This lemon and thyme vinaigrette dressing has been my healthy go to salad dressing and marinade for years. I’m sure I found it in a magazine or on line at some point (but I don’t remember when or where, sorry!). It was definitely before I started blogging so forgive me if it is yours. What I do know, is that this is delicious, easy to make and I usually have a jar in the fridge.
This is just a great “go-to” dressing for almost all salads. I love it on a big mixed salad, on antipasto salads and even on my Greek Salads. It is easy to make and you can feel free to swap out the the thyme for the “herb of the week” or whatever is in the fridge… you decide. I also love that you can make this in the jar and take it with you for family BBQs, etc. I’ll serve this on a big salad for my Father’s Day BBQ Menu or take it to a friend’s house with the salad and just dress and toss before serving. It keeps everything fresh if I can just assemble it at my destination.
To get started with the recipe, gather all your ingredients. In a small jar with a screw top lid, add all the ingredients except the olive oil and stir until well combined. Add the olive oil, put on the screw top lid and shake vigorously until well combined. Taste. Adjust seasoning to your preferred taste. Add more salt or pepper, more of the fresh thyme, etc.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a small jar with a screw top lid, you can whisk the ingredients in a bowl then slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking constantly until everything is well combined. You can keep this in the refrigerator for up to a week. Just bring to room temperature first and shake your jar hard before serving. (See why that jar comes in handy? LOL)
One of the most important things in this recipe is the fresh lemon juice. Depending on how juicy your lemons are, you may need to juice 1-3 of them to get 3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
My preference is always fresh off my neighbor’s tree! I know, how lucky am I? But if that isn’t possible, a farmer’s market works and if you have to use those hard lemons we tend to find at the grocery store, here are a few tips for making the juices flow.
- Roll the lemon on the countertop, pressing down to break up some of the membranes and segments in the lemon.
- Put in the microwave for 10-15 second. This always gets the juices flowing.
- Wait about 30 seconds before cutting into the lemon – it will squirt!
- Use a handy juicer and squeeze out the lemon juice. I’ve had this old manual lemon and lime juicer and reamer for years and it still does the trick.
If you like this recipe be sure to check out other sauces and condiments I make and use all the time to enhance my meals. Each of these have multiple uses (and lots of recipe ideas). Some of my favorites are:
Lemon and Thyme Vinaigrette Dressing
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 8 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 3 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1/4 Tsp. Kosher salt
- 5 Cranks of coarsely ground fresh black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. Fresh thyme, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a small jar with a screw top lid, add all the ingredients except the olive oil and stir until well combined. Add the olive oil, put on the screw top lid and shake vigorously until well combined. Taste. Adjust seasoning to your preferred taste. Serve over your favorite salad.
