A deliciously sweet Poppy Seed Dressing made with 6 pantry staples! Perfect for fruit and vegetable salads, this makes any side dish taste like dessert!
I love everything about this Poppy Seed Dressing: It has a beautiful orange-pink color. It has a sweet and tangy flavor. Most of all, it is super easy to make.
You don’t even have to chop up fresh herbs or squeeze citrus! I first tried it on my Strawberry Spinach Salad, but I quickly realized it had all sorts of applications. I especially like Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing on salads that combine vegetables and fruit.
Warning: This dressing contains sugar. If you are looking for a healthier option, consider my Balsamic Vinaigrette. Or, just use less dressing; it’s easy to do with a tasty poppy seed dressing like this!
If you don’t have any dried mustard on hand, it’s okay to substitute an equal amount of prepared yellow mustard for the dried. Missing Poppy Seeds? That’s okay, just leave them out. But you’ll have to figure out a new name for the dressing. ;)
Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine oil, vinegar, sugar, poppy seeds, mustard, and salt. Shake vigorously and allow flavors to blend at room temperature, at least 30 minutes.
Just made this dressing and used a high end balsamic vinegar. It was absolutely delicious. Would you think storing in the pantry in an airtight jar would work.
Hi Sandy, while there is nothing in the ingredients that is highly perishable, combining them changes things. There is nothing in the ingredients to make it inherently shelf-stable. I think you should store the dressing in the refrigerator. Thanks for the question! -Meggan
I’m so happy I found this recipe! It tastes wonderful, looks fabulous, and is so easy to make. Thanks for sharing it
Hi Megan!
I substituted Swerve to make this keto friendlier and nobody noticed. It tasted great tossed with a salad I topped with strawberries,blueberries,pecans and feta! Talk about a hit….multiple requests for the dressing recipe!
Could you please tell if I could substitute Steva for the sugar and if so how much Steva would I use? As I am a diabetic and sugar is not a healthy choice for me.Thank you so much for your help and May God Bless you.
Hi Kim, I will let you know, I’m going to test this on Monday. I am glad you are making the right choices for you! And I’ll be happy to share this info in the post too for everybody else. Thanks!
Excellent flavors but the first time I made it the oil separated out. The second time I added a Tbs Mayo to the rest of ingredients except oil. Using a Cuisinart I slowly added the oil to the dressing. Not sure if it was the little mayo or the adding oil slowly in the Cuisinart but it emulsified and did not separate. Next time I will double the recipe as the family used it on sandwiches, chicken, and salads.
Could I use Safflower oil in place of vegetable oil? If so, is it equal parts? Thanks!
Hi Traci, yes! Equal parts! It’s all pretty much the same, a light flavorless oil. :) Thank you!
Could I use Stevia in place of sugar in the poppyseed dressing?
When do I cook it for the 1 minute?
Hi Renata, sorry for the confusion on this. “Cook time” just refers to how long it takes to make the recipe. There is prep time (the time it takes to get the ingredients ready to go) and “cook time” which is the time it takes to complete the instructions. In this case, there is no cooking. It is literally just the time it takes to mix everything together. Does that make sense? I hope so. Sorry for that. Cook time = how long it takes to follow the directions.
I had mustard seed so I put that in my Ninja first, used rice vinegar and a tablespoon of red wine. Turned out awesome! Used it on spinach, walnut strawberry salad. Added cranberries and get a as well to my salad. My husband asked me to remember this recipe since I cook a lot with no recipe
How long would this be good for?
I generally go by the guidelines from the CDC, the National Restaurant Assocation, and Cook’s Illustrated. In this case, they unanimously say 4 days. However, I can’t point to anything specifically that would go bad in a week, or 2 weeks, or even 3 weeks. These are all shelf-stable, pantry ingredients that on their own would last months. So if you combine them, why would it drop to 4 days? I have no idea. Maybe it doesn’t. But I don’t want anyone to get sick so I always follow the guidelines!
How many servings would this have? The calorie and sodium seem very high or am I missing something?
Yes, the nutrition info is all wrong, sorry about that! That was the info for the total recipe. It should be 8 servings (2 tablespoons each) and I’m fixing the label right now to show the right calorie count. Sorry about that!
Mine came out a bit oily. I added a dash more vinegar and put in the Nutribullet. Perfect!
Hey KeyKey! Sorry about that. Things like the amount of oil are probably a personal preference, but I’m so happy you knew how to fix it up for yourself. The Nutribullet is a brilliant idea! Thanks so much for your feedback on the recipe.
This dressings so delicious! I used an extra tablespoon of white vinegar and used dijon mustard instead of dried ( I didn’t have any). This was absolutely delicious and so light! Thank you!
Thank you, Leslie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. :) Good call on the dijon, I am going to try that!
Has a salad dressing ever looked so pretty? Noooo it hasn’t. This looks gorge and it’s so simple. Yummmmay!
This dressing came out to be such a beautiful ombre! It looks like a sunset :)