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    Home » Salad and Dressings

    Maple Dressing is a Must-Make Recipe for Salad Lovers

    Sep 29, 2018 · 1 Comment

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    Easy Maple Dressing Recipe. Made with maple syrup, mustard, and apple cider vinegar, this vinaigrette goes great on spinach salads, Brussels sprouts, roasted broccoli and butternut squash. You can even drizzle some on goat cheese and serve with crackers. Thanks to the mustard, this dressing comes out creamy and delicious.

    Maple dressing in glass bowl.

    Nestled among all the horrible, important news of late, there was a blip of controversy in the food world about…maple syrup.

    Does a maple syrup dustup matter? Nope. Not at all. But if you’re taking a moment to read a food blog, you might realize you need a break from the aforementioned horrible news. I know I do. That’s why I’m writing about maple salad dressing. We all cope however we can, right?

    So let’s talk about maple syrup! Turns out Mimi Sheraton, the celebrated food critic and cookbook author, hates the stuff. You can read her screed against maple syrup over at the Washington Post. Go ahead and click if you want but here’s a line from the piece that sums up her feelings: “Basically, what I detest about maple syrup is everything, meaning both texture and flavor.”

    That’s kind of like saying, “You know what I dislike about Brett? Everything he says and everything he does.” Ms. Sheraton goes on to write 500 words on why she dislikes maple syrup so much. I dig her passionate dislike of maple syrup (even though I disagree with it!) because, I don’t know about you, but there are some things I dislike and some things I dislike. The second category? When it’s an italic dislike? I can spend a lot more than 500 words explaining to you the bottomless depth of my displeasure. 

    The one aspect of maple syrup that Ms. Sheraton doesn’t mention is how much of a pain in the ass it is to get the cap off the bottle. After Sunday breakfast we always wipe down the spout of the bottle before twisting the cap back on. And yet it always gets stuck. Always. If she’d written 500 words about that problem, I’d be there for it.

    I adore the texture and flavor maple syrup. I could throw some food writerly purple prose at you that says my refined taste for maple syrup comes from the fact that I grew up 20 minutes from the Vermont border. And that my mother, who was born and raised in Vermont, took me to Dakin Farm as a child and I witnessed firsthand how maple syrup was made. The scent of maple sap boiling remains one of my favorite scents to this day. But, while all those things are true, they seem silly. We’re talking about a sugar syrup. It’s sweet and delicious. My love for it isn’t complex. 

    And while maple sugaring season occurs in the very early spring, I tend to think of it as a fall-winter flavor. Roasted brussels sprouts tossed with a scant tablespoon of maple syrup are divine. Maple syrup drizzled over roasted butternut squash is perfection. And a piece of pure maple sugar candy beats a piece of candy corn any day of the week–and especially on Halloween.

    Incorporating maple into a salad dressing only expands your options for using maple syrup. This dressing, which is a snap to make, is what I reach for each fall for salads. The sweet-sour flavor of the dressing goes perfectly with the hearty green salads I make during the fall.

    If you’ve never made a homemade dressing before, start with this one. It’s a cinch to make. In a medium bowl, whisk together pure maple syrup, some mustard (I like Dijon but you can use anything except for maybe ballpark yellow mustard), salt and pepper. Then add apple cider vinegar. This is my favorite vinegar for dressings–and combined with maple and mustard, it really sings. Then, in a slow stream, whisk in extra virgin olive oil. Thanks to the mustard, which acts as a natural emulsifier, you get a homemade vinaigrette that looks almost creamy.

    Use this dressing on salads or brush it on chicken before baking. I think this is a recipe you’ll use again and again. Unless you’re Mimi Sheraton, of course.

    Maple dressing in small bowl. Whisk sits next to the bowl.
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    Maple Salad Dressing

    Easy Maple Dressing Recipe. Made with maple syrup, mustard, and apple cider vinegar, this vinaigrette goes great on spinach salads, Brussels sprouts, roasted broccoli and butternut squash. You can even drizzle some on goat cheese and serve with crackers. Thanks to the mustard, this dressing comes out creamy and delicious.

    Servings 1 cup

    Ingredients

    • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
    • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
    • 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
    • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
    • 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
    • freshly ground black pepper, to taste

    Instructions

    1. Whisk together the maple syrup, mustard, and salt in a small bowl. Add the vinegar and whisk until smooth. In a slow and steady stream, add the olive oil. Season with black pepper to taste. Add more salt if needed.
    2. This dressing keeps in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sharon collinson says

      July 03, 2019 at 11:11 am

      Have you met Verdant Kitchen’s ginger syrup? Try it in this recipe. I always use it in my vinaigrette.

      Reply

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    Elizabeth Barbone

    Elizabeth Barbone is the founder and recipe developer behind Cook Fast, Eat Well. A food writer for over 15 years, she's built a reputation for creating easy recipes that work.

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