Rich and delicious this French Dressing Recipe is an elevated healthy take on the classic. Whisks up in 5 minutes and is vegan and gluten-free!
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all… ~EmilyDickinson
With a balance of tart and lightly sweet, this French dressing is perfect for dressing Spinach Salad, spicy greens, raw veggies, or drizzling over grilled vegetables. Give it a try for a yummy sandwich sauce or use it as a marinade for chicken!
Most recipes for French Dressing include ketchup, a highly-processed condiment, we intentionally left out.
Maple syrup gives just the right balance without oversweetening. Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar along with a touch of tomato paste gives a tangy zest.
Why make homemade salad dressing?
There is a lot hiding in most store-bought salad dressings. Making homemade dressing is fast and easy, allowing you to control the ingredients and adjust the sweetener, salt and spices to your taste. With no fillers, no polyunsaturated oils, no “natural flavors”, just clean, straightforward ingredients.
Ingredients in French Dressing
- red wine vinegar
- olive oil
- dijon mustard
- maple syrup
- garlic
- smoked paprika
- tomato paste
- sea salt & black pepper
How to make French Dressing
Step One: Whisk together red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, maple syrup, sea salt, pepper, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and tomato paste.
Step Two: Drizzle in the olive oil whisking all the while until combined and emulsified.
How Long will French Dressing Keep?
This French Dressing will keep fresh in the fridge for a week.
Let us know what you think! Hope you enjoy.
More recipes you may enjoy
- Mustard Seed Maple Dressing
- Pickled Pepper Vinaigrette
- Italian Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Lemony Leek Dressing
- Miso Dressing
- Creamy Gorgonzola Dressing
- Dilly Ranch Dressing
French Dressing
- Prep Time: 5
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1/2 cup
- Category: salad dressing
- Method: whisked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This easy homemade French Dressing is rich and tangy, with a hint of sweetness, and can be made in five minutes, using simple pantry ingredients! Vegan and gluten-free!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (adjust to preferred sweetness)
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Whisk together red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, maple syrup, sea salt, pepper, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and tomato paste.
- Drizzle in olive oil whisking all the while until combined and emulsified.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
- Calories: 97
- Sugar: 3.1 g
- Sodium: 195.3 mg
- Fat: 9.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.7 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I’ve made this a handful of times now and it’s a top contender for my favourite salad dressing. Everyone I’ve made it for raves about it too! I make it as is with honey instead of maple syrup, but tonight I used pizza sauce in lieu of tomato paste so I didn’t have to open a new can, and it was still great! Super easy to put together and always a hit.
Love that improvising Taylor! So happy you are enjoying this. 🙂
I make this once a week for myself. When I make for a crowd, EVERYONE thinks I’m a genius. Thank you! 🙂
Oh awesome Tricia! Always good to be reminded of your genius.😍
Finally, someone taught me how to make this withOUT using ketchup. I KNEW there was a way to use tomato paste; I just didn’t have a good idea of the ratios. Thank you for this.
I don’t care for maple syrup, so I used honey. I also make my own mustard from a mix of brown and yellow seeds, steeped in beer and champagne vinegar. So I used a few scoops of that.
I always pour a little on my finger to taste test and it and was like, oh no, I’m going to be pouring this straight into my mouth. 🙂
So great Delaney! Homemade mustard sounds delicious.
Delicious! I had been looking for a recipe similar to that of our grandmother’s for spinach salad. I tweaked it a bit with a minced shallot and worchestershire sauce.
Perfect Susan!
Delicious! Will definitely make again!
Many thanks!
Great to hear!
I used monk fruit sweetener, one table spoon still to sweet for me and will reduce it next time. Will use less vinegar also. Will experiment, and re-post.
Thanks Joe, glad you are honing in your best version of this!
I have just recently started making homemade salad dressings and came upon yours as I was searching for homemade French dressing. Just wanted to say how delicious this is! This will definitely be a new go-to recipe! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed this Barb!
Making another batch right now! 🙂
Delicious, simple to make dressing that is a nice change of pace. I used 1 tbsp maple syrup, and that was perfect for us. Thanks for a great recipe!
glad you enjoyed this Vivian!
Second time I’ve made it. Perfect to have in fridge to accompany salads and other veggies.
Great to hear Irene!
Wow! This is an excellent recipe. First time I’ve had French salad dressing (thank you!). The only thing I’ll do differently next time is salt to taste. I did a double batch and 1/2 tsp x 2 was too salty for me. Hard to control the salt once it’s already in. I used agave instead of maple syrup and added slowly to my taste. Can’t wait to use this dressing on my salad for the week. I couldn’t stop test tasting!
Great to hear Sally! Thanks for the feed back.
I made this dressing exactly as written and it is perfect. We love it. I’ve now doubled it and it has become a staple, encouraging us to eat more salads! Thank you for publishing it.
Yay for more salads! So glad you are enjoying this Arlene. My family is totally into this right now too.
2 Tablespoons of maple syrup was too much. Too sweet, I had to add more acid (red wine vinegar and mustard to balance). I would make it again minus 1 Tablespoon of the sweetener. Thanks!!
Thanks for the feed back Gabriela! Glad you made it work for you.
This was delicious! New favorite.
Awesome Whitney!
Ran to the kitchen to make this and it was totally worth the sprint. Delicious!!
Great to hear Rose!