I wouldn’t have expected to fall in love with a salad dressing in Germany, but that’s just what happened. I mean, I thought Germany was known for its sausages (it is!) and schnitzels (and beer!) not for its salads. How wrong was I?!
After discovering just how good these German salad dressings were I ordered salads everywhere we went. They were all laced with refreshingly bright salad dressing made with (local) white wine vinegar and tons of robust German mustard in them.
For today’s post, I reverse-engineered the German Mustard Salad Dressing to the best of my abilities and I am so pleased with the slightly spicy, tangy, and bright mustard vinaigrette recipe I came up with.
It is perfect with a wide variety of salads. Try it on Garden Salad, our Fall Cobb Salad or our Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs. Or create your own composed salad with pickled beets, hard boiled eggs and your favorite veggies.
Key Ingredients
- White wine vinegar: I used white wine vinegar because it gives the most authentic flavor. If you wanted an alternative, I would suggest apple cider vinegar, but that will change it.
- German or brown mustard: Good German mustard is just vinegar, salt and mustard seeds. Look at the back label of your mustard and make sure that’s all that’s in yours. Stay away from any with sugars, corn syrup or horseradish.
- Onion or shallot: These are both grated. It adds a totally different dimension to the flavor of the dressing without a big chunk of onion or shallot hitting you.
- Seasonings: Salt, ground pepper and sugar (optional).
- Oil: I use both avocado oil or organic canola oil and Extra-virgin olive oil in this recipe.
- Sugar: This is optional. I didn’t need it but if you are used to bottled dressings, try adding a little bit of sugar. It will help to balance the acidity in this dressing.
How To Make Mustard Salad Dressing
Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, onion, salt, pepper and sugar (if using) in a medium bowl.
Whisk in the avocado oil and olive oil.
Store the German salad dressing in a jar in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Once you’ve used what you want, store the rest in a jar in the fridge for up to 4 days. It may firm up, but when you’re ready to use it again, you can reliquify it by setting the jar into a warm water bath for 4 or 5 minutes. Then just shake it up.
In my opinion, I find this mustard vinaigrette dressing to be healthy, as it’s made with real foods and ingredients, and very minimal sweetener.
Yes. I have sugar listed as an optional ingredient, but you could absolutely use honey instead. Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon to start, then adjust to taste.
Although the dressing might not turn out exactly the same, you could use dry mustard instead. Only use about 1/3 teaspoon of dry mustard powder to start, as it can become overpowering pretty quickly. Add more to taste, if desired.
I use brown mustard but Dijon would also work or coarse ground Dijon mustard. Yellow mustard can work in a pinch but is not quite as strongly flavored.
When homemade olive oil-based vinaigrette gets refrigerated it will harden to the consistency of softened butter. This is because of the olive oil, which solidifies once it gets cold. Don’t worry though, it’ll return to liquid quickly after placing the dressing in room temperature.
Mustard is a natural source of lecithin which is an emulsifier. That means it will hold the oil in suspension with the vinegar. Using the blender will also help emulsify the dressing.
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
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Mustard Salad Dressing
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
A simple home-made salad dressing made with brown German mustard, finely grated shallot and white wine vinegar.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon German or brown mustard
- 1 1/2 teaspoon grated onion or shallot
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sugar, optional
- 1/4 cup avocado oil or organic canola oil
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Whisk vinegar, mustard, onion, salt, pepper and sugar if using in a medium bowl. Whisk in avocado oil and olive oil. Store in a jar in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
Notes
Cooking Tip: If after refrigeration it becomes solid, bring to room temperature by setting the jar in a warm water bath for 10 minutes.
Whole 30: Do not use the sugar to keep it compliant.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: sauces and marinades
- Cuisine: German
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 126
- Sugar: 0
- Fat: 14 g
- Carbohydrates: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
This Mustard Salad Dressing Recipe is Part of A Meal Prep Plan
This recipe is featured in a Meal Prep Plan which also includes four more make ahead dinners. In this plan, I give you the prep list, shopping list and plan to prep on the weekend, so you can have all your weeknight meals ready to go with 20 minutes (or less) of time in the kitchen!
Here’s the complete menu:
- Monday: Fish with Pineapple Salsa and 10 Minute Coconut Rice with Spinach
- Tuesday: Easy Enchiladas with Mexican Slaw
- Wednesday: Soupe Au Pistou and Baguette
- Thursday: Apple & Ham Quesadillas with Spinach Salad with Mustard Salad Dressing
- Friday: Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili, wholesome cornbread
To get the full details, print your shopping list and get started, head over to the plan for the Meal Prep For The Week to check it out!
Delicious
Thank you very much Linda!
I was googling German Salad Vinegrettes and found your page. Funny enough I have been to Haus Lipmann in Beilstein and also LOVED the salad there. Also, the food in general there was so good.
Thanks for the recipe!
Kind regards
Robin
Hi Robin, that’s such a funny coincidence! I hope that little berg fared okay in all those floods last week.
This dressing sounds amazing….and I, too, thought Germany was known for sausages…beef…schnitzel….and not salads. LOL!
The sausage you ate in Germany was weisswurst. It is made with veal and is delicious!
Good to know! Thanks so much Renee!
I love the sound of this dressing, I bet the grated onion adds such a great flavour!
I love the onion especially. It makes all the difference.
Love that you were able to recreate a food from your trip. I took fell in love with a mustard I just had in Norway, was bummed we had carry on luggage so could not bring any home. Your recipe sounds delicious and the trip sounds fabulous.
I love shopping for food when we travel, so I always check luggage and a collapsable bag for what I want to bring home. My brother in law goes so far as to pack bubble wrap with him! Ha ha. I would be so interested to try Norwegian mustard.
I love a mustard dressing. I like something with a bit of a kick to it.
I just cleaned our fridge and I had five different mustards in it! Lol. Guess I am a bigger mustard fan that I even realized. Ha ha. Thanks for coming by Danielle.
I know exactly what you mean about having some time away. I love my kids more than anything but sometimes it is just nice to be an adult rather than a parent.
I haven’r spent much time in Germany but I know the Alsace really well.
This dressing sounds delicious, I love salad but so often they are covered in a a creamy dressing. This mustard dressing sounds like a much better option.
PINNING 😀
We loved Alsace. We stayed just south of Colmar, and loved our time there. I feel like that portion of the trip is worthy of another recipe inspired from the food there!
This is a delicious dressing! I love the flavourful simplicity. And also love the travel pics. I want to visit Germany now!
I was so in love with this trip. If you do go, I highly recommend the Mosel. It was so relaxing and beautiful.
I love mustard and this salad dressing sounds so delicious and pungent I simply have to try this soon!
Thanks Natalie. I am glad you are on team mustard.
I’m just loving the homemade dressings! So much better in flavor and nutritionally than buying them in the store.
Thanks Jennifer. I am so glad you like this salad dressing. And thanks so much for rating too!
Love the tang the mustard gives this – great on so many things!
This reminds me of a memorable salad I ate in Switzerland last summer—it probably had a bit of sugar in the dressing, but the flavors sound spot on!
That’s so interesting. I was just talking to someone about the food in Switzerland. I know so little about it.