This simple Greek salad dressing recipe calls for five ingredients and takes no time to whisk together. It’s the recipe my extended Greek family has been making to dress Greek salads for as long as I can remember, and it’s a dressing loved by adults and children alike.

A tossed Greek salad in a large white bowl.

Last summer while visiting my parents, I discovered my children liked salad. Having generally not loved the salads I had served them up until this point, this was both a shocking and welcomed discovery.

They were eating my mother’s Greek salad, and as I watched them gobble up chopped Romaine lettuce leaves, halved cherry tomatoes, and slivered red onions, I wondered: How? Why?

As I thought more, I realized it had to be the dressing, which my family credits to my Great Aunt Phyllis. It’s a simple Dijon mustard vinaigrette, not unlike many of the dressings I had made for them before, but it calls for a higher ratio of oil to vinegar as well as a small amount of sugar, both of which help soften the acidity.

My siblings and I loved our mother’s Greek salad as children, and the more I thought about the dressing, the more my children’s enthusiasm for the salad made sense: the dressings I had made them up until this point had just been too sharp. Moreover, the inclusion of chopped shallots and garlic, which I love in dressings, likely provided a little too much bite. Alas.

Incidentally, in addition to this recipe being child-friendly, it’s also perfect for early cooks because it requires no chopping and no juicing. It’s a simple mix of red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, sugar, and olive oil. That’s it!

In recent weeks I’ve taught two of my children how to make the dressing and doing so has brought back vivid memories of being in my childhood kitchen, working from my mother’s handwritten copy of the recipe, whisking together the dressing while my mother finished the last of the dinner preparations, snagging a slivered red onion from the salad bowl, dunking it into the dressing, and loving the zing I felt in the back of my throat.

Friends, this recipe has lived on the blog for years, but on an old page that’s buried in the archives. It was time to pull it out and give it a refresh. I hope you approve.

How to Make Greek Salad Dressing, Step by Step

Gather your ingredients: extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, and sugar.

Ingredients to make Greek salad dressing on a countertop.

Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, salt, sugar, and a few twists of pepper, if you wish.

A bowl of vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar.

Slowly stream in the olive oil until…

A bowl of whisked together vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar aside a liquid measure filled with olive oil.

… the dressing is emulsified.

A bowl of whisked Greek salad dressing with a whisk inside.

Transfer to a storage vessel and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

A jar of Greek salad dressing on a countertop.

Don’t be afraid to double it!

A jar of Greek salad dressing on a countertop.

My Family’s Greek Salad, Step by Step

This is my family’s version of a Greek salad. You’ll need: Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onion, scallions, olives, feta, chives, dill, and, if you wish, a pinch of dried oregano.

Ingredients to make Greek salad on a countertop.

Place everything in a large bowl and…

A bowl of untossed Greek salad.

… toss with Greek salad dressing to taste:

A tossed Greek salad in a large white bowl.

Serve aside anything your heart desires. I love it with this chicken souvlaki and tzatziki.

A plate of Greek salad.
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A jar of Greek salad dressing on a countertop.

5-Ingredient Greek Salad Dressing Recipe

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Description

This is my Great Aunt Phyllis’s Greek salad dressing recipe. My extended family has used it for years to dress — wait for it — Greek salad, but not a traditional horiatiki salad, which is a non-lettuce salad composed of largely chopped peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta, all dressed with a light drizzle of olive oil and vinegar. This Greek salad includes mustard and is a thicker, emulsified dressing.

If you’d like to make the Greek salad pictured above, you’ll need:

For the Greek Salad: 

  • 2 to 3 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped into 1- to 2-inch pieces
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 4 to 6 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 to 1 cup pitted kalamata olives
  • fresh chives, snipped with scissors into the salad to taste
  • fresh dill, snipped with scissors into the salad to taste
  • 4 ounces of feta, sliced thinly or crumbled
  • pinch dried oregano, optional
  • Freshly cracked black pepper, optional

Toss everything in a large bowl with Greek salad dressing to taste. 

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste, optional
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, salt, sugar, and pepper, if using, to taste. Whisking constantly, stream in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. 
  2. Transfer to a storage vessel and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. (And probably longer in fact. I often make a double batch of this recipe, and I have used it weeks after first storing it. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Category: Dressing
  • Method: Whisk
  • Cuisine: Greek, American