This is the EASIEST salad dressing to make-bar none. 5 pantry staples and you have a delicious, healthy red wine vinaigrette recipe for salads and sandwiches.
I remember the first time I made an “oil and vinegar” salad dressing.
I was in high school and had heard about these types of dressings but didn’t know enough about food to know what it actually was.
Nevertheless, I charged ahead with determination to make a pasta salad with a fantastic oil and vinegar salad dressing. I rifled through my mom’s cupboard and found oil and vinegar. Sadly, though, they turned out to be canola oil and white vinegar.
My dad was kind enough to choke down my “pasta salad.” It was just noodles with canola oil and vinegar on top. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds. I didn’t really understand where I went wrong, but I resolved to keep practicing.
I’ve gotten better.
Above: An Easy Greek Pasta Salad I created for the Oh Sweet Basil blog.
This Red Wine Vinaigrette is easy and fabulous. It’s exactly what I was shooting for back then, but this time I’m hitting a bullseye. 5 pantry ingredients (including salt!) is all it takes for the easiest vinaigrette, ever.
It’s also PERFECT for my Italian Antipasto Salad and Mediterranean Chopped Salad! Photos below.
Homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt to taste start with 1/4 teaspoon (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
- In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, and salt. Store covered in the refrigerator and use within 4 days.
Thank you I will be returning
I added honey 😋
Oh yeah, that’s THE BEST. So good. I have done that too, in fact a lot of recipes call for it. Good call. :) -Meggan
I don’t understand. Is this person speaking English? Or is this a rudimentary poem or a haiku?
HA HA HA! No it’s spam, that one slipped through. But your comment made me smile. :) -Meggan
I’m very picky about my Italian and dressing and this was good. Be sure you have very fresh olive oil as if it’s stale it will alter the taste. I add a few dashes of extra red wine vinegar and let set on the counter for about an hour before using. Take it out of the fridge about 30 minutes to an hour before using to let the olive oil come to room temperature. Yum.
Hi Meagan!
Is this really 163 calories for only 2 tablespoons?
It looks fantastic otherwise.
Hi Toni, thanks for the question! Yes, that is correct. Basically more than half of the recipe is olive oil, and there are 120 calories in one tablespoon of olive oil. If you want something lower calorie, I would increase the red wine vinegar to 1/2 cup (thus doing equal parts oil and vinegar). That would drop it to 123 calories per serving instead of 163 (and you’d have 8 servings total instead of 6). The other thing you could do is use less dressing overall. So maybe use just 1 tablespoon of this dressing and load up with extra vinegar so it’s not too dry. If you have any other questions or need anything else, just let me know! Thanks a lot! I hope you like the dressing. It’s my favorite. -Meggan
I’ve made this twice. Once for sandwich wraps and once for salad. Delicious on both! The olive oil solidified in the fridge when I kept the leftovers stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Any way to prevent that? Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Laurie, olive oil does that when it gets cold. There isn’t a way to prevent that, that I know of. I would just say, pull it out 15 or 20 minutes before you need it. Because the recipe has garlic in it, I wouldn’t recommend keeping it at room temperature all the time. You definitely want to keep it in the refrigerator. Thank you for your comment, I’m glad you like the recipe!
So Easy, So Good
Hi Blayne, just looking at the salt I have kosher salt listed (the coarse stuff). If by any chance you used table salt, it would have been twice as salty. Not saying that’s what happened, but I am going to change the recipe to just regular salt since that’s probably what most people have. And I’ll provide a range. Thanks again for letting me know!
That’s so sad! I’m going to adjust the recipe to change the amount of salt (list a range), obviously I make it the way I listed it but we all have different tastes. I appreciate the feedback.
What is the recipe for the salad shown, with the square white cheese and cucumbers? It looks awesome!
Hi Shanna! That’s a Greek Pasta salad (with feta cheese) that I published on a different blog, Oh Sweet Basil. Here’s the link! http://www.ohsweetbasil.com/easy-greek-pasta-salad-recipe.html I will definitely add this to the post, thank you for the idea! :)
I just made this and it’s delicious! So fresh tasting and simple. I love how quick this was to put together. Next time I’ll add fresh shallot. Thank you!
Yes Caitlin, a fresh shallot is great! I always add that if I have one. Great addition. Glad you like the dressing, it’s one of my faves. So easy! Thanks so much for reading, take care. :)