Name: Red Wine Vinaigrette
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: Salad Dressing
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard*; 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey; ¼ teaspoon kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 6 tablespoons neutral oil (grapeseed or vegetable) or olive oil; Fresh ground black pepper

Red wine vinaigrette adds a pop to any salad! Whip up this red wine vinegar dressing recipe using simple ingredients in 5 minutes.

Need a simple salad dressing to add life to a pile of greens? Look no further than this Red Wine Vinaigrette! The round, robust flavor of red wine vinegar is ideal for salad dressing, and this one delivers. It’s zingy and bright, with a strong acidity from the vinegar and a sweetness from honey. Red wine vinegar makes a super versatile salad dressing that works on anything from a kale salad to strawberry salad. Here’s what you’ll need for this zippy red wine vinegar dressing!

Ingredients in red wine vinaigrette

You know that bottle of red wine vinaigrette at the store with a creamy bright red dressing inside? It gets it’s color from Red 40: that’s a synthetic red dye. (We’re looking at you, Kraft.) That’s right: homemade red wine vinaigrette is not red! It’s naturally a yellow brown color, depending on the type of oil you use. Red wine vinegar is light in color and you only use a bit of it, so don’t look for a red color with this dressing. Here are the ingredients you’ll need for red wine vinegar dressing:

Red wine vinegar
Dijon mustard
Maple syrup or honey
Kosher salt
Garlic powder
Neutral oil or olive oil

Neutral oil vs olive oil

Both a neutral oil and olive oil work in this red wine vinaigrette! Here are a few pros and cons to using each one:

Neutral oil: Try grapeseed, organic vegetable or organic canola oil. We like the flavor best with a neutral oil (we used grapeseed). Another pro: the dressing doesn’t solidify in the refrigerator.
Olive oil: Olive oil is one of the healthiest cooking oils in the world. It has “good” fats or monounsaturated fats, which can have a beneficial effect on your heart when eaten in moderation. The flavor is still great with olive oil, though we liked neutral oil better here. The dressing also solidifies in the refrigerator when you use olive oil: make sure to bring to room temperature prior to serving.

Red wine vinegar salad dressing — Try this dressing on Endive Salad with Parmesan and Orange

Ways to serve red wine vinaigrette

This red wine vinaigrette is the perfect all-purpose salad dressing: it works in so many different applications from savory to fruity to sweet. Here are some salad recipes where red wine vinegar dressing works well:

Green salads like Spring Mix Salad, Frisee Salad, Endive Salad, Goat Cheese Arugula Salad, Perfect Spinach Salad or Favorite Chopped Salad
Kale salad like The BEST Kale Salad
Salads with fruit like Strawberry Salad, Blueberry Salad, Blackberry Salad, Apple Salad or Pear Salad
Citrus salads like Fennel Orange Salad or Simple Citrus Salad
Veggie salads like Sweet Potato Salad, Fennel Salad with Parmesan, or Butternut Squash Salad
Main dish salads like Vegetarian Cobb Salad or Smoked Salmon Salad

More homemade salad dressings

Homemade salad dressing tastes better and is all natural, with no additives or preservatives! Here are some of our favorite salad dressing recipes and healthy salad dressings to make at home:

Try our classic Balsamic Vinaigrette or Easy Vinaigrette
Opt for creamy Caesar Dressing or Ranch Dressing
Go for easy Italian Dressing
Whisk up Maple Vinaigrette or Honey Vinaigrette
Try healthy Creamy Salsa Dressing or Green Goddess Dressing

Best Balsamic Vinaigrette

Caesar Dressing

Homemade Italian Dressing

Easy Vinaigrette Recipe

This red wine vinegar dressing recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.