I always encourage my clients to make their own salad dressing instead of buying it at the store. Most pre-packaged, store-bought dressings are full of preservatives, sugar, salt and unhealthy oils. It’s easy to make your own, and so much better for you because you can use awesome, healthy ingredients.
This Apple Cider Honey Dijon Vinaigrette is one of my favourite dressings. You can use it on everyday salads or as a healthy coleslaw dressing. Here’s why it’s a healthy choice:
- Apple cider vinegar is full of health benefits. Made from fermented apple juice, it puts good bacteria back into your gut so it’s amazing for healthy digestion. It also aids in weight loss, lowers cholesterol and high blood pressure, and stabilizes blood sugar.
- Extra virgin olive oil or EVOO is a monounsaturated fat or healthy fat. Healthy fats burn bad fats, and are good for your brain, heart and skin. Because it’s unstable when heated it’s best to consume EVOO raw in dressing, dips and pesto.
- Includes only four ingredients; no added preservatives, sugar, salt or chemicals.
I own a salad dressing emulsifier, and make a big batch of this dressing every couple weeks, and store it in the fridge. It’s important to store unstable oils, and all nuts and seeds (mainly made up of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated oils) in the fridge (cool, dark place) as exposure to heat and light can cause the oil to go rancid, and increase free radical activity in the body when consumed. This is another reason I discourage store-bought dressings; most of them are oil-based, and stored under the bright lights of the grocery store, and not in the fridge.
Apple Cider Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Method
Whisk all ingredients together and serve over salad or coleslaw.
Store in the fridge.
