The best Mediterranean dressing recipe collection for marinades and favorite dishes are both easy and delicious.
Mediterranean Recipes Are Not A Diet
Let’s be clear about the understanding that while a diet has been formulated around the Mediterranean cuisine, Mediterranean cuisine is among the oldest and healthiest dietary lifestyles in the world.
For this reason, and because I come from a Mediterranean heritage, I wanted to share with you a collection of the recipes that will fast replace your desire for store-bought dressings.
These recipes for dressings to be used on salads, cooked veggies, or marinades for foods to be grilled or simply baked in the oven, are each abundant with flavor and healthy ingredients.
Mediterranean Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing and Marinade Recipe
This Mediterranean Lemon Dressing for salads and marinades, with its bright lemony, extra virgin olive oil (for its flavor), and fresh herb flavor, is fast and easy to make.
Growing up with a Syrian mom who cooked everything from scratch, I never knew store bought salad dressing was a thing.
Lemons, fresh and not lemon juice concentrate, are a dominate addition to most Mediterranean cooking; in the vegetables we prepare, the meat or fish marinades we make, and in many of our desserts.
They are an added bonus of nutrients to an already heart healthy cuisine. This lemon vinaigrette emulsification is what the basis for many salad dressing, sauces or marinades are made from.
The zingy, bright flavor of a lemon in nearly all dishes, whether sweet or savory, makes food flavors pop.
Because of this phenomenon, we used lemons on everything and in everything, and in fact to this day, yellow is my favorite color because lemons made food special!
Fresh Lemon Juice Dressing For Veggies
Since I was a kid, we always used this lemon dressing on our green beans, spinach or other grilled veggies such as zucchini and squash.
When I make spanakopita, I always drizzle a little of my lemon dressing in the spinach, egg and feta mixture.
Definitely a dressing I drizzle over my Heirloom Lemon Cucumber Salad, with garden fresh crunchy cucumbers, or Tzatziki, which I prefer over a Greek dressing recipe used for Greek salads often in America, which is often with vinegar instead of lemons.
You will find that this recipe is often the traditional Greek salad dressing, as well a the Middle Eastern drizzle across stuffed Grape Leaves.
Strawberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Recipe
Spring inspired Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette salad dressing was first created in my kitchen at the onset of strawberry season, the first fruit to be harvested in my area after the long winter months.
Made with fresh sweet strawberries, a little tart from white wine vinegar, the fruity flavor of olive oil and a little bit of red chili flakes, makes for the perfect drizzle across any salad, especially one with strawberries or watermelon.
A scrumptious salad of spinach, crispy bacon (or smoked salmon), lots of feta cheese and Mediterranean herbs came together quickly in my kitchen, but I wanted a delicious dressing that would compliment the fresh strawberries.
- Fresh strawberries
- A splash of red wine vinegar
- Fresh herbs along with sea salt
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Garlic and this recipe fast became our springtime homemade dressing.
If you’ve got a large harvest of fresh strawberries, go ahead and make a large batch of dressing, store in a mason jar in the fridge and when ready for more, allow it to sit to room temperature, give a good shake and it’s ready to pour over a plate of simple ingredients.
Savory or Sweet Fig Dressing and Marinade
Did you know that a delicious dressing and marinade, made from the same recipe as my Homemade Savory Or Sweet Fig Jam could fast be turned into a dressing or marinade?
With chilies, garlic and bourbon for a savory marinade or simply sweet fresh figs, bourbon a pinch of sugar and a splash of vinegar, a flavor explosion for salads, or better yet savory recipes is fast to whip up.
Originally, I created this recipe for a television program I was cooking on with PBS, and it fast became a favorite in my collection.
The recipe was for a Beet Endive Salad with Fig Dressing.
The sweet fig dressing is made with bourbon and is perfect over a fruit salad or drizzled over a Brie Baked In Pastry while the savory is made with chili peppers and garlic and a perfect marinade on pork, duck, chicken or roasted butternut squash and other root veggies.
Mediterranean Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Pomegranate Sumac Vinaigrette With Pom Molasses is a Mediterranean twist on sweet, sour, spicy and tangy flavors that are great on salads, yet perfect for marinades.
Lemons are the base in most Mediterranean salad dressings instead of balsamic vinegar, as is often used in European cooking.
They are used to marinate meat, flavor savory dishes and desserts.
Pomegranate is an unusual fruit, rich in history, in that it can be as tart and acidic in flavor as a lemon and yet somehow sweet, in an earthy kind of way. Pure pomegranate juice is ideal for both sweet or savory dishes.
The acidic levels in pomegranate juice make it idea to tenderize or braise meat while imparting a flavor that is subtle and earthy, and adds depth of flavor in both meat or seafood Tajines.
Mediterranean Tahini Dressing
My personally created Tahini Dressing, with sesame seed paste, known as Tahini, lemons, garlic and good olive oil makes the best dressing and sauce.
Until hummus became popular in America, most home cooks never heard of tahini.
Having grown up with a Middle Eastern mother, who mostly made Mediterranean recipes, tahini was always in our pantry.
Its potential for sweet or savory delicious recipes add a depth of flavor to a platter of fresh ingredients from the garden, brushed across anything about to go on the grill, or used as a dip in the center of a Mediterranean charcuterie platter.
The Following Ingredients Are Used In Most Of These Dressing Recipes
- Fresh lemons, lime juice, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, white balsamic vinegar, or even part lemon juice with vinegar are the basis of the acidic ingredient used to bring a tart and refreshing ingredient to a tangy dressing.
- Extra virgin olive oil, preferably a top quality olive oil, which allows the great flavor of the oil to contribute to the flavor blend in the marinade and dressing, especially since the oil is not going to be heated, therefore imparting its purest flavor. It is most advised not to use canola oil or other oils typically used to cook over high heat, since they lack flavor.
- Fresh garlic for the best garlic flavor, raw or roasted, and not garlic powder which dehydrated of many of its natural flavors, oils and nutrients.
- Optional ingredients might include red pepper flakes to bring a bit of heat to an otherwise sweet tasting dressing, such as in the fig or strawberry dressing. A variety of salt options can be used, such as a smoky salt as opposed to a table salt. Black pepper, and the addition of a red onion are best saved to add later over a favorite salad or marinaded dish has been cooked.
How To Make Homemade Dressings and Marinades
You can easily make your own Mediterranean salad dressing or marinades with the use of a food processor, blender, immersion blender or simply toss all the ingredients into a mason jar with the tight-fitting lid (or airtight container) on and give a good shake!
These dressings are so easy to make, I feel confident you will never want store-bought salad dressings again and if ease is not reason enough, than think about how old store-bought salad dressing is and the preservatives in it to keep it until you buy it!
Easy homemade salad dressings and marinades also play double duty in that they are definitely great as a dressing over all sorts of salads, over warm veggies, great for a pasta salad, but they make for a great marinade with anything from fish and meat, to veggie skewers about to go on the grill!
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.