This Shallot Vinaigrette makes even the most basic pile of mixed greens out of the box taste wonderful. A liberal drizzle of this salad dressing feels like you’re sitting down at a nice restaurant, and it couldn’t be simpler to make!
Our New Go-To Salad Dressing
I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m making salad at home, I feel like a deer in the headlights. Even though I know how to eyeball a basic vinaigrette (oil, acid, salt, maybe some dijon mustard or honey), I’ve grown to dread the uncertainty and unoriginality of it all. Sometimes one yearns for more—a salad dressing that can be liberally enjoyed!
This dressing fills that hole. It has a trifecta of shallots, chive, and garlic. Anything chive makes me giddy. There’s honey, but it’s not sweet—just mellow. There’s vinegar, but it’s not sour. And there’s shallots, garlic, and chives, but it won’t make you feel like you could blow down an army with combo onion-garlic breath.
It is perfectly balanced, so satisfying, and makes you actually want to eat more salad. In short, it’s our new perfect, go-to salad dressing.
A Trick for Shallots
In our Chinese cooking, we’ve learned over the years to manipulate the strength and flavor profile of garlic and onion. When and how you add it can change a lot—whether you pour sizzling hot oil over fresh garlic, wait to add the garlic to the end, or start it off in hot oil at the start.
Recently, I learned a new way to treat shallots. I’ve enjoyed them deep fried, caramelized, and raw, but with this salad dressing, there’s a trick to keep their strong flavor while also mellowing them out.
It comes from Via Carota, by way of Samin Nosrat at the New York Times. A tablespoon or two of warm water neutralizes the sharp edge of shallots, leaving behind only the aromatic flavor. It’s brilliant!
Our Favorite Salad Dressing Recipes
- This Shallot Chive Vinaigrette
- Miso Caesar Dressing
- Traditional Caesar Dressing
Bonus if you pair any of these with my Fried Corn that I love to add to salads, along with chopped tomatoes, chopped red onion, and radishes.
In a moment of kismet from the universe… A few weeks after developing this recipe, I had the pleasure of attending the Cherrybombe Jubilee, an annual conference celebrating women and creatives in the world of food & drink. I decided to wait in the sizable line to get my cookbook signed (check out the Via Carota cookbook here), and I was pleasantly surprised to find out after introducing myself that Jody Williams is a fan of The Woks of Life!
She admitted they don’t eat Italian at home all the time and she’s been working on her fried rice game with the blog! Needless to say, I floated home to tell the family!
Shallot Vinaigrette Recipe Instructions
In a measuring cup, add the shallots and hot water. Then stir in the white wine vinegar, and let it sit while you prep the chives and garlic.
Tip!
To peel your shallot: cut off the ends and make a shallow incision lengthwise. Peel back the first layer of skin like you would with an onion. Next, make thin lengthwise slices, keeping one end of the shallot intact. Then make 2 to 3 perpendicular cuts through the shallot, leaving the end intact so it all stays together. From there, mince the shallot, cutting until you get to the base.
To the measuring cup, add the olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper, garlic, and chives.
Whisk everything together until it’s emulsified. Give it a taste, and adjust seasoning to taste.
Store this dressing in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the fridge. The chives will lose their vibrant green color after the first day, so if you want to make this ahead, we recommend adding the chives when you’re ready to serve it.
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Recipe
Shallot Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 1 large shallot (minced)
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- ¼ cup white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a measuring cup, add the shallots and hot water. Then stir in the white wine vinegar, and let it sit while you prep the chives and garlic.
- To the measuring cup, add the olive oil, dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic. Whisk everything together until it’s emulsified. Add the chives, and whisk again. Give it a taste, and adjust seasoning to taste.
