Simple three-ingredient salad dressing recipe is perfect for summer

Daily Record

21-05-2025

A quick and easy salad dressing recipe that requires just three store cupboard ingredients has gone viral, and people are desperate to try it out for themselves.
Salad is an essential fixture of the summer dining table, and everyone has their preferred way to savour it. For some, a fresh garden salad complements the main dish well, whilst others make a hearty meal of it by packing in fats, proteins, and carbs— for instance, with dishes like chicken Caesar or salad Niçoise.
One widely accepted notion is that salad is elevated with a splash of dressing, yet many off-the-shelf dressings tend to go off before you've had the chance to use up the bottle. A straightforward concoction of three pantry staples might just solve your issues of eating undressed greens.
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According to Simply Recipes, this luscious dressing involves merely three ingredients and takes no longer than five minutes to create from scratch.
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It's quite adaptable, suitable for dressing simple salads, notably those containing chicken, and ideal as well for whipping up homemade coleslaw.
Rachel Knecht from Simply Recipes mentions she often whips up this sweetened dressing "on repeat" to complement her preferred salad made of grilled chicken, white rice, crisp iceberg lettuce, and thin carrot strips, reports the Express.
The base formula is quite simple: just blend together rice vinegar, sugar, and mayonnaise. Rachel points out: "Sometimes you'll find sesame oil or poppy seeds added. I add salt, but again, you could skip it if you want to."
For the serving size, Rachel's recipe yields about half a cup, which suffices to nicely cover a full head of iceberg lettuce, making roughly four portions.
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Creamy salad dressing recipe
Ingredients
1/4 cup rice vinegar
Two tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup full-fat mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)
One teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds (optional)
Method
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Rachel points out that the simplicity of this recipe allows for easy adjustments according to personal taste preferences.
She describes her original version as "more tangy than sweet" but suggests increasing the sugar incrementally by one teaspoon if needed, allowing for flexibility in flavour.
For best results, using full-fat mayonnaise is encouraged, as it helps prevent the mixture from curdling when it meets the vinegar.
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This also grants the added benefit of making the sauce ahead of time and storing it in the refrigerator for as long as two days, without compromising texture.
The first step in creating the dressing is combining the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into a small container and whisking until smooth.
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You can stop whisking once the sugar and salt have dissolved. Then, incorporate the mayonnaise by whisking, ensuring the dressing's silky texture.
You may also whisk in sesame oil and poppy seeds at this time if you decide to use them.
If desired, season with pepper for extra flavour.
Now, pour the dressing gently into a bowl containing your freshly washed salad before tossing the mix to blend all the ingredients together.