Meet my latest salad dressing obsession! This mint dressing is as refreshing as they get. It’s made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, and lots of fresh mint. Honey, Dijon mustard and garlic round out the flavors and make it irresistible.
This dressing is light like a classic vinaigrette, but offers loads of fresh mint flavor. It’s delicious on salads, of course, and I’ve listed some salad ingredients that play especially well with mint dressing below.
This “dressing” is also a fresh and lightly creamy sauce. I bet it would be great on orzo salad, in a pita sandwich, or on cooked fish, if you’re a fish eater. I’m eager to hear how you put it to use.
One of my favorite local salads features a fresh mint dressing (the chisaya mama at The Mixx, which is made with kale, arugula, quinoa, fennel, radish and Parmesan).
I finally developed one of my own for my fattoush salad recipe, but it’s so good that I decided it deserves its own post.
Homemade salad dressings, as a whole, taste infinitely better than the stale store-bought options. This one tastes particularly fresh since it’s loaded with fresh mint!
Mint Dressing Salad Suggestions
This mint dressing would be lovely with any of the following ingredients:
- Greens: kale, arugula, romaine, spring greens
- Berries: blueberries, raspberries, strawberries
- Melon: watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe
- Peaches
- Radish
- Fennel
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Bell pepper
- Summer squash
- Red onion or green onion
- Fresh herbs: basil, cilantro, chives, dill, parsley
- Beans: chickpeas, lentils
- Whole grains: quinoa, farro, wheat berries
- Cheese: Parmesan, goat cheese, feta
Please tell me how you like this dressing in the comments! If you ever want to change things up, try my green goddess dressing, which is made extra-creamy with Greek yogurt.
Fresh Mint Dressing
- Author:
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Salad dressing
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
This mint salad dressing recipe is refreshing, delicious and easy to make! You’ll need fresh mint, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and honey or maple syrup. Recipe yields a little over 1 cup.
Ingredients
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- ¼ cup packed fresh mint (spearmint) leaves (about half of a ⅔ or ¾-ounce package)
- 3 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste, and add more salt and/or pepper if necessary. Use as desired!
- This dressing will keep well, covered and refrigerated, for up to 1 week.
Notes
Recipe inspired by The Mixx in Kansas City, and adapted from dressing recipes in my cookbook, Love Real Food.
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Sarah
The recipe was easy to follow and turned out perfectly! I’m not a natural in the kitchen, so this felt great. I’m always assigned the green salad at supper club (guess why!)and even my foodie friends were impressed and wanted the recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy it was such a hit! Thank you for your review, Sarah.
Missy
Truthfully, I haven’t made this yet but I certainly shall. The basic vinaigrette is a familiar friend. But the addition of mint is a beautiful, fresh idea.
Fresh mint is absurdly expensive in Dallas grocery stores, unless you drive out to an ethnic shop in the suburbs. Well, I got me a bunch of it right now and I’m delighted to find your recipe
★★★★★
Leptosiphon
Amazing. Seriously. I wanted to just drink the entire batch! Brings salad to life. Amazing.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it! Thank you for your review, Leptosiphon.
Rachel
This dressing is delicious. I stumbled upon it while searching for a mint dressing to go on a salad with steak, grilled peaches, and Gorgonzola cheese, and it was delicious on that salad, but I’ve since made your Fattoush recipe and it was even better on that! If I’m making it for myself, I use honey, but if I’m taking it to gatherings where there are vegans, I use maple syrup.
(My secret for easy perfect salad dressing is to use an individual smoothie blender, the kind where you just screw the bottle onto the base and it blends. You don’t even have to chop anything, I just throw whole garlic cloves and mint leaves and all the other ingredients in there and blend for a few minutes until it’s nicely emulsified.)
★★★★★
Kate
That combination sounds delicious, Rachel! I appreciate your review.
Ingrid Andree
This has been the most awesome thing to grace my kitchen! I have made it and made it for friends! I marinated lamb chops and grilled them
Address some mint for decorations to finished product. I have a small Meyer lemon tree and mint growing crazy in my back yard
It was a perfect match
Much loved thank you for charting this bodacious Ku awesome creations!
IMA in San Diego
Kay
Oh Mother this is good!! I thought it deserved some fanfare– something other than greens so I made a quinoa salad with black beans, fresh corn off the cob, red pepper, onion, cucumber–well you know how it goes….And.Then.I.Topped.It.Off.With.This.Dressing….
excuse me while get my rolled up eyes back and center. Suffice it to say I liked it.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Kay! I appreciate your review.
Aria
This is my go-to salad dressing recipe, it’s amazing! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Aria! I’m delighted this salad dressing is a go-to for you.
Adriana
Good but use a lot less honey. I like sweet dressings but this was extreme. I recommend two teaspoons here.
★★★★★
Kathryn
This dressing is sublime!!! Thank you so much ♥️♥️♥️
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Kathryn!
Ali
So very delicious on my squash and fennel salad. My only concern is that two tablespoons is supposed to be 8 servings. I used three table spoons on just my own salad. Whoops.
★★★★★
Morgan Barreda
This is soooo good! Thanks for posting it.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Morgan! Thank you for your review.
Tiina
Made your Mint salad dressing and it was outstanding!!! It was fresh and savory and just delicious. Thank you.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Tiina! I appreciate your review.
Susan
I am growing Chocolate Mint herb in my garden, wondering if I could use that in this dressing? I envision putting it on a salad with fresh sweet strawberries, maybe some nuts, several kinds of lettuce and who knows what else. Your thoughts?
Kate
You can try it. Let me know what you think, Susan!
Laura
★★★★★
Jordan
Really delicious, thanks for the recipe! I used lime and agave instead of lemon and honey, but did everything else per the recipe and it was fantastic.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Jordan! Thank you for your review.
Neeta
So fresh, flavorful and vibrant in taste. Enjoyed it on greens with avocado, red onions, red peppers, garbanzo beans and tomatoes. Amazing!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Neeta!
STU
I made this last week and I am making it tonight again! It is amazing!
Thanks for all your great recipes!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Stu! Thank you for your review.
Wendy
Delicious! We enjoyed this dressing over salmon and salad. I did cut the amount of honey a bit, but all else was as written. Definitely will make this on repeat!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Wendy! Thank you for sharing.