Moroccan Vinaigrette—For Salads, Sides, and More
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This Moroccan Vinaigrette is the perfect blend of cumin, paprika, parsley, garlic, and a dash of cayenne. It's so good, you'll want it on your table for every meal.
And it's not just for salads. It's great on sides & main dishes too.
It might sound strange, but this salad dressing recipe is simply one of our overall favorite recipes.
It's a homemade wonderfully-seasoned salad dressing that frankly, is on our table for every meal.
This Moroccan Vinaigrette is modified from the recipe of the same name in Lorna Sass' Complete Vegetarian Kitchen, one of my many Lorna Sass cookbooks. I highlighted this cookbook in my post about pressure cookers. Please note that when I referenced this cookbook in the pressure cooker post, it was under the title of Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen. This new title is a more recent version of the same book, but it's still not available new on Amazon. Unfortunately, these great books are no longer in print. (I am no longer a vegetarian, but this book is a keeper regardless of your “dietary status”!)
As I said, we have this on our table at almost every meal and when you are really in a bind, you can just pull some of your prepared beans out of the freezer, combine them with some cooked whole grains (rice, millet, buckwheat) and top with this vinaigrette and you have yourself a fast meal. For more protein and/or for those of you concerned about copper toxicity (which I will post about in the future), top with some small pieces of healthy animal protein or pumpkin seeds. Yum!
Whenever we make a meal for a sick friend or a family with a new baby, this vinaigrette tops a vegetable medley or Moroccan Carrots. And it goes fabulously with Pakistani Kima, our favorite when having company for a meal (again, post to follow in the near future).
Why Make Your Own Homemade Salad Dressing?
Control over the ingredients
No disodium EDTA or high fructose corn syrup and you can make the whole thing organic (if you care to) for a fraction of the cost of bottled organic dressings.
Saves Money
And as I mentioned in my post about making your own vegetable broth mix, by making your own spice blends, you can save money by purchasing dressing ingredients (spices, lemon juice, and olive oil, in the case of this dressing) in bulk and using them up before they spoil or lose their flavor. You also make fewer trips to the grocery store, saving gas and time, since you have the raw ingredients in your kitchen to make what you need! With the price of gas these days, you really end up saving!
Save Time
How do you save time making your own? Well, I know making your own dressing takes time, but so does going to the store. Maybe it's a wash, but the way we eat dressing, I still think I'm saving time.
So, here's how to make this dressing. And, as with almost all of my recipes, I recommend at least doubling the recipe so that you can save time!
Other Homemade Salad Dressings
I have a thing for homemade salad dressings. If you do too, here's a list of some others on my site that I think you'll like.
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette – delicious and has a low-carb option, too!
Vegan Ranch Dressing – in my fridge all the time. Makes a great dip!
Zingy Dairy-free Avocado Dressing – another one that makes an amazing dip.
Nutritional Yeast Dressing – so easy kids can make it.
Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette – with five different variations!
Recipe Notes
Lemon Juice: I LOVE this lemon juice. We use it for EVERYTHING including morning lemon water, this Sesame-free Savory Hummus, and this Sugar-free Lemonade. I'd love to squeeze my lemons, but this is one area where I choose convenience. The juice keeps in the fridge for up to eight weeks. I buy it in huge packs of two glass bottles at Costco. Definitely check it out!
Moroccan Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (freshly squeezed or organic bottled)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 clove garlic (finely minced, or 1/8 teaspoon garlic granules)
- 3/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley (tightly packed, minced) (or 4 teaspoons dried parsley)
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and mix well.
- Taste and adjust seasonings adding more lemon juice or vinegar if you like.
- Store unused portion in refrigerator. Keeps well up to two weeks.
- You may wish to add additional lemon juice, cumin and parsley after a few days in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Do you make your own salad dressing? What kind?
Very good. I used moroccan mix, instead of cumin and paprika and garlic flakes instead of fresh and no cayenne, because it’s hard enough to get my hubby to eat salad without the added heat . Thank you .
I’m so glad you liked it. Is the Moroccan mix a blend on its own?
The link from the blueberry dressing brings me here. It’s not correct. Please fix. Thanks.
Hi there. Which blueberry dressing? Did you come here off of Pinterest perhaps? If so, someone else made that and caused the problem. I didn’t do it. I’m so sorry but I can’t help. Hope you can find the recipe!
I’m working on my health with a doctor and a great nutritionist. I did low carb/keto for years and years and in the process clogged my arteries and threatened to give myself diabetes. I am making progress down the healthy road by cutting way back on fats, adding healthy carbs and protein. No sugar, little to no fat, (oh and found out I was gluten intolerant) and a balanced diet with lots of whole fruits and vegetables with a large decrease in my meat consumption. I have been sulfite intolerant for years so no vinegar or wine. Given all that I really need a good salad dressing recipe(or two?). I’m not a creative cook so this isn’t coming to me. I was thinking maybe to use fat free yogurt or fat free sour cream with maybe some stevia but that’s as far as I got. Appreciate any help available.
Hi there. I’m so so sorry to hear that you are dealing with all of this. There are varying thoughts about what contributes to clogged arteries – some say it’s carbs but sounds like you weren’t eating them…maybe all the dairy??
What was the reasoning for the diabetes?
You might be interested in seeing a bit of my story here about how we have improved our health doing a lot of things…wholenewmom.com/about-me/
Did a practitioner tell you to go fat free for some reason? I just wonder if the dairy in the keto diet was the problem. Lots of fats are supposed to be very good for heart health.
Let me know :).
Delicious, easy to make and so much better tasting than bottled dressing without the sugar!
So glad to hear it! We love it too!
Sadly the lid on my good seasons bottle got brittle and broke. I got it second hand so I don’t know if it was put in the dishwasher and that affected it or if it was just age. Amazon has several glass bottle options besides the one you linked to. I just had a thought that maybe I could contact Good Seasons to see if they could replace the lid for a reasonable cost.
Make sure your lemon juice doesn’t have additives. The bottled juice in my grocery aren’t pure lemon and neither are the little lemon shaped containers often found in the produce area. I buy frozen lemon juice by minute maid 9I think). Yes it is in a plastic bottle, but at least it is 100% lemon juice. If desired, it can be thawed and put in a freezer safe glass container, then refrozen.
Yes, those additives in lemon juice are nasty! Sorry about your bottle and thanks for reading!
This recipe is amazing!!!! I usually don’t leave any comments, in this case I just couldn’t help it. You will not regret making this, it is outright super delicious . Just double the ingredients right of the bat, do yourself this favor….. 🙂
Aww– you really made my night :)! Thanks for taking the time to come back and comment. You’re a true blessing to me!
On the topic of a glass bottle/jar for your vinaigrette dressing, I have kept and reused a glass shaker dispenser that originally comes with the packets of Good Seasons Italian salad dressing. I bought these probably 30 years ago but have seen them now and then in stores. They are shaped a bit like a flower vase and have a white plastic snap on lid with a pour hole. They are heavy glass and a fair size. I have two.
Thank you! I need to get a few of these! I remember them from when I was younger!