This homemade Poppyseed Dressing is an all-time favorite, especially for dressing up a spinach salad or your favorite sweet and savory combinations.
A little check-in
Oh, hey, y’all. Anyone ready to yell “uncle” on 2020? I’m over it. Sara said a few weeks ago (legit don’t actually remember how long ago that actually was because #2020) that her covid experience felt like the lost months and my response was that this feels like the lost year.
That isn’t to say that there haven’t been wonderful things…I actually look back at the quarantine days with quite a bit of fondness. They feel like yesterday and a lifetime ago. I started teaching, which I love. The kittens have been a bright spot. We’re all healthy.
And yet…I’m so tired. We were slammed with another hurricane last Friday, and while this wasn’t devastating like Hurricane Laura, it was another complication in a complicated year. The thought of going back to school and “un-hurricane-ing” my room makes me want to crawl into a hole, if I’m being honest. I feel like I’m coming up short in just about every area of my life. My thirties are over in another couple of months, and honestly, I’m not sad about it. This has easily been the hardest decade of my life. That’s not saying my forties will necessarily be better, but at least I can say peace out to this period of my life. This isn’t a pity party. Just…being honest and keeping it real because that’s what I do.
kate, why are you telling us this?
I honestly don’t know what the point of telling you all this is, especially since it has literally NOTHING to do with spinach poppyseed dressing, but I feel like most of us are friends that have known each other a long time, and sometimes friends tell each other things like, “Hey, I’m tired. Are you tired? Because I’m freaking tired.”
Anyway.
back to salad dressing
This salad dressing is one of my favorite comfort foods. I love it on this Spinach Mandarin Poppyseed salad (please ignore the 2009-esque photos). Honestly, it’s perfect with any salad that has a combination of sweet and savory flavors. I have legitimately become a poppyseed salad dressing snob. I will no longer eat store-bought poppyseed dressing because even the best ones have a touch of mayonnaise flavor that makes me want to go to the same place I want to go when I think about un-hurricane-proofing my hurricane-proofed classroom.
On thing I love is that it is easy and it is cheap (insert your jokes here) and I pretty much always have the ingredients. Sugar, oil, poppyseeds, salt, pepper, dry mustard, and a green onion.
You just pop everything but the poppyseeds oil into your blender, give it a whirl, add the oil in a steady stream, then whisk in the poppyseeds and voilà ! You’re done!
Poppyseed Dressing
Description
This homemade poppyseed dressing is perfect for sweet and savory salads, heads and shoulders better than any store-bought poppyseed dressing, and comes together in a matter of minutes!
Ingredients
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
A few turns of freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 green onion, ends removed (both the “hairy” end and where the green part starts to get floppy)
1/2 cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil like peanut or canola (check for allergies before using peanut oil)
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Instructions
In a blender, combine vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and dry mustard. While the blender is running, add the green onion. Continue running the blender and add the oil in a steady stream and is fully incorporated into the dressing.
Pour the dressing into a serving or storage container and whisk in poppy seeds. Serve over leafy greens.
Notes
Try this dressing on: Spinach Mandarin Poppyseed Salad
Do you know if it will turn out okay if I was to cut the amount of sugar in half? Sounds like a ton of sugar. But love love love poppyseed dressing!
You can experiment with the sugar and see how you feel about it! 🙂
Kate, I just wanted to write and say that I hear you! I think that many of us feel exhausted with the challenges we are facing in our individual lives AND with the chaos we are facing in our world. I am sending prayers and good vibes your way.
Kate, I think I can speak for many of us living in less weather-beaten places than Louisiana that we are worried about you! Like Covid isn’t bad enough, you’ve had to endure not one, but two hurricanes?? Please consider moving someplace closer to Sara and safer than where you are, and we’ll all sleep better at night, and hopefully you won’t be so tired. We love you and your recipes…. they’re fabulous and foolproof, a winning combo!
Can you make these homemade dressings in a jar and just shake it? I don’t have a blender and as much as I want one, I probably can’t get one any time soon.
Absolutely!
I really love this dressing, but I have been wondering if I should store it in the fridge or not. Thanks!
And if it makes a difference, I use onion salt instead of a green onion.
This is probably a really dumb question but do you use regular vinegar or white wine vinegar?
This salad dressing is amazing! I made a batch last night and I’m already on my third salad! That being said, has anyone tried making a lower sugar version of this? Or tried using Splenda or something?? Also semi-related, you don’t have a raspberry vinaigrette recipe do you?? That’s my next favorite salad dressing!
Anyway, thanks for this wonderful recipe!!
Joie, yes, when I make this dressing, I use Splenda rather than regular sugar, tastes great!
That’s the one! Thanks, Kate. I was just searching for it wrong. This wrap is one of my favorites.
I loved making the wraps that you posted with this dressing. I haven’t had them for a while and just got online to double-check what you put in them (I think it was feta cheese, chicken, maybe cranberries?), but the link to your all-time favorite salad isn’t working in this post. Can you re-post what was in those amazing wraps? Or does anyone remember?
Was it this wrap?
https://ourbestbites.com/2010/07/quick-fix-sweet-salty-salad-wrap/
Yum! I am making this for lunch, and using it on my salad with leafy greens, strawberries, walnuts, grilled chicken, and feta cheese.
How long will this dressing last in the refrig.
1-2 weeks. 🙂
I can’t wait to make this for our Sunday Family Dinner this weekend! But I have a question: Could I use canola oil instead of vegetable oil? Thanks 🙂
Yep–in fact, canola is just a type of vegetable oil (and the one we use pretty much exclusively).
How long will this last in the refrigerator?
Sorry! Catching up on old emails here! This will probably last about a week (maybe 2) in the fridge.
I was looking for a poppy seed dressing to go with my favorite Spinach, strawberry and almond salad. This was perfect and so easy to make! Thanks again for another wonderful recipe!