Raspberry vinaigrette

This raspberry vinaigrette is as bright in flavor as its color. It comes together easily and adds a wonderful burst of flavor such as to simple salads for a quick and easy side. Plus this one is on the healthier side, too.

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I'll admit, I've seen versions of this before and tended to keep away from them as I always imagine they are too sweet for my taste. But not so long ago, my eldest nagged me into getting a salad as part of lunch that had a raspberry dressing. I wasn't exactly going to say no when he was requesting salad.

It turned out, we all really liked everything about it so naturally, I had to recreate a version at home. Thankfully, this one went down just as well and is really easy to make.

What's the difference between vinaigrette and dressing?

Vinaigrettes are generally simpler and oil-based while dressings are much broader in style and ingredients. A vinaigrette typically includes oil and something acidic, either vinegar or citrus, as the core ingredients. Many then have some simple additions such as mustard to help emulsify and some herbs or shallot.

Dressings are a much more diverse category and include everything from creamy ranch to blue cheese dressing and green goddess. You can think of them more of a cold sauce, in a way. Arguably, a vinaigrette would be a kind of dressing but many salad dressings are not vinaigrettes.

This raspberry salad dressing is a little borderline as a vinaigrette. It does have the core oil and acidic elements, but I do wonder if the amount of raspberries maybe takes it out of the category.

But I'm certainly not getting too bothered about it as it is wonderfully delicious either way. It has a lovely balance of sweetness from the raspberries but also tartness from the vinegar. It is thicker than your average vinaigrette, but that just makes it feel extra luscious as you pour it.

One of the great things about this, as with many dressings, is it's as simple as putting everything together and mixing. With this, instead of just whisking you need to use a blender but it's still really easy.

Since raspberries are naturally sweet, you don't need much additional sweetener in here. I have added just a touch of honey to balance out the vinegar, but you can skip if you prefer.

If you really don't like raspberry seeds, you could strain this before using but personally I find they are small enough to not be a problem. 

A simple salad to use this with

When we had a version of this in a restaurant, it was served over a simple green salad with toasted hazelnuts. The savory nuts pair really well with the fruity dressing so if you are looking for a simple side salad, this is a delicious combination. You could also add some pea shoots, steamed broccoli or microgreens for a little extra interest without being too complicated.

The flavors in this dressing would also be great with meats like chicken or duck, whether as part of your salad or simply drizzled over them. 

This raspberry vinaigrette is so easy to make and sure to brighten up any salad. It's perfect with some simple greens, plus being thicker, you could even use it as a dip. No matter what, you'll want to find an excuse to make it soon.

Try these other salad dressings (as well as some salad ideas):

• Preserved lemon vinaigrette
• Maple vinaigrette in my beet apple salad
• Lemon basil vinaigrette
• The cooked yolk-based dressing in Luang Prabang salad (Laos salad)
• Plus see more dressings, jams, sauces and other condiment recipes in the archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store. 

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