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Want a fast and delicious Italian dressing you can make at home? You’re going to love this! Just shake everything together in a jar. That’s it! Ready in just 1 minute! No cooking, no chopping, no blending, no nothing.

Update: This recipe was originally published in 2017 and has been republished with all new photos.

I’m a huge fan of homemade salad dressings. They’re so easy! Plus a homemade dressing is more flavorful than store-bought dressings but made with far better ingredients. All the ingredients in this easy homemade Italian dressing are clean. No junk. No artificial anything. Just the good stuff.

This is one of my very favorite dressings and it’s been my most popular recipe on this site for years! Everyone loves its big zesty flavor. But the best part? You likely have all the ingredients you need already. Just shake everything together in a jar and you’re done. It’s that simple!

It’s the perfect way to elevate a green salad, it’s an excellent marinade for chicken or pork, and it can transform any pasta salad into something truly special. Talk about a versatile dressing, right?

If you have dietary concerns you’ll be happy to know this dressing is also Whole30 compliant, gluten free, and dairy free.

Easy Homemade Italian Dressing Ingredients

  • Olive oil: I recommend extra-virgin olive oil in this dressing.
  • Red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar: Both red and white wine vinegar work beautifully. Feel free to go with whichever you have on hand. I tend to select the red more than the white but I couldn’t say that it makes a difference other than creating a dressing that looks (in terms of color) more like what you see in stores.
  • Lemon juice: A little fresh lemon juice adds a brightness to this zesty Italian dressing.
  • Seasonings: The incredible taste comes from a blend of simple but powerful seasonings. We’re also using a few dried herbs because they pack more flavor than fresh herbs. For this recipe you’ll need dried oregano, dried basil, garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.

How to Make Easy Homemade Italian Dressing

Ready to make this homemade italian dressing recipe? Add all ingredients to a jar. Place the lid on the jar. Make sure it’s a tight-fitting lid so we don’t make a mess. Now give it a good shake. That’s it!

This dressing is pretty perfect as is and this is how I enjoy it. If you want to make it more like the dressing you’ll find at Olive Garden, simply add a little grated parmesan cheese and a bit of honey or sugar for a touch of sweetness. Those are optional adjustments you can make based on your own personal preference.

How to Serve this Italian Dressing

Now you’ve made your own salad dressing. What are we going to do with it? The obvious answer is of course to pour it over leafy vegetables. It will add a burst of flavor to a simple side salad or entree salad. But we can get a bit more creative, can’t we? Here are some of my favorite uses for this recipe.

How to Store Leftover Italian Dressing

Store your leftover dressing in the refrigerator in an airtight container with a lid. I like to use a jar with a tight seal. I like to use a glass bottle or mason jar. This dressing can keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. The oil may solidify in the cold but it will return to normal if you leave it at room temperature for a few minutes. You’ll see some separation so shake before using.

4.86 from 125 votes

Easy Homemade Italian Dressing

By Christina
This Easy Homemade Italian Dressing is so tasty and simple! Plus it's Whole30, gluten free, sugar free, and dairy free. Perfect on salads or as a marinade!
Prep: 1 minute
Total: 1 minute
Servings: 8

Ingredients 

  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup red or white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
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Instructions 

  • Add all ingredients to a jar, place the lid on the jar, and give it a good shake!
  • Just like with all vinegar based dressing you'll need to shake it up again before pouring to eliminate separation.

Nutrition

Serving: 2tbsp, Calories: 183kcal, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Sodium: 221mg, Potassium: 4mg, Vitamin A: 35IU, Vitamin C: 0.2mg, Calcium: 4mg, Iron: 0.3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Recipe Rating




190 Comments

  1. Fred says:

    Didn’t care for it.

  2. Bob says:

    Thank you for this recipe! I was looking for an Italian dressing recipe specifically with olive oil and not vegetable oil or canola oil.

  3. Sally Jo Holm says:

    Tasted good. I refrigerated the leftovers, and it solidified. I made it exactly as the recipe stated. 

  4. Finn Williams says:

    Awesome dressing with enough of everything.

  5. Amy says:

    This was great. I usually just marinate veggies for grilling in store-bought Italian salad dressing, but I forgot to pick some up at the store. I went in search of a recipe with pantry items I already have on hand and ran across this. I will use this from now on. Great flavor with the red wine vinegar. Thanks! 

  6. Sharon Leslie says:

    Super easy and delicious! Sometimes I use grapeseed oil for this dressing.

    1. Christina says:

      Love to hear that grapeseed oil works well too! Thank you, Sharon!

  7. TheSnootyRedneck says:

    just made this and it is delicious! will definitely be making this in the future as well. I highly suggest splurging on the quality of the vinegar and the olive oil, also if you can use the freshest dried herbs. like, still green but dried herbs. I found the dressing A little bit on the bitter side at first, so I snuck in a quarter tsp of stevia. that helped balance it out perfectly!

  8. Rita Jo Shabazz says:

    Hi made this salad dressing it was delicious and very favorable to the spinach salad I put it on Thank you And I had all the ingredients in my 🏠

  9. Mariam says:

    I just made this for my family and it was so delicious! It totally changed our salad game!

    1. Christina says:

      So happy you enjoyed, Mariam! Thank you for the comment!

  10. Lena says:

    This was perfect. I usually don’t like store-bought Italian dressing because it’s too acidic. I used red wine vinegar and it was sooo good. Bonus points for being extremely easy and quick to make.

    1. Christina says:

      So happy you enjoyed, Lena! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!