We are all about switching up our salad fun with this healthy, flavorful Oil Free Herb Vinaigrette that is bursting with tangy goodness and aromatic herbs and spices. Drizzled on rainbow veggie wholesomeness, this simple and easy dressing is sure to absolutely delight your taste buds, making it this week’s awesome Whip It Up Wednesday recipe.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.
Hi there, Ameera here!
This week’s Whip It Up Wednesday is our Oil Free Herb Vinaigrette salad dressing. This salad dressing is very versatile. You can literally take it in a bunch of directions based upon personal preferences. Our family was completely divided over the numerous kitchen tests that we performed.
Mom loves tangy flavors, so she actually preferred less tahini and maple syrup, while Dad loved more stone-ground mustard and maple syrup. I actually like the vinaigrette more on the mild side as the recipe is written, but again, you can totally customize this one.
Taste Testing
I think one of the biggest mistakes Mom and I made when we started creating salad dressings was taste testing the dressing straight from the mixing bowl (or blender). While the dressing may taste amazing during the mixing process, keep in mind that it has to typically cover a lot of salad so that flavor really needs to POP.
Now, when we create salad dressings, we keep a tiny bowl of lettuce then drizzle a tiny bit of dressing on the small salad, mix it well, then taste test. This practice will give you a much better perspective on flavor. Especially when we are offering you tips and ideas on which direction you want to take your salad dressing.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
Whip it up Wednesday
As you already know, every Wednesday, we feature a quick and easy recipe that can be “whipped up” in 20 minutes or less. This recipe can be made in about 5 minutes, which really helps speed things up in the kitchen.
Veggie Bowl Fun
We love this dressing! Here’s how we created our salad:
- Salad greens
- Kidney beans
- Tomato slices
- Radish slices
- Carrot ribbons
- Chopped cucumbers
- Cooked brown rice pasta
- Hemp seeds
- Oil Free Herb Vinaigrette
- Served with some Quinoa Flatbread on the side
We hope you enjoy our new Whip It Up Wednesday quick and easy ideas!
If you try this zesty dressing, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Products Used:
- High-Speed blender
Oil Free Herb Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: about 3/4 cup 1x
- Category: Dressing
Description
Switching up our salad fun with this healthy, flavorful Oil Free Herb Vinaigrette that is bursting with tangy goodness and aromatic herbs and spices. Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, no highly processed ingredients.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar *
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 2 to 3 teaspoons organic maple syrup (+/-)
- 1 teaspoon white miso *
- 2 to 3 teaspoon tahini (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon stone ground mustard (+/-)
- 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onions
- 1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme leaves *
- Pinch rubbed sage
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- Pinch black pepper (+/-)
Instructions
- Place the Base Ingredients and Spice/Herb Ingredients into a small bowl, whisk until smooth and emulsified.
- Taste test and add adjust seasonings accordingly. Serve over your favorite salad greens.
Notes
*Tang versus Mild: Our family was completely divided over the amount of tang we liked in this dressing. Some preferred less tahini and maple syrup to make it more tangy while others preferred to ramp up the tahini and maple syrup to make it less tangy. We suggest you start with the smaller amounts of tahini and maple syrup and then taste test by placing a small amount of salad in a tiny bowl and putting a small amount of dressing on it, mixing well, then taste testing to get a feel for how the dressing disperses itself on the salad fixings. Then adjust the ingredients accordingly.
*Vinegar: Purchasing a good quality vinegar is important. Less expensive brands tend to be tarter and more acidic than a good quality vinegar.
*Dried Thyme Crushed Leaves: We use Penzeys French Thyme. It has amazing flavor. If you can’t find dried crushed thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme, but use half the amount.
*Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Serving: Makes approximately ¾ cup of dressing.
*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 10 days.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.
This salad dressing is SOOOOO Good! Hubby likes it too, and wants me to keep this one on hand, and I have to say, it’s my current favorite dressing. Thanks ladies!
Hi there Jessica 🙂
Yaaaay!!! We are so thrilled to hear that you and your Hubby enjoyed this recipe! So excited to that he wants to keep this dressing on hand and it’s currently a favorite of yours – WOOT! We appreciate you, your awesome feedback, and for taking the time to write. *HUGS*
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I agree with Jessica, and my husband agrees with her husband. The dressing is delicious and one of my favorites (among many that you have posted)
Hi there Alexandra 🙂
Woo hoo!!! We are so glad you and your husband are enjoying this dressing and that it is one of your favorites – *happy dance.* We appreciate you sharing your awesome feedback and for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin 🙂
I can’t tell you how excited I became just reading your blog when you said oil-free! I just started the Dean Ornish Diet to reverse atherosclerosis, arthritis, eczema, and TIA’s because Dr Ornish totally reversed occluded coronary arteries with a 10% fat diet. A 10% oil diet means NO olives, NO avocado, NO free oils of any kind! But my mentation and overall well being is much more valuable than anything can taste after watching my grandmother, caring for my mother, and seeing the devastation my 2 uncles endured before dying of dementia. From the bottom of my heart thank… Read more »
Hi there Leona 🙂
Thank you so much for the awesome comment! We sincerely appreciate you taking time to write and leave this great review. We are happy to be on this beautiful Whole Food Plant Based diet (Dr. Dean Ornish) with you.
Happy Cooking!
-Ameera and Robin
What is a good quality vinegar?
Hi there Jeanne,
Thank you for your question. It’s a loaded one, but it is really relative. We use an inexpensive red wine vinegar, but that is what we grew up on, Regina Red Wine Vinegar, that is what we use in all our recipes that indicate “Red Wine Vinegar”. Here is the Amazon link to Regina Red Wine Vinegar: https://www.amazon.com/Regina-Fine-Wine-Vinegar-Ounce/dp/B0054KSA5I/ref=sr_1_23?crid=2OLGD1ENAX1GR&keywords=red+wine+vinegar&qid=1665332969&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0LjQzIiwicXNhIjoiMy44MSIsInFzcCI6IjMuNzMifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=red+wine+vinegar%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-23
We use Marukan Rice Vinegar, here is the link to the Rice Vinegar: https://www.amazon.com/Marukan-Genuine-Brewed-Rice-Vinegar/dp/B00KO3CKTC/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1AMIETRHKPCZU&keywords=Rice+wine+vinegar&qid=1665333085&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjAyIiwicXNhIjoiNC4zNCIsInFzcCI6IjQuMjQifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=rice+wine+vinegar%2Caps%2C113&sr=8-6
I hope this helps.
-Ameera and Robin
THIS is the dressing I have been searching for all my plant based life! Sooo good. This will be my go to dressing from now on. I didn’t have red wine vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar and it was still delicious. 🙂
Hi there Tonya,
YAYYYY!! We are so happy that you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for the awesome review.
-Ameera and Robin
This is delicious! I do recommend following the advice about playing with the amounts of maple and tahini to get it to where you like it. I don’t like sweet dressings so I did 1 tsp maple and 3 tsp tahini and it’s perfect.
Hi there Shelly,
YAYYYY!!! We are so happy that you gave this recipe a try and enjoyed it! Thank you so much for the awesome review of this recipe!
-Ameera and Robin
Really flavorful dressing, love the nutritional yeast in there! Mine was incredibly acidic at first even on my salad so I had to go back and add the maximum amounts of tahini and maple syrup to cut the acid and that helped. Great advice about testing it on some lettuce while making it.
Hi there Tracy
Woo hoo! We are SUPER excited you enjoyed this recipe with all the flavors. We appreciate you sharing your wonderful review. And we are glad that the lettuce taste testing worked for you too. Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
-Ameera and Robin