Let’s rewind to my trip to Costa Rica last month with my grandmother. It was the last day on our group trip, and we arrived at Sibu for our final dinner together. Sibu produces the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, and they greeted us with rum-spiked, spiced hot chocolate.
I was literally a kid in a candy store all night as they presented a lesson in chocolate history (with wine and chocolate) and moved on to an incredible dinner.
After appetizers, they handed us chopped salads that looked fairly basic at first glance—I remember lettuce, tomato, avocado, feta and dressing. Then I took a bite and forgot about chocolate for a minute. That dressing!
I immediately tracked down the owner of the place to ask about it. He said it was a “honey-Dijon vinaigrette with yogurt base” and I vowed to recreate it at home. Mind you, this dressing is quite different from a classic vinaigrette.
I started with the honey-mustard vinaigrette that I made for my cookbook, which I love as written. I reduced the oil and added plain Greek yogurt until it tasted like the dressing at Sibu.
This dressing is essentially a creamy honey-mustard dressing made with Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. It offers a more luxurious texture than any other honey-mustard dressing I’ve tried. I’m usually skeptical of using yogurt in place of mayonnaise or sour cream (mayo and sour cream have their place), but this salad dressing wouldn’t be the same without it.
Healthy Honey-Mustard Dressing
The only problem with this dressing is that “honey-Dijon vinaigrette with yogurt base” doesn’t do it justice. “Healthy honey-mustard dressing” sounds bland, and “creamy honey-mustard dressing” doesn’t quite capture the tangy deliciousness of the yogurt.
I dubbed it “Sunshine Salad Dressing” since it brightens up my salads so well. I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer, so I’m sharing it today for all of your side salad needs. The recipe yields a lot (almost 1 1/2 cups). I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finishing it off. It makes a stellar dip for vegetables, too!
I’ve been keeping a big jar of it in my fridge for the past couple of weeks, and it goes with just about everything. Try this honey-mustard dressing with any of the following:
- Fresh greens of any kind
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Kale
- Carrots
- Apples
- Bell peppers
- Goat cheese, feta or cheddar cheese
- Sunflower seeds, pecans, or almonds
Don’t miss my sunshine slaw with quinoa or my roasted and raw carrot salad with avocado, which both call for this dressing. I have more salads over here.
Please let me know how you like this honey-mustard dressing in the comments! I hope you love it as much as I do.
Watch How to Make Sunshine Dressing
Sunshine Salad Dressing
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 ½ cups 1x
- Category: Salad Dressing
- Method: Whisked
- Cuisine: American
This creamy honey-mustard salad dressing recipe is lightened up with Greek yogurt. No mayo here! It’s so easy to whisk this dressing together. Recipe yields almost 1 ½ cups and keeps well for 10 to 14 days.
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (any % fat will do)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 3 to 4 tablespoons honey, to taste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or bowl, combine all of the ingredients as listed. Whisk until blended. Taste, and season with additional pepper if necessary.
- This dressing is intentionally bold, but if it tastes too tart for your liking, whisk in another tablespoon of honey.
- Store leftover salad dressing in the refrigerator, covered, for 10 to 14 days.
Notes
Make it dairy free: If you have a favorite unsweetened dairy-free plain yogurt, it should work well here.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Ruth
I tried this absolutely delicious recipe . It tasted amazing. Thank you Cookies and Kate.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Ruth!
Sienna
This is delicious! Made it today and loved it.
Thank you.
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Sienna! I appreciate your review.
Mary
Thank you Kate for this delicious dressing. I love to eat it everyday! It does bring sunshine to my salads!!!
★★★★★
Kate
That’s great to hear, Mary!
Mari
Made this tonight and we loved it I am a huge honey mustard fan and will make this again to replace our go-to store bought brand.
★★★★★
Kate
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Mari.
Audrey
Hands down, THE BEST honey/mustard dressing we’ve ever tasted! I only had one homemade favorite, being a creamy balsamic recipe I use but now I have two favorites in my arsenal haha! Outstanding! Whole family loved it and we all went back for seconds on salad, which my guys never do so, there’s the proof haha!
★★★★★
Kate
I’mm glad you loved it, Audrey!
Michelle
Holy smokes, it’s good! I love a good sweet kale salad blend and this goes perfectly. I may even try it for my broccoli salad recipe too!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Michelle! I appreciate your review.
Laura
So delicious, didn’t use the oil, used less mustard as our UK one is much stronger, and used erythritol instead of the sweetener. My kids all loved it too and are asking me to make it again. Will be a regular in our house, thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Laura! I appreciate your review.
Marsha
This recipe rocks! I hate naked food but love dry food with a dressing. This is my new go to for everything! Dressing, dip, sauce – this makes everything better. I make it twice a week. I use it on everything. I switched to Mediterranean diet a few weeks ago to be healthier and lose some weight. I could not do it without this recipe! THANK YOU! You changed my life.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Marsha! Thank you for sharing. This dressing does go with so much!
alma
so good
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Alma!
Troy
This dressing is delicious and a very healthy way of eating salad. I followed the recipe exactly and it was amazing ❤️
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it, Troy!
Kim R.
Fantastic! I did add 1/4 tsp of dried mustard. This is spoonable!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you love it, Kim! Thank you for your review.
Mo
So delicious. It’s a definite keeper as it goes with almost anything. Thank you for creating it.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Mo! I appreciate your review.
Tracey
Hi lovely sunshine salad dressing…I don’t think there will be any problems of any been thrown away.
It’s delicious.
Can you tell me how many calories in a teaspoon or table spoon please…
Thank you for this recipe and I have subscribed to u.
Thank you
Tracey…x
★★★★★
Kate
Hi! The nutritional information is below the notes section of the recipe.
ian
Excellent recipe. Nicely balanced and not too tangy. We didn’t have yogurt so we subbed in sour cream and used it on a broccoli and bacon salad. 10/10 will make again.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Ian! I’m glad you loved it.
Amy Martin
This dressing was absolutely delicious – fresh and bright and tangy! It made my salad sing! Thank you for sharing :)
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Amy!
Rita Gorra
This is wonderful. I grow my own lettuce and mini lettuces and this dressing compliments their delicate leaves and taste. Much more than a sum of its parts. Synergetic
★★★★★
Kay
I added some fresh basil from the garden, creamy goodness.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Kay! I appreciate your review.
Sue Porter
Sunshine salad dressing is fantastic, it does brighten up every salad you make.
Yummy
Sheila
I made it exactly as instructed, except I only had whole grain Dijon. Still delicious and rather pretty with the whole mustard seeds.
Little Bold Lady
Have always preferred homemade salad dressings, but your recipe has become my “go-to” because not only is it delish, but I can count on having these staples in my pantry.
★★★★★
Phyllis I Paetznick
So creamy and delicious!
★★★★
Holly
I absolutely love this recipe! I never put oil in it and you can’t tell it’s missing! It’s so much healthier to have this on hand than store bought. – not to mention a bottle of Hellman’s Dijon was $5.99 on sale in Calgary.
★★★★★
Jayne-Marie Dale
This recipe is to die for! Absolutely amazing and such a combination of healthy ingredients. Thank you so much.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you loved it, Jayne!