This Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Recipe is so good! With a bit of garlic and lemon pepper it’s a little bit spicy, but all the citrus flavoring makes it the perfect salad dressing for a winter citrus or spring salad!

The sun has finally returned to Southern California! I swear, we were still using our heater up until last week! So strange! Climate change is real! But I’m happy the warmer weather has returned because it means more grilling and eating dinner outside!

My mom is growing veggies, but they won’t be ready until late summer, but she does have lemon and orange trees (well, it’s her neighbors’ trees that hang over the fence, but she trades her neighbor avocados for some citrus), so I went over and picked some fruit for this spring Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.

I used our fruit picker to pick the lemons. It’s harder than it looks! You have to try to not take the whole tree off with the fruit (oops!) and not shake the tree too much that the fruit just falls off. My mom got the picker for her avocado tree, but the avocados aren’t doing as well this year because of the drought. Hopefully, with all the rain we received, we’ll be eating lots of guacamole next year.

Do you have any citrus trees in your yard? Or your neighbor’s yard? If so, you should definitely try this Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing! If not, no worries because store-bought citrus is good, too!

It’s a super simple vinaigrette to make with just a few ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Ingredients:

Fresh-squeezed orange juice
Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
Garlic
Dijon mustard
Honey
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

You might notice that my “vinaigrette” recipe does not include vinegar as an ingredient; however, the citrus juices act as an acidic “vinegar” within the recipe.

Also, a basic vinaigrette is usually made with 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil and that’s where my recipe differs. Because I use the fresh-squeezed orange juice and fresh-squeezed lemon juice as my acid, but I also use it as a flavoring, I’ve included more of the acidic juices in my recipe than in a basic vinaigrette using the 1 to 3 ratio. Maybe that’s what makes it so good!

Store the vinaigrette in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If you would like to keep it longer, be sure to omit the fresh garlic and pepper for food safety reasons as garlic combined with oil can form harmful bacteria.

If you make more than what you need for a salad, you can always use the leftovers on tomorrow’s salad or use it as a marinade for some grilled chicken!

My salad is just a simple salad made with arugula, oranges, walnuts, and feta cheese and topped with the Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.

Here’s the printable recipe for the salad dressing:

Citrus Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Ingredients

3 Tb fresh squeezed orange juice
2 Tb fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tb Dijon mustard
2 Tb honey
2 Tb extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Instructions

Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl.
It's that easy!
Tip: Use the frozen cubes of garlic. So much easier.
Tip: Double the recipe if serving a large family/crowd. My photos show a double batch.
Keep refrigerated.

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