overhead photo of a big beautiful salad

A few months ago I reconnected with an old friend I met during my MOPS days (MOPS!! That seems like someone else’s life! Pass the Kleenex – I absolutely hate that my babies are growing up…) Anyway, Kim is a Registered Dietitian and is SO. DARN. SMART. One of my favorite things in life is listening to, learning from, and celebrating intelligent women in their element.

I am in awe. I bow down. Who runs the world? We all know the answer to that question. ;)

During our catch up over coffee, Kim and I started discussing ways we might be able to work together and the topic of an eCookbook for her clients came up. She supplies the recipes/concepts, and I fine tune then photograph them. I’ll let you know when it’s available through her program – the dishes are fantastic!

One concept I’ve learned about and adopted through writing the eCookbook, is eating vegan until dinnertime. Translation: consuming tons and tons of vegetables, gluten free whole grains, and beans for breakfast, lunch, and snacks in between. In so many forms and combinations – it is almost impossible to get bored! Salads are of course part of the program, and one way to jazz up an enormous, vegetable-based salad is drizzling it with 3 ingredient Oil Free Honey Mustard Salad Dressing. 

Think salad dressing has to contain oil? Think again! This flavor-concentrated dressing takes 60 seconds to make and will transform the way you eat salads.

spoon drizzling homemade oil free honey mustard salad dressing

Oil Free Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

There have been a couple of recipes Kim’s suggested that I was initially surprised by – foods or flavors I hadn’t considered combining – and every single one has been a smash hit. I’ll test the recipe then text her something along the lines of, “YOU ARE A GENIUS.” Her idea for Oil Free Honey Mustard Salad Dressing falls into the “genius” category.

Three ingredients combine to make a flavor-packed, low fat, low calorie, gluten free, and vegetarian salad dressing that requires ZERO oil. You’re going to want to drizzle this on just about everything. Here’s what you’ll need:

  1. Lemon juice: Lemon juice brings freshness and brightness to the dressing.
  2. Dijon Mustard: be sure the brand you buy is gluten free – I like Koops brand.
  3. Raw honey: I like Costco raw organic honey. You can use pure maple syrup if you prefer that flavor, or want to keep the recipe vegan.

oil free salad dressing in a serving bowl

How Much To Use

Since this dressing isn’t diluted with oil or water, you only need a little bit for even the biggest of salads. For the huge salad you see here, I used ~3 Tablespoons of the oil free dressing. I like to include an avocado half, either sliced or chopped, in the salad then mix it up very well so it lends a creaminess to the dressing.

I love how it brightens each bite up and really lets the ingredients in the salad shine.

Hey, What’s in this Salad?

Here’s what’s in the salad you see here – lots of fresh vegetables plus plant-based protein:

  • 2 big handfuls spring mix lettuce
  • 1 mini cucumber
  • big handful grape tomatoes
  • 1/2 stalk celery
  • ~2 Tablespoons Go Raw Seed Salad Toppers
  • 1/4 cup shelled edamame
  • sliced red onion
  • 1/4 cup shredded carrot
  • 1/2 avocado
  • ~1 Tablespoon hemp seed hearts
  • ~3 Tablespoons Oil Free Honey Mustard Dressing

This is a fantastic to salad to make two or three of at once so lunches are super easy throughout the week. Just grab, dress, and devour!

fresh salad in a bowl

How to Make Oil Free Honey Mustard Dressing

Like I said, you only need three ingredients to make this oil free salad dressing:

  • Fresh lemon juice
  • Dijon mustard
  • Raw honey

Again, you can swap the honey for pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup) if you like that flavor better, and/or want to keep the dressing vegan. You can also play around with using half Dijon and half yellow mustard if Dijon is a bit too zippy for you.

(Shh, you can just drizzle all the ingredients over your salad then mix it up, but I’ll provide measurements for you below!)

ingredients for oil free salad dressing

Combine the ingredients in a bowl then stir it up. Simple! Feel free to add a crack or 20 of black pepper if you like.

oil free salad dressing in a mixing bowl

I hope you absolutely LOVE this new way to dress a big, fresh salad! Enjoy!

overhead photo of a fresh salad with oil free salad dressing

Oil Free Honey Mustard Salad Dressing

5/5 (4 REVIEWS)

Description

All you need is 3 ingredients to make low fat, flavor packed, Oil Free Honey Mustard Salad Dressing! Drizzle over any and all salads.

Ingredients

makes 6 Tablespoons (~2 salads worth)

  • 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 Tablespoon raw honey
  • freshly cracked black pepper

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl then mix to combine. Drizzle over salad then serve. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Notes

  • You can use pure maple syrup in place of honey if desired to make this recipe vegan.

This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.

photo collage of oil free salad dressing