Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Our Zesty Italian Salad Dressing recipe is a quick blend of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, and classic Italian seasonings. It’s a great all-purpose Zesty Italian Dressing to toss with green salads, bean salads and pasta salads!  It also makes a great bread dipping sauce!

This Zesty Italian Dressing is super easy to make and it’s perfect to serve with big Italian salads, simple green salads, bean salads and pasta salads for special occasions like birthday parties, baby showers, backyard barbecues, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the Fourth of July. 

When we make this salad, we’ll often double the batch to have with lunch salads all week long. 

Zesty Italian Salad Dressing Recipe Ingredients

• Red wine vinegar. Red wine vinegar adds a a nice tangy flavor to the dressing. 
• Dijon Mustard.  This adds flavor and helps to emulsify the dressing. 
• Olive Oil. We use light olive oil, but you can use extra virgin olive oil or 1/2 light and 1/2 extra-virgin.
• Seasoning. We use a combination of dried basil, parsley and oregano, celery seeds, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.

Find printable recipe with the measurements below.

Variations

• Add 2-3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese to the mix.
• Add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon granulated sugar or honey.
• Use white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to mellow the vinegar if it has too much of a kick for your taste.
• Add 1 clove minced or grated garlic instead of garlic powder.

How To Make Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

1. Whisk. You can also add all of the ingredients to a bowl and whisk together using a wire whisk or add the ingredients to a mason jar, seal the lid well and shall vigorously to blend the ingredients. 
2. Storage. Store the dressing in a mason jar or an airtight container in the refrigerator. If properly stored, it should last up to 5 days.

Serving Suggestions

• Italian Chopped Salad
• Italian White Bean Salad
• Mediterranean Bean Salad
• Romaine Salad
• Spring Mix Salad
• Chopped Kale Salad

Why You’ll Love This Zesty Italian Dressing

• It’s Better Than Store-Bought.  Making any dressing at home from scratch is always a better idea than buying the bottled stuff from the store. When you make dressings at home, you can choose fresh ingredients and you can control the amount of salt and sugar that goes into it, plus they don’t contain any preservatives or artificial flavors.
• Quick And Easy. Making vinaigrettes and dressings from scratch literally takes just 5 minutes. Buy yourself some new mason jars so you can store your new favorite homemade dressings in them. 
• It Tastes Amazing. This Zesty Italian Dressing rivals any restaurant Italian dressing out there!
• Make It A Habit. Once you get in the habit of making homemade salad dressings, you won’t be tempted to buy your old store-bought favorites.

More Easy Salad Dressing Recipes

• Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing
• Creamy Italian Dressing
• Sun Dried Tomato Vinaigrette
• Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette
• Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
• Healthy Citrus Vinaigrette
• Maple Vinaigrette
• Honey Lemon Vinaigrette
• Parmesan Vinaigrette
• Red Wine Vinaigrette
• Greek Salad Dressing
• Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

Still want more ideas? Check out all of our homemade Salad Dressing Recipes.

Continue to Content

Print

Yield: 6 Servings

Zesty Italian Salad Dressing

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Our Zesty Italian Salad Dressing recipe is a quick blend of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, and classic Italian seasonings. It's a great all-purpose Zesty Italian Dressing to toss with green salads, bean salads and pasta salads!  It also makes a great bread dipping sauce!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian herbs
• 1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

1. You can also add all of the ingredients to a bowl and whisk together using a wire whisk or add the ingredients to a mason jar, seal the lid well and shall vigorously to blend the ingredients. 
2. Store the dressing in a mason jar or an airtight container in the refrigerator. If properly stored, it should last up to 5 days.

Notes

Variations

• Add 2-3 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese to the mix.
• Add 1/2 - 1 teaspoon granulated sugar or honey.
• Use white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to mellow the vinegar if it has too much of a kick for your taste.
• Add 1 clove minced or grated garlic instead of garlic powder.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 124Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 151mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations. See full disclaimer on About page.