With just four basic ingredients, our traditional French vinaigrette brings a tangy, balanced touch to any salad.
It’s a quick, go-to dressing that adds fresh, vibrant flavor in no time to your salads.
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TL;DR
The French Vinaigrette is the basic version of a vinegar oil dressing that is commonly prepared all over France.
The next level, version of this is the Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette, which is equally common in French homes. Compared, the mustard vinaigrette makes for a better emulsion thanks to the Dijon style mustard.
People prepare it from scratch in France, they never buy it in stores because it's super straightforward.
By the way, this is not a French Dressing, like the one commonly sold in the US in bottles.
Ingredient Notes
- Vinegar — We tend to use natural vinegars in France to make our vinaigrette. That means a white wine vinegar, an apple cider vinegar or a flavored vinegar, such as Tarragon vinegar or herb infused vinegar.
- Salt — Any salt, but we do use more often premium salts such as Fleur de Sel.
- Black Pepper — Regular black pepper will do, but if you want to try out new flavors, get fruity Tellicherry black peppercorn.
- Oil — A neutral flavored oil works best, such as vegetable oil, grape seed oil, sunflower oil or canola oil. I like to purchase cold-pressed oils because they tend to be of a better quality.
Preparation Process Overview
Step 1
Pour vinegar into a dressing shaker, small bottle or a bowl.
Add to that the salt and crushed black pepper.
Step 2
If you use a bottle or salad dressing shaker, close with a lid tight and shake well. If you use a bowl, mix it all well.
Step 3
Pour now to that the oil and repeat the mixing/ shaking process until it's well incorporated.
The dressing ingredients will separate soon after mixing, so shake before every use very well. If you blend the dressing in a mixer, it will hold better.
Use the dressing on your salad soon after mixing/shaking.
📖 Recipe
4 Ingredient French Vinaigrette Dressing
Instructions
- Pour vinegar into a dressing shaker, small bottle or into a small mixing bowl.⅓ cup Vinegar
- Add to that the black pepper and salt.½ Teaspoon Salt, ⅛ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- Mix everything well. If you use a bottle or shaker, close with a lid tight and shake until well combined.
- Now pour in at last the oil. Mix or shake it all well until the ingredients are combined. The longer you shake it, the better the dressing will hold. The dressing ingredients separate in time, and that's normal, and therefore you have to shake it again before every use.½ cup Oil
Notes
Equipment
- 1 Salad shaker or small bottle to mix the dressing or to store
Nutrition
Serving
Use it as required over your salad. For a medium-sized salad, I use about 1–2 Tablespoons of this dressing.
We usually use this dressing over a green salad, but you can enhance most French side salads with this dressing.
Besides, I love to pour this dressing into two cut open avocado halves. We serve them up at home as a starter.
Add this dressing to your fresh and raw oyster table, to serve with boiled leeks or endives. Or serve it a long, a French meal such as a pot-au-feu.
If you like tangy flavors, my secret tip is to use this dressing over Indian lentil dishes, such as the masoor dal or the Indian lentil soup.
Storing
The dressing can be stored cooled for a month at least in your refrigerator.
More Dressing Ideas:
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