This easy recipe for Homemade Vegan Italian Salad Dressing is fresh, tangy, and delicious. With red wine vinegar, garlic, and a bit of basil, it has all the classic Italian flavors we all love. Find out my secret below & discover why you will want to pour this on everything.
Why this Italian Dressing Recipe is Amazing: Though it has a traditional oil and vinegar base, two extra secret ingredients make this the best. It turns out "creamy & cheesy" without the dairy!
After so much frustration with unhealthy salad dressing at the stores, making my own dressing has become a more common practice. The amount of sugar in bottled dressings is ridiculous.
This Italian dressing recipe uses only real healthy ingredients. It has no sugar, no MSG, and no chemicals.
My favorite way to enjoy this homemade vinaigrette is on my VEGAN ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD. Ok, now let's get shaking.
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Ingredients for Italian Dressing
This Italian recipe for homemade salad dressing consists of a base of quality olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fresh lemon juice. To that, you add herbs, spices, and more.
It is also creamy thanks to the dijon mustard that emulsifies with the olive oil in this dressing. Plus this Italian dressing has an amazing "cheesy" flavor thanks to nutritional yeast.
What is Nutritional Yeast?
If you are not familiar with nutritional yeast, it's a vegan ingredient that replaces cheese in many recipes. It is commonly sold in flakes, granules, and powder forms. For this recipe, we are using flakes to mimic the grated texture of parmesan cheese.
Nutritional yeast is a good vegan source of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin B-1, riboflavin, and more. It contains all nine essential amino acids, which makes it a complete vegan protein. It has 8 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber in ¼ cup of nutritional yeast. Check out all the Benefits of Nutritional Yeast.
Here are important notes for some ingredients:
- Olive Oil - good quality extra virgin is key.
- Red Wine Vinegar - a classic.
- Lemon Juice - fresh is best for both acidity and freshness.
- Nutritional Yeast - the vegan item mimics the flavor of cheese without any dairy or animal ingredients.
- Dijon Mustard - the thicken and emulsify the dressing.
- Herbs & Spices - dried basil, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt, & pepper.
See the recipe card for full list, quantities, & any substitutions/variations.
How to Make Vegan Italian Dressing from Scratch
Like most homemade salad dressing recipes, they do not require much time, effort, or equipment. This vinaigrette is super simple to make. Once you have the ingredients ready, grab a mason jar, a container that has a tight-fitting lid, or a mixing bowl.
Hint: Make sure you are using a mason jar, container, or bowl that can hold more than 1 cup of liquid. This will make about 1 cup of dressing.
1 - Add the Liquid Ingredients
Begin by adding the liquid ingredients to the mason jar. Pour in the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fresh lemon juice.
2 - Add Remaining Ingredients
To the liquids, add the dijon mustard. Next, add the nutritional yeast. This dressing calls for 1 tablespoon for a mild cheese taste. You can add more if you wish - see the section below for "Variations".
Add the garlic powder & dried basil to the other ingredients.
Next add the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
3 - Shake to Mix & Emulsify
Once all the ingredients are in the mason jar. Screw the lid on tightly. I suggest holding it over the sink and tipping it a bit back and forth to make sure you have a good seal. You want to make sure no liquid will leak out once you get shaking.
This is what the dressing will look like before it is shaken. Look at all those pretty layers of oil, vinegar, spices, and more.
The nutritional yeast and mustard will settle on the bottom and the oil will rise to the top. In between are all the tasty herbs and spices.
With the lid on tight, shake the mason jar vigorously for 15 seconds. The dressing should come together.
Once it is mixed thoroughly it will look like this. All the spices and nutritional yeast will be floating around.
Serving & Storing
Try it on your favorite salad, as a marinade for seafood or chicken, drizzle over grilled veggies, or over Crispy Air Fryer Green Beans. It adds a punch of flavor to everything.
This Italian dressing recipe is also great as a dip for crusty bread like my CIABATTA or spread on a Mortadella Sandwich.
Store the dressing in the refrigerator for up to a week. Bring to room temperature for 5-10 minutes so it can easily shake up again (olive oil made solidify in the cold temperature)
Substitutions & Variations
This dressing recipe is already gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, sugar-free, and nut-free. Here are some ideas to switch out some ingredients.
- Red Wine Vinegar - instead of red wine vinegar you can use other vinegars such as white wine vinegar, Champagne vinegar, etc.
- Dijon Mustard - use any other mustard if you have it on hand, it will still help make the dressing creamy
- Nutritional Yeast - you can also use vegan parmesan cheese if you have that to enjoy a salty cheesy flavor for this dressing.
- Spicy - double the red pepper flakes
- Sweet - if it's too acidic for your tastebuds, add 1 teaspoon of zero-calorie monk fruit sweetener
For a great vegan marinade, try my BEST LEMON PEPPER MARINADE.
Vegan Italian Salad Dressing
Equipment
- Mason Jar or Container with tight-fitting lid
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Grab a mason jar, a container with a tight-fitting lid, or a small mixing bowl. Whichever you are using to make this dressing in, make sure it is at least 1.5 cups in its capacity.
- Begin by adding the liquid ingredients to the mason jar. Pour in the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and fresh lemon juice.
- To the liquids, add the dijon mustard. Next, add the nutritional yeast. This dressing calls for 1 tablespoon for a mild cheese taste.
- Add the garlic powder & dried basil to the other ingredients.
- Next add the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Once all the ingredients are in the mason jar. Screw the lid on tightly.
- With the lid on tight, shake the mason jar vigorously for 15 seconds. The dressing should come together.If using a bowl, grab a whisk to combine.
- Add it to your favorite salad - including my Vegan Italian Chopped Salad that I shared a link to above.
- Place leftovers in the refrigerator to keep fresh. It will be good for 7-10 days.
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