Honey Mustard Dressing
I am an absolute salad fanatic and feel there is no hope for me to be anything else. When we go to restaurants (when there isn’t a global pandemic, of course), I give one extra points for a great salad. If they bring out a salad that obviously came from a bag, it doesn’t much matter what else they do to try to impress me, they’ve already lost me.
And salad bars….. holy cats do I ever love those?!
Tossing modesty aside, though, none of them can beat the salads I make at home. There are several reasons, I suppose, but one is I get crazy creative and experiment, not only with different vegetables, but also different greens (and combinations of greens), cheeses, seeds, herbs, and other fun additions like real bacon bits, baby corn, dried cranberries, etc.
Another special touch that turns an average salad into a delicious experience is a great salad dressing.
I prefer to make the salad dressings we use for several reasons:
- Since the pandemic, I find that the more things I can make at home, the fewer things we run out of and have to go get. I always have the staples on hand for my favorite dressings (French, Honey Mustard, Ranch, and Vinaigrette), so having my favorites in a rotation simplifies my life and keeps me out of stores!
- You can control the amount of sugar and/or salt in your dressings. Some of us like things a little less sweet than others or a little less salty. When you make the dressings, yourself, you have full control over what’s added.
- I love the idea of avoiding additives.
- I have to eat gluten-free (health reasons) and anything I can make, myself, gives me more peace of mind.
- Most importantly…. they simply taste A LOT better. Even if there weren’t a 1, 2, 3, and 4 above – I’d still make my own salad dressings for reason 5 alone. I mean, come on… taste trumps everything else!
The easy recipe, below, is in my opinion the absolute best honey mustard dressing recipe you’ll find. This is my go-to dressing for grilled chicken salads and I also love it on a great chef salad.
Obviously, adjust the amount of honey to suit your own tastes – Dijon mustard too, as far as that goes. However, I would suggest starting with this combination first – this way you can tell if you, personally, want less (or more… I won’t judge!) honey.