Blood Orange Vinaigrette Salad Dressing With Fresh Thyme

Add the unique flavour and colour of blood oranges to your salads with this tangy blood orange vinaigrette salad dressing. This take on a traditional vinaigrette uses fresh blood orange zest and juice for sweet and tart citrus flavour. Together with traditional Dijon mustard, this vinaigrette is also flavoured with a generous amount of chopped fresh thyme.

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What is vinaigrette?

Vinaigrette dressing is a simple ‘French’ salad dressing made with olive oil and vinegar and seasoned, often with mustard, salt and pepper and sometimes garlic.

There are lots of ways to vary a vinaigrette recipe. For example, you could use white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar. Some recipes add lemon juice and sweetener, such as sugar, honey or maple syrup. Others add herbs for more flavour. In this recipe we have added chopped fresh thyme, which is one of the many herbs that go with orange.

Using blood orange juice in vinaigrette

Fresh blood orange juice is a wonderful way to add flavour to a vinaigrette. The sweet tart taste of blood oranges adds the acididity of vinegar and/or lemon juice in the dressing, balanced by the natural sweetness of the juice. This makes adding any extra sweetener optional.

Blood oranges also have a beautiful deep red orange colour that adds a wow factor to this salad dressing.

Salads that go with blood orange vinaigrette

This blood orange salad dressing is a great way to add flavour to a simple leafy green salad. It also goes well with salads made with baby spinach or arugula (rocket). Our list of flavours that go with orange has lots of ideas for different salad ingredients to use with this blood orange vinaigrette.

Blood orange vinaigrette dressing is also a perfect match for any salad made with blood oranges. Cutting orange slices for a salad usually produces quite a lot of fresh orange juice, which you can save to use in the dressing.

Another delicious way to use this blood orange dressing is to pour it over cooked green vegetables like asparagus or green beans.

Blood orange vinaigrette ingredients

To make this small batch orange vinaigrette salad dressing, you’ll need:

• zest of 1 blood orange
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice (juice of 1 to 2 blood oranges)
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• pinch salt (optional)
• 1- 2 teaspoons maple syrup (optional, to taste)
• 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

If you don’t have Dijon mustard you can substitute yellow mustard or seeded mustard instead.

Method

The simplest way to make salad dressing is in a glass jar. Just choose one with a well fitting lid.

As this recipe uses citrus zest, if you are using store bought fruit it’s a good idea to wash the oranges and remove any citrus wax first.

Finely grate the blood orange rind with a fine grater/zester and add to a clean lidded jar.

Halve the blood orange and extract juice with a citrus juicer, adding 1/2 cup of juice to the jar with the zest. Add the olive oil, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, ground black pepper, salt and chopped thyme to the jar. Replace the lid, and shake well to thoroughly combine.

Using a clean spoon, taste a small amount of the dressing. Depending on the sweetness of your blood oranges, your dressing should taste just right. If you feel that it needs a little extra sweetness, add 1 to 2 teaspoons of maple syrup to the jar and shake again to mix thoroughly.

Pour over your favourite salad and enjoy, or store in the fridge in the airtight jar to use later.

This recipe makes enough dressing for a large salad for around 8 people. If you need a larger quantity, simply double the ingredient quantities and prepare your dressing in a larger jar.

Blood orange vinaigrette salad dressing will keep in the airtight jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Love cooking with blood oranges?

If you love blood oranges, try our blood orange loaf cake with orange icing or blood orange cookies. You’ll find more ideas in our blood orange recipe collection. Or discover delicious ways to use blood oranges in our collection of blood orange drink recipes. You’ll find lots more recipes using blood oranges and other citrus fruits on our recipe page.

For cooking with oranges and all types of citrus, make sure to read about choosing the best citrus juicer for home cooks and our 7 essential citrus kitchen tools. And don’t forget to subscribe for more recipes and citrus inspiration.

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