Absolutely Amazing Balsamic Vinaigrette

I am so tired of having to pay $5.00 or even more for a salad dressing that  doesn’t taste cheap and chemically.  While I am all for eating the best food, in taste as well nutrition content and lack of artificial ingredients; the health food/organic movement has resulted in anything “good for you” having ever increasing prices.  And don’t even get me started on my pet peeve that the people who need to eat healthy the most are often the least able to afford it.  But I digress.

So I started looking for a balsamic vinaigrette recipe that would taste as good as the expensive stuff we get in the stores, but be cheaper and better for us as well.  Unfortunately, most of the recipes called for mixing balsamic vinegar with oil and salt & pepper and being done with it.  Functional? Yes. Easy? Yes. Tastes Great? No. Hold together in the fridge without separating? No. (I don’t know about you but separated salad dressing always makes me wonder if it is still good. I know it is a natural process, but still….) So I set out to create a tasty recipe myself.

I started with the basics, vinegar, oil, salt & pepper and then let my taste buds dictate the rest.  I also checked in with my own personal food science reference Cooks Illustrated to find out why it separated and how to stop separating.  The resulting recipe was interesting, fairly simple, and tasted 10 times better than the most expensive Balsamic Vinaigrette I have ever bought.  And most of the ingredients are common in every kitchen so it was far cheaper than buying it.  Try it yourself and see.

Absolutely Amazing Balsamic Vinaigrette

½ cup good quality balsamic vinegar
4 Tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons Honey
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon Teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon spice mustard
1 Tablespoon Mayo (this is the ingredient that prevents separating, be aware if you leave it out you may have some separation as your dressing sits)
1 teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon paprika
leaves from one small sprig of rosemary
1 cup oil (olive, canola or vegetable)
Salt & Pepper to taste

I use a liquid measuring cup to measure all my liquids and then add the other ingredients right into the cup and use my immersion blender to process them.  If you don’t have an immersion blender just measure them into your blender and pulse a few times to mix.  Make sure you store this in the fridge and use within a month.