Honey Red Wine Vinaigrette

So we couldn’t, in good conscience, only post sweets leading up to Christmas! Actually, we don’t really feel that badly about our coma-inducing barrage of goodies, but this two-part recipe is so festive, fun, and delicious that we couldn’t leave it out. It’s perfect for a fancy Christmas Eve dinner or a neighborhood potluck, a great accompaniment to a ham, or topped with grilled chicken breast for a meal at home with your family.

What is this magical mystery? It’s a yummy salad, sweet, savory, and crunchy, full of all sorts of amazing flavors that blend together perfectly. And a huge part of that is the dressing, which may just be my favorite salad dressing ever. Of all the dressings of all the world. Whether or not I make the whole salad, I love to keep this dressing whipped up in the refrigerator to use on everything. Like, say, a leaf of lettuce I tear off and dip in the dressing just so I don’t have to resort to licking the spoon. It’s that good. And the best part? I’m willing to bet if you don’t already have the ingredients in your cupboard, they’re on your shopping list.

 

Look at that gorgeous blush color! Yum!

This dressing goes with : Candied Walnut Salad
woman in denim shirt holding a salad bowl
Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite Recipes, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, Fine Cooking, The Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. This is my absolute favorite salad dressing, thanks for sharing it! I can’t wait to make it again for Thanksgiving next week.

  2. Quick question– (and please forgive me for this one) but can sugar be substituted for the honey? No matter what a minuscule amount a recipe calls for, I feel like it’s the only thing I ever taste!

  3. possibly silly question….does it store for up to 2-3 weeks or refridgerate for 2-3 weeks before using?

  4. I have been looking for a salad dressing bottle just like the one you show the dressing in. If you know where I can buy one, please let me know.

  5. This looks great! I’m going to make it tomorrow to put over your Candied Walnut Salad for an Easter celebration with my family. Can you substitute another kind of oil for the canola oil? (i.e. vegetable oil or olive oil?)

  6. I just want to thank you for posting this recipe! It has become my go-to recipe and is our ultimate favorite. I’ve thrown out all of our bottled dressings because I just make my own now. 🙂

  7. I stumbled upon this recipe on the internet a few years ago, and I just wanted to thank you for sharing it. I had lost the recipe and had run out, so I just searched for it again and was pleased that I was able to locate it. This is my very favorite dressing; I totally love it.

  8. Oops! I accidentally deleted my post while wrangling my 20 month old. My fav used to be Hidden Valley Ranch when I was a kid, but now I prefer to make my own. My fav dressing is one that combines my love for ranch,mexican food and experimenting in the kitchen! It starts with buttermilk ranch and gets a squeeze of lime juice, handful of cilantro and a couple tomatillos…and maybe a jalepeno if I want to spice things up! It’s sooo yummy!

  9. I love the cruet too! I’m going to have to get one of those. It is so much fancier than my Tupperware plastic dressing shaker thing 🙂 Nothing against Tupperware, it’s great for mixing dressings but not the prettiest for serving. My favorite salad dresssing is blue cheese, I love the stuff! I really like the Wishbone brand, but it’s all delish!

  10. The dressing looks so good – I really need a good Christmas salad are you going to post a salad to go with the dressing before Christmas? No pressure but every recipe I have tried from your blog are amazing!

  11. We like a good salad BUT my husband wont put anything on it other then Light House Blue Cheese Dressing. I think I might whip this up and sneek it on the table one night….

  12. Darci!! Oh my goodness, it’s been forever. I didn’t see an email for you on your profile so if you see this you need to email me (general @ ourbestbites . com) so we can catch up!

    There are two of us here behind this gig, so part of the “talent” you see is from Kate! (Like this dressing)

    So are you looking for a gingerbread recipe to make a house? Or cookies? Or gingerbread cake?

  13. Sara, I am SOOOO impressed with your talent. This is Darci from forever ago. I plan to make the ginger-spice cookies tomorrow. Do you have a gingerbread kid recipe that you love?

  14. I am in charge of leafy salad for Christmas Eve! I cannot wait to take this. My favorite dressing is also a red wine vinaigrette (a bit different recipe though) that goes along with a walnut, spinach salad–I can taste it right now! Thanks for the recipe. I (you) might be the Eve hero 🙂

  15. This dressing is good; I remember having it at your house. I would have to say I love ranch and Caesar. Of course I have yet to find a supper market ranch that is to die for. Someone once gave me a ranch from some little farm in northern Utah – that was fabulous; I just have no idea how to get it :^( As for Caesar, it MUST be homemade, specifically the kind from those really expensive little Italian restaurants where you can only afford to buy a salad… “I paid what for salad?? Thank goodness I didn’t get the veal!” So worth it.

  16. Love dressings and this looks wonderful! My favorite dressing is the homestyle ranch from Lighthouse, on green beans, pizza, salad, chicken, you name it I probably eat it with ranch. My favorite homemade is thousand island, we use our canned zucchini relish then put it on chef salad or for dipping ruebens, yummy!

  17. Salad?? What the heck are you trying to do here Kate?? lol.

    This dressing looks awesome, I love the color. A do love good homemade ranch, but also anything with citrus. The Bermuda Vinaigrette, and the dressing on our Steak and Mango Salad are a couple of my faves.

  18. I LOVE the cruet!! Our favorite dressing in our house is Italian, zesty to be precise. This looks delicious. I’m thinking my spinach salad would be great with this dressing!

  19. This dressing looks so pretty!

    I started writing something and then realized Derek and Mary already wrote what I wanted to say. Uncle Dan’s is THE BEST! I can’t find it in Utah anymore, so I have called an aunt who lives in Washington State to buy the jumbo thing at Costco and have her ship it to me!

  20. Amber, you’re totally gonna laugh, but I got the cruet for under 2 bucks at Walmart! 🙂

    That dressing sounds soooooo good…I’ve contemplated tossing some dijon mustard in–I may have to give it a shot!

  21. That looks delicious! I have a huge bottle of raw buckwheat honey I need to find a use for. I think I’ll give it a try. Also, where did you get your cruet? I love it…. My favorite salad dressing comes from my French friend, it’s almost the same as this one, but no honey, and lots of dijon mustard and fresh herbs. No recipe really, just a little bit of this and little bit of that, usually I do 2 parts oil to one part vinegar, then salt, pepper, garlic, herbs and a pinch of sugar to taste.

  22. Wow, I’m first!! That looks really good and super easy! I would have to say that my favorite is ranch. I know, totally boring. I don’t like bottled though, I have to make it from a dry mix called Uncle Dan’s and it’s incredibly hard to find in Utah. I have to stock up whenever we visit family in Idaho.