Summer Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing

A summer-perfect Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing, it will surely liven up your salads! I like to keep my dressings simple, so this is one made with only 5 ingredients. The instructions include both versions with natural sweeteners and a low carb, sugar free option.

Pour this directly onto greens, make a Spinach Salad, or even use this to top grilled meats. If you love making homemade dressings, you’ll also love this Vegan Ceasar Dressing and this Spicy Thai Almond dressing.

A Summery Homemade Salad Dressing to Top EVERYTHING!

I am not a fan of store bought salad dressings for 2 reasons:

• Buying pre-made dressings and sauces are expensive.
• They are filled with ingredients I don’t want in my food — excess sugars, sodium, and preservatives. A typical store bought dressing has over 20 ingredients.
• Store bought dressings are almost always made with processed seed oils (canola, soybean, sunflower), which are highly processed and inflammatory.

This beautiful raspberry vinaigrette dressing has only 5 ingredients — and they are all things you probably have in your kitchen (you might need to pick up raspberries, but I certainly always have them in the summer!).

What You’ll Need

Raspberries, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and honey. Sometimes I add a pinch of salt to bring out the flavors more, but that is a totally optional addition.

• Frozen Raspberries (you can use fresh, but frozen are sweeter and give the dressing the hot pink hue. The dressing will be red, not pink, if you use fresh berries).
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• White or Red Wine Vinegar
• Lemon Juice
• Sweetener – honey, maple syrup, date syrup, or monk fruit sweetener all work.
• Optional: A pinch of sea salt and black pepper to taste.

This bright pink dressing adds a special touch to salads. I have used this at summer dinner parties to dress up otherwise basic salads! Greens, with feta cheese, some tomatoes, some spiralized carrots and sliced cucumbers – believe me, everyone will think you’re a kitchen genius.

I make most of my sauces and dressings at home because of those reasons. They are cheaper, and you get to choose what goes in them — you control the salt, and the type and amount of sweetener. Most of the dressings I make are included in the recipes for salads, but I have a couple favorite salad dressings here.

Build your Own Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

I make vinaigrettes all the time. They take minutes to make, and having a jar ready in the fridge makes salads that much more enticing when it comes to meal time.

You can mix up this basic vinaigrette recipe to make your own combination:

• Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette: Sub balsamic vinegar for the white wine vinegar in this recipe.
• Tahini Lemon Vinaigrette: Leave out the raspberries, and use 3 tablespoons of tahini.
• Strawberry Vinaigrette: Use frozen strawberries in place of the raspberries.
• Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette: Add 2 tablespoons of toasted walnuts to this recipe and process until smooth.
• Mix up the Oil Used: I use olive oil more than anything else in my kitchen. However, walnut oil is amazing in salad dressings, and avocado oil is also a healthy choice.

Homemade dressings just taste better — so once you’ve tried making one and realizing how stupid simple they are, you’ll be hooked like I am!

You might also love this 5-Minute, Easy Vegan Salad Dressing.

How to Make Raspberry Salad Dressing

Step 1: I recommend using frozen raspberries in this recipe. You can use fresh, but frozen raspberries turn the dressing a bright pink color, while fresh make the dressing red. The frozen raspberries also make it lighter in texture.

Step 2: Add frozen raspberries, olive oil, lemon juice (fresh squeezed, if possible!), white wine vinegar and honey or monk fruit sweetener to a blender, and process until smooth and bright pink.

Optionally: Add a pinch of salt if desired. This is optional, but I like the extra flavors brought out by about 1/8 teaspoon.

Because the dressing is blended, you won’t notice the raspberry seeds. Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the dressing if you do notice any texture you don’t enjoy.

What to Serve with this Raspberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

• Grilled Chicken or Fish: Take some grilled meat, add it to a bed of greens, and top it with this summery dressing for a simple but delicious meal.
• Lettuce Wraps: Layer shredded chicken, veggie, and pistachios or pumpkin seeds on crunchy romaine leaves. Drizzle the raspberry vinaigrette on top.
• Veggie Dip: Entice yourself to eat more veggies for snacks by using this as a dip! Also great on green apples 🙂

How to Store Leftover Homemade Salad Dressing

Add dressing to a glass jar or sealed storage container. Refrigerate dressing for up to 2 weeks. Because it’s made with fresh ingredients and doesn’t have preservatives, it doesn’t stay fresh as long as bottled types.

The dressing will separate after sitting in the fridge for a couple days, but simple shake it up to get a lovely smooth texture again!

Other Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes:

• Spicy Thai Almond Salad Dressing, by Sunkissed Kitchen
• Poppyseed Honey Mustard, by Sunkissed Kitchen
• Hot Bacon Salad Dressing, by Sunkissed Kitchen

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