Easy Homemade Italian Dressing

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You only need a handful of simple pantry ingredients to make this easy homemade Italian dressing, perfect for salads, meat marinades, pasta salads, or any recipe you have that calls for a bottle of Italian dressing.

I know that non-sugary/baked good recipes aren’t anything new here, but you’re probably finding it a little difficult to get excited about salad dressing when I have things like sprinkle-filled cookies, cake that tastes like popsicles, and mint chocolate chip pie in the recipe archives.

Sorry, friends. I promise, you’ll be pretty excited about this dressing by the time I’m done with you.

First, how excited do you get about fresh vegetables in the summer time? Here in the April household, we get pretty pumped about them. Quiche, quinoa patties, stuffed peppers, salads, and hummus (for all that dipping, of course) frequent our kitchen when the produce is abundant. We are veggie lovers to the core!

While the grocery store has come a long way in the last several years with dietary accommodations, it can be a little more difficult to find a gluten- and dairy-free Italian dressing that doesn’t have soy.

And I know, you’re going to say “but Lynn, this Italian dressing recipe has Parmesan cheese in it!!” but guess what? You can leave it out and the integrity of your zesty Italian dressing will stay intact.

Phew.

The base of this dressing is extra virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar. To bring the majority of the flavor, we’ll use Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, dried basil, dried oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper.

To add a little sweetness to cut the acidity we’ll use some honey, and then a bit of lemon juice to help soften whatever it is you’re adding it to (like a salad).

While most cake and cookie recipes call for ingredients and methods in a specific order, the nice thing about this salad dressing recipe is that you could, theoretically, go in whatever order you want and still wind up with the same desired outcome.

All of the ingredients get mixed together, but they’re in the order I listed them because it’s the easiest. But you know what, friend? You do you. I’m just excited you’ll be making your own dressing.

It will separate and become a little solid when it’s cold, but we just let it sit out for a few minutes at room temp, stick the jar in the microwave for about 10 seconds, or run it under hot water for a bit to loosen it up.

How to use this Italian Dressing Recipe (Easy)

A quick shake or swirl and your homemade Italian dressing is ready to go in or on all your tasty dishes!

You could even use it as a marinade. Hello, grilling season!

You can use this the way you’d use any Italian dressing! I like to use it in my spaghetti pasta salad, as a marinade, or as a dip for veggies. Consider mixing it with a little sour cream to make a hardier dip.