DIY Salad Dressings: Perfect as Homemade Favors from the Kitchen
Homemade and heartfelt. That’s the sentiment of favors you’ve made yourself for guests to enjoy. And enjoy they certainly will when what you’ve prepared are DIY salad dressings from your own personal recipe or made with flavors and ingredients that evoke your party location, theme, or season! Thinking well-loved favorites? Tangy concoctions? Exotic blends? Here are some flavorful dressing ideas that will remind guests of this special occasion each time they savor a salad!
DIY Salad Dressing Ideas!
1 – The color and packaging alone would already make these such pretty guest gifts. But when each slender bottle contains a zesty Raspberry Vinegar from your kitchen, now that’s special! Actually very simple to make, as shown by the recipe at Urban Baker, these can be stylishly presented with personalized tags, too.
2 – A favorite with mixed green salads, this Basil Vinaigrette from My Recipe.com can be blended right in your home. All you need are fresh basil leaves (if from your garden, lucky you!), olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Oh, and snazzy bottles like these wouldn’t hurt either!
3 – Herb-infused vinegars have that ‘gourmet’ air that would be perfect for an Italian or wine-and-cheese theme! Thanks to these recipes we discovered on the Williams-Sonoma blog The Blender, you have wonderful choices to try: Garlic-Herb Vinegar or Berry Vinegar (made with your choice of blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries). Again, love those elegant bottle and rustic tags!
4 – There’s more! A Food Affair recommends these 3 delightful concoctions to gift: Dijon Vinaigrette, Chili Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Sesame Ginger-Lime Dressing. Guests will have a flavor fest using these as dips, cooking ingredients, as well as dressings! Do put a note on the card, though, to ‘consume quickly’…which shouldn’t be a problem at all!
5 – For a bit of an Asian twist, try this Fresh Ginger Dressing found via Tasty Kitchen (recipe credited to A Farm Girl’s Dabbles). Described as ‘sweet and full of zing,’ this combines fresh ginger, vegetable oil, rice vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. (The post even shares a trick for peeling ginger painlessly!) Bottle and give!
6 – Over at My Own Labels, we found even more choices of herb-infused vinegars that are sure to impress your guests. The delicious-sounding and beautifully-packaged blends: Parsley, Rosemary and Sage (are you humming that song now?); Fennel and Citrus; Tarragon and Garlic! Great suggestions for what base vinegars to use and other how-to tips are also included.
7 – The well-loved favorite Ranch Dressing can also be DIYed! More than just for topping salads, the recipe provided on Smells Like Home shares how this creamy delight is also perfect for dipping pizza bites, raw veggie sticks, and chips, as well as preparing dishes like buffalo wings. Put all these tips on the accompanying favor tag—your guests will love you!
8 – This is another take on a homemade berry dressing, but this time a Raspberry Vinaigrette—made intriguingly enough with chicken broth and Dijon mustard! The vibrant color caught our eye on this post at Intimate Weddings, so we thought it would make a truly eye-catching and flavorful favor idea.
I can’t wait to try the raspberry one! Looks amazing!
We totally agree, Brenda! Can just imagine this as part of a fabulous red-white-and-blue cookout spread on July 4th. Enjoy!