This Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing is so easy to make, I bet you already have everything you need. This delicious salad dressing recipe is the perfect mix of sweet and tangy and works on so many salads.
Homemade salad dressings are one of my favorite things to make for you. I just love this delicious poppy seed dressing recipe. It comes together with ingredients you have in your pantry and is like adding liquid sunshine to your salads.
This dressing is so delicious. It has become a family favorite.
Poppy Seed Dressing Ingredients
- Olive oil: This is the base of the dressing so you want to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is less processed and more pure than regular olive oil. It is better for you and also has a better taste, making it perfect for a salad dressing.
- Lemon juice: It’s important to use freshly squeezed lemon juice for the best flavor.
- Sugar: This is an important ingredient to balance the tartness of the lemon juice. See more on this below.
- Salt: If you are worried about your salt intake, very little is used in this salad dressing so I would not skip it.
- Ground mustard
- Poppy seeds
How to Make Poppy Seed Dressing
This dressing is as simple as whisking everything together. I like to mix in everything but the poppyseeds in the beginning. Then I taste it and adjust the flavor as needed; you can read how to do this in the section below. Finally, I stir in the poppy seeds.
Balancing The Dressing
So often in cooking, we find the need to balance acid and sweetness in a recipe. This is the case here. The dressing should have a tart lemon taste, but it shouldn’t overpower the dressing. The easiest way to balance tart is with sweetness. So this is what I suggest:
- Start with 1/3 cup of lemon juice.
- Add a teaspoon at a time more, until you have the lemon flavor that you want. Depending on how lemony you like this, you could end up with a total of a 1/2 cup of lemon juice.
- If you get the lemon flavor you want, but it is too acidic or too sour, add some honey to balance things out.
Tips and Tricks
- Make a creamy poppy seed dressing. Add 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt to the dressing. Note that if you add yogurt the dressing can only be stored in the refrigerator for one week.
- Leave out the poppy seeds. Of course it will no longer be a poppy seed dressing, but many of my readers can’t have poppy seeds and this is still an enjoyable dressing without them.
- Use honey. While we are using granulated sugar in the base of the dressing, as mentioned above, we can toss in a little honey at the end if the dressing is too tart. This will preserve the lemon flavor, mix into the dressing quickly, and balance the dressing.
Storing Lemon Poppyseed Dressing
This is basically a lemon vinaigrette dressing with some poppy seeds thrown in. Because of that, it can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month. It will solidify a little in the refrigerator, so let it come to room temperature and then stir to combine.
How to Use Lemon Poppy Seed Salad Dressing
This dressing is delicious with your favorite salad greens. I think you’ll also love it with my Summer Salad Recipe and Strawberry Spinach Salad.
If you try this lemon poppy seed salad dressing recipe or any of my other homemade salad dressings, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!
Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup olive oil (157.73 ml)
- 1/3 cup lemon juice see note (78.86 ml)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (49.5 grams)
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt if using table salt, start with half
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon honey optional
Instructions
- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and mustard until the sugar is completely dissolved. Taste and add more lemon until it has enough of a lemon flavor for you. Add in some honey if it becomes overwhelmingly acidic.2/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- Stir poppy seeds into the dressing. Enjoy right away or store in the refrigerator for up to three months, shaking before each use.1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Recipe Video
Notes
Susan Creasy says
This dressing is so delicious. It has become a family favorite.
I’m so glad you like it!