Maple Orange Salad Dressing

In creating a delicious homemade salad dressing, we like to have a balance between sweet and tang. There are various ingredients you can add in a salad dressing to achieve a harmonious sweetness.

Which Sweeteners to Use in Salad Dressings?

One of the most common choices is honey. The floral notes and natural sweet flavour make honey a very popular choice in salad dressings.

I, however, tend to lean towards maple syrup as it is also a natural sweetener but has more woody notes through the flavour. I also find maple syrup less sweet than honey.

However, it is a personal preference. Both honey and maple syrup work well in salad dressings.

Other sweeteners to use in your salad dressings can also be fruit juice. Orange juice is sweet but with fragrant citrus overtones.

Ruby grapefruit juice works well too even though it has a tarter profile. I love using ruby grapefruit juice with seafood or fennel salads.

For Asian salads, I usually use palm sugar or brown sugar in the salad dressings. The strong caramel notes of palm sugar matches with fish sauce which is generally the salty component of many Southeast Asian salad dressings. The depth it adds to the dressing is delicious!

What Pairs Well with Orange?

Certain flavours work better with others, and it is always good to know your pairings.

Oranges naturally gravitate towards other citrus fruits like grapefruit and lemons but also work well with nutty flavours like almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts.

I love using oranges with fennel and slightly more piquant vegetables like rocket, endive and radicchio. The sweet flavours of orange help soften the bitterness of these vegetables.

Maple Orange Salad Dressing is a super light dressing that is great for both grain salads or leafy green salads. The citrus flavours help cut through any rich ingredients.

I prefer to use a mason jar to mix it all up. It is up to you, as you can mix it in a bowl as well.

Maple Orange Salad Dressing Ingredients

Olive oil: An olive oil or even extra virgin olive oil of your choice. Make sure it’s a good one!

Apple cider vinegar: A staple ingredient to have for making all sorts of salad dressing ingredients. Try the Bragg Organic Raw Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar or Trader Joe’s Organic Raw ACV.

Orange juice: Stick to the normal varieties such as the Valencia or Navel oranges. They are usually sweet and have plenty of juice.

Maple syrup: Everyone has their own favourites but if you’re not usually a maple syrup consumer, you can certainly try these popular varieties: Butternut Mountain Farm Pure Vermont Maple Syrup or Maple Grove Farms Pure Maple Syrup.

Salt & pepper: Just a pinch of both will suffice.

Maple Orange Salad Dressing Method

Another nice and easy, shakey shakey recipe!

Add orange juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and maple syrup in a mason jar.

Season with salt and pepper and shake well to combine.

Best Salad for This Dressing

Vegan Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries

Sweet roast butternut squash together with dried cranberries, black rice, arugula and a crunchy toasted pecan crumb makes a delicious vegan salad recipe that will shine throughout Thanksgiving, Christmas and all season long.

More Salad Dressing Recipes

Salad dressings are incredibly easy to make in the comfort of your own home. This way you can control the ingredients to suit your palate and you can make the exact portion you need for that one meal. We have a huge collection of recipes and you may just like some of these:

• Honey Garlic Yoghurt Dressing
• Avocado Herb Dressing
• Mustard Red Wine Vinaigrette
• Fish Sauce Lime Vinaigrette
• Yuzu Dressing

Salad Recipes You May Like

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• Charred Pineapple Salad with Papaya
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Ingredient Pairing Ideas

If you’d like to create your own salad and have an ingredient you’d like to hero, we have some great pairing suggestions to help you work out what flavours go well together.

• What Goes Well with Eggplant
• What Goes Well with Mint
• What Goes Well with Asparagus

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