Easy Honey French Salad Dressing
This super easy Honey French Salad Dressing is simple to make at home and a heck of a lot tastier than what comes in a bottle!!! Less sugar and oil than the typical French dressing recipe and so delicious!! If you’ve never made salad dressing, this is the perfect recipe to try!!
This Honey French Dressing isn’t as heavy as supermarket versions and is the perfect topping for so many salads!
Why You Must Make
On a regular basis, the hubby will not eat salad because I have dressed it with my best balsamic vinaigrette, a favorite homemade salad dressing. He prefers a bottle (sigh) of French, Catalina, Ranch or Blue Cheese. So I recently surprised him by making this homemade honey French salad dressing. He gave it high praise, but he still didn’t eat the artichoke hearts or cucumbers! Some things will never change.
- Homemade dressings taste a heck of a lot better than what you can buy on the grocery store shelves.
- There are no preservatives or chemicals you can’t pronounce in this French Salad Dressing Recipe.
- It’s also fresher and less expensive!
Expert Tips
I wouldn’t exactly call this salad dressing “health food,” but it’s definitely lightened up from many French salad dressing recipes. With less oil than the typical recipe and honey instead of white sugar to sweeten, you won’t even notice these tweaks!
- Taste and adjust to your palate. Like your dressing sweeter? Add more honey. Watching your sodium? Substitute celery seed for celery salt.
- PRO-TIP: Whisk vigorously while slowly adding the vegetable oil as that ensures the mixture emulsifies, which means the oil droplets actually become suspended in the dressing. If you emulsify properly, your dressing won’t split into two layers as it rests.
- You can easily do this in the blender, too, but I was lazy and didn’t want to add that to the pile of dishes I needed to wash!
Frequently Asked Questions
Before the age of bottled dressing, the term French dressing referred to a vinaigrette. Simply a ratio of 3 parts oil to 1 part red or white wine vinegar. When bottled dressings came on the scene in the early 1900s, the creamy version of French dressing was introduced. The English, not the French, were known for creamy salad dressings, so we’re not sure why this creamy salad dressing with the addition of tomato paste or puree, was labeled as French.
There are also two other salad dressings closely related to this Honey French Dressing, Catalina and Western. Catalina is basically a slightly spicier French dressing and Western is a bit more savory with the addition of onions and garlic.
This French dressing will stay fresh for 2-4 weeks if it’s not left out of the refrigerator for more than two hours. Vinaigrettes keep well for 4 weeks, but those dressings with fresh herbs, onions, eggs, etc, have a much shorter shelf life, about 2 weeks.
Though there are numerous variations, to make this French salad dressing you’ll need: Cider Vinegar, Vegetable Oil, Ketchup, Honey, Celery Salt, Onion Powder, Salt, and freshly ground Black Pepper.
You May Also Like:
- Homemade Italian Salad Dressing from Diethood
- Watermelon Feta Basil Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Cilantro Vinaigrette
- Best Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
- The Best Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Parmesan Vinaigrette
- Honey Lime Salad Dressing
- Peach Basil Vinaigrette
- More of my Best Salad Recipes
Honey French Salad Dressing Recipe
An easy homemade French salad dressing sweetened with honey.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ¼-½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup honey
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
- Salt and pepper, to taste, if desired.
Instructions
- In a large glass measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, celery salt, onion powder, and paprika. Whisk in ketchup and honey.
- Slowly pour in vegetable oil while whisking constantly (this will help emulsify the salad dressing).
- Taste for seasonings and add salt, pepper, or more onion powder as needed. I did not add any more salt.½⅓¼
Notes
Use within 2 weeks. Keep refrigerated.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 130Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 201mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 0gSugar: 17gProtein: 0g
23 Comments on “Easy Honey French Salad Dressing”
This was really good. I used olive oil instead of veg oil. Celery seed instead of celery salt, it was what was in the cabinet. Trying to get my husband off the gar gum like ingredients in processed food. Tonight he actually ate chicken without yum yum sauce.
So glad you enjoyed this salad dressing! Thanks for reporting back.
I’m so excited to find this recipe. My husband was just diagnosed with congestive heart failure and we are changing our diet to low sodium and I’m learning how to cook all over again. Finding low sodium salad dressings is difficult. I’ve never made dressings from scratch but I’m learning and look forward to making this. Thank you!
Hi, Leigh, I hope your husband improves with his new diet. You both will get used to less salt (we did this with my dad growing up). Making salad dressing isn’t too hard once you get the hang of it. Hope you enjoy this French dressing!
I’ve tried so many similar recipes but this salad dressing is the best one. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I use this for taco salad. I love it!!!!
Oh, I’m so glad, Lisa! It’s my husband’s favorite, too. Have a wonderful weekend!
This dressing is delicious and so easy to whip up. I love it on salad and it was also amazing drizzled over some grilled chicken!
I love my summer salads! I have made this multiple times. I enjoy it more and more.
Love this simple but delicious dressing. Making your dressing from scratch just tastes so much better than from the store.
Homemade dressings are the best. Love that you’ve included all those other ideas & recipes too, always on the look out for a new dressing.
Oh this sounds good! I’m also looking at your salad and wondering why I’ve never made a salad with artichokes? Thanks for the recipe and the inspiration.
We’re trying to lose a little weight these days and salads are now more frequent as a main. So the timing for this couldn’t be better:):)
Thanx so much for the delicious recipe dear Liz, pinned!
xoxo
Looks divine! Celery salt. I haven’t seen that for ages!
Love your rendition of French dressing. I may still be eating sugar but sooo many people in SoCal do not. So, thank you for the fantabulous substitution of honey….Getting out my blender!
I love honey salad dressings and this one looks so simple and easy. I would love to try this. Just one question, which ketchup you used here?
My husband doesn’t like cucumbers either! He does prefer balsamic vinaigrette to anything else though – men are funny! I would love to try this dressing!
This sounds like a wonderful dressing my mom used to make, yum! I love how easy it is!
really helthy food
Dear Liz, your salad looks healthy and at the same time “très gourmand” ! Love it!
That dressing sounds wonderful and the salad looks amazing! I think this would be great on any leafy salad as well.
I love homemade dressings and this is such a versatile one to have on hand!
I always love to try new dressings for my everyday salad. This sounds simple and delicious for a seasonal salad.
Wow that’s great and the color is stunning.
Love