The Best Homemade Poppyseed Dressing

-plus 5 recipes to use it on!

What, what? Poppyseed dressing in the hizouze! That's right, I can talk extensively about something as boring as a simple salad dressing.

It's true, salad dressings are pretty effortless. They're just a mixture of a few ingredients, emulsified together ambitiously to create an effect hoping to make people forget that what they are chomping on is indeed nutritious but most likely, not delicious. Or at least, not the filet-mignon-and-roasted-garlic-mashed-potatoes-all-covered-in-cheese kind of delicious. But sometimes, you run into a salad dressing that takes you far away from the norm. That makes even lettuce taste good. That doesn't taste like any dressing you've bought at the store before. I'm here to tell you, this Poppyseed Dressing has managed to maneuver its way to the top of my list in about 2 years. I discovered the recipe, yep, 2 years ago and a bottle of it has been in my fridge ever since. I keep it on hand 100% of the time now, and I'll tell you why-

There are many, many reasons this dressing has become a household staple.

#1- Because it's my favorite. Don't you keep a bottle of Italian, or Blue Cheese, or Ranch in your fridge cause it's your favorite? Nuff' said.

#2- The hubby loves it too!

#3- This is not just for salads. I put it on quite a few things actually. One of my favorite things to put it on is sandwiches. I'm the self-declared queen of sandwiches, they are one of my most favorite foods. I'd say I put lettuce on 90% of my sandwiches. Lately, I've been shredding my lettuce, tossing it lightly with poppyseed dressing, and then piling it on my sandwich. It's a great way to add more flavor and moisture to a sandwich without mayo.

The secret to this dressing is the freshly grated red onion. Don't worry if you have an onion-hater in your house, they might not even pick up that the flavor in the dressing comes from the onion. The hubby was home one time when I was making this and he was shocked that the base of the dressing is red onion. He told me he didn't even know there was onion in the dressing.

I make my dressing in the food processor. It's just the easiest, and I think it breaks down the onion the best. I've never made this without a food processor, now that I think about it. If you were making this by hand, I almost think you would need to push the onion through a garlic press to completely deconstruct the onion like the food processor does. It might take a while, but you'd get the same effect. 

A quick few pulses, and the dressing is done! This recipe makes quite a bit and it stays good forever.

Well, maybe not forever. But a really long time, ok? :-)

I love chalkboard labels on mason jars. Reusable functionality at its best!

Ok, so now that you've made your dressing, what shall you put it on? Have no fear! Here are 5 delicious recipes that I've personally made with Poppyseed Dressing, and therefore, can vouch for their palatableness-

Strawberry, Avocado, and Blue Cheese Salad

Arugula Prosciutto Pizza

Grown-Up Tuna Salad

Turkey Bacon Guacamole Sandwiches

Apple Walnut Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

There you go folks! Jessica's favorite salad dressing :-)

Have a delicious day everyone!

Recipe adapted from: Food People Want

Ingredients (makes 2 cups):

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2-4 tbsp red onion, grated

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine sugar, vinegar, onion, salt, and mustard. Pulse until well combined.

2. With the processor running, slowly being to pour olive oil in. Pulse until olive oil is well combined into dressing.

3. Add poppy seeds to processor. Pulse twice. Pour dressing into an airtight container for storage. Store in the fridge up to 2 months. 

Printable Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

The Best Raspberry Vinaigrette 

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Sweet Chile Thai Dressing

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