Creamy Greek Salad Dressing Recipe

To make salads taste great, one good idea is to drizzle creamy Greek salad dressing on top. However, it’s a mistake to think that that’s all Greek salad dressing is good for. Greek salad dressing is exceptionally versatile as it can also be used as a marinade for whatever you may wish to throw on the grill from steak to veggies. The best Greek salad dressing can be made really quickly and easily, offering lots of flavor to your meal. Let’s learn how to make it!

Homemade Greek Salad Dressing

A conventional Greek salad dressing can basically be considered a Greek vinaigrette because it contains olive oil, a kick of flavor from garlic and it has a level of acidy from some vinegar. Creamy Greek salad dressing is also incredibly easy to create and is helpful to have in the kitchen. You can use it not just on salads or on the BBQ; it can also serve as a delicious sauce for pasta or you can use it as a dip. A simple salad dressing is usually one part vinegar to four parts olive oil, but you can experiment with adding other ingredients especially if you wish to make it thicker or give it extra tang.

Creamy Greek Salad Dressing

You have the option to make your salad dressing as creamy as you wish by including optional ingredients to change the consistency of the dressing. These enhancements on the basic Greek vinaigrette recipe mean that you can create a great pasta sauce too. If you include Greek yogurt or even feta cheese to the vinaigrette, it can turn it into something extra special. It will not last as long when yogurt is added as it may all get eaten up quickly because it’s so tasty.

Greek Salad Dressing Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons Greek feta cheese, (optional)
• 3 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (optional)

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients in a mason jar. Add crumbled feta cheese and/or yogurt if you wish to make the dressing creamier.
• Seal the jar tightly and shake the jar vigorously until the ingredients have emulsified. This should take around 30 seconds.
• Use immediately or you will need to shake it in the jar to emulsify the salad dressing again before you can use it.

If you want to make the salad dressing creamy, substitute yogurt for the oil. Do this by mixing the vinegar and herbs in the jar, and after they have been mixed, add the yogurt one spoon at a time until you have just half of the amount of oil that the recipe requires. This lets you control how dense and creamy the Greek salad dressing turns out to be. At this stage, you can complete the rest of the recipe with yogurt but do add some oil if you feel that the dressing is too thick. Keep in mind that the main benefit of making your own Greek salad dressing is that it is possible to make it just how you like it.

Notes

• You can adapt this Greek dressing recipe in a wide variety of ways.  If you do not have fresh herbs, you can try using dried herbs from your store cupboard.
• Red wine vinegar gives a creamy Greek salad dressing a signature flavor, but you can replace it with balsamic vinegar or apple cider vinegar for a different flavor.
• You can try adding Dijon or horseradish mustard to give the Greek salad dressing some extra heat and flavor.
• Fresh garlic can be overpowering so you can instead substitute it with garlic powder or just leave it out if you wish.

Storage of Greek Salad Dressing

If stored in an airtight container, a jar of Greek salad dressing can be left in your refrigerator for around a week. Generally, however, you should try to make one batch of dressing at a time to use up on the same day. Because homemade salad dressings do not contain any preservatives, it will go bad quickly, although the vinegar and oil in the dressing should mean that it could stay good in the fridge for at least a couple of weeks.

It really is that easy to follow a creamy Greek salad dressing recipe. As soon as you’ve gathered up all your ingredients in a jar, it’s as simple as mixing them together and then pouring your resulting dressing onto your Greek salad.