This sweet tart Cranberry Salad Dressing turns every salad into a restaurant worthy salad!
Perfect to add a festive touch during the holidays to any salad, it's also great year round!
Salads may not get all the respect they deserve, but when you drizzle this with this Cranberry Vinaigrette, people will notice!
It's sweet, it's tart and it has that gorgeous cranberry color. Even better is it's so easy!
I keep bags of cranberries in my freezer, so I make this tangy vinaigrette year round. It's perfect for a festive touch at the holidays, but it's amazing drizzled on summer salads, especially nice on fruit salads!
Ingredients.
- Cranberry juice - so good for you!
- Cranberries - fresh or frozen. I just pop the whole bag of cranberries in the freezer (I think I have 7 bags in there right now!)
- Olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, salt and pepper.
- Chives - I add chives when I have them, but if I don't have any I sometimes use the top of green onions or omit them completely. It's great with or without them.
Step by step instructions.
Chop the cranberries.
Combine the cranberry juice and cranberries in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until it's reduced to about ¼ cup. This could take about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl whisk together the cranberry juice mixture and the honey. The heat from the cranberry juice mixture will help thin the honey. Then whisk in the rest of the ingredients.
Serve drizzled over your favorite salad.
This is so good. It's sweet and tart, perfectly tangy. It really does elevate any salad you drizzle it on.
I made a ridiculously simple salad of baby spinach and mandarin orange and drizzled this dressing over it and people raved about it!
It's perfect as a holiday salad dressing, but please make it more than just the holidays. Drizzled on fall salads with apples and pears or summer salads with peaches, it goes with everything. I've even sautéed a chicken breast and drizzled a little over it.
Everyone will love this cranberry vinaigrette! It's an old (2007) Cooking Light recipe that I've been making for years.
More cranberry recipes.
Recipe.
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Cranberry Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup cranberry juice
- ½ cup cranberries chopped
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons chives minced, optional
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Bring the juice and cranberries to a boil over medium heat in a small saucepan. Let them simmer until reduced to about ¼ cup. This may take about 5 minutes.
- In a small bowl whisk together the honey and the cranberry mixture. Then whisk in the rest of the ingredients.
Barb says
I will try this recipe. Do you or can you put it in the refrigerator before adding to salad?
Pam Greer says
Sure, store it in the fridge. I like to take it out about an hour before serving so it's not too thick.