This Asian Orange Vinaigrette is the perfect balance of flavors – lively and tangy, slightly sweet, a little heat and just enough sea salt to bring out all of the flavor notes. Light and delicious, great for salads and so easy to make!
Why This Asian Orange Vinaigrette Is So Good!
- The perfect balance of sweet and tangy flavors, while still being light.
- Easy and quick to make, you’ll likely have most the ingredients already!
- A great dressing for take to work salads.
- You can mix up the citrus fruit, for a variety of dressing combinations.
Asian Orange Vinaigrette Ingredients
- Orange Zest
- Orange Juice
- Ginger
- Rice Vinegar (I prefer Mitsukan brand)
- Honey
- Sea Salt
- Vegetable Oil
How To Make Asian Orange Vinaigrette – Step by Step
Whisk together all of the ingredients, taste, adjust, and you’re done! Spritz it onto any salad for instant pizzazz, or save it for later. Tips to follow…
A Sweet and Tangy Asian Style Dressing
In Asian-style dressing, tangy comes from sweetened or seasoned rice vinegar (see photos below of Mitsukan rice vinegars) – which is vinegar made from rice and seasoned with just a bit of sugar. You can also used unsweetened or unseasoned rice vinegar too. I always have both on in my pantry.
As for the slightly sweet, I love using a bit of honey to balance out the vinegar. The oil I use for Asian dressings is neutral flavored light vegetable oil – olive oil is too strong in flavor. I’ve also used grapeseed oil and rice oil.
Freshly grated ginger provides the heat, no need to even peel the ginger, unless the brown outer skin is dry and thick. Use a rasp or microplane grater and go at it until you have about 1 teaspoon.
A Variety Of Citrus Vinaigrettes
The fruit in the dressing is flexible – use any citrus: orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, blood orange or go a little more exotic with passion fruit (cut in half spoon out fruit only).
What To Pair With This Asian Orange Vinaigrette
I’ve paired the Orange Ginger Vinaigrette with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil – just to change up the normal caprese salad into something more lively. It also goes great with something like this Kale Salad with Cherries and Pecans.
Top Tips For This Asian Orange Vinaigrette
- You can choose different citrus to use in the dressing.
- Store vinaigrettes in a jar or other container with a tight lid so that it’s easy to shake it up again when you need it.
- Generally speaking, any oils labeled “vegetable oil” or “salad oil” are fine for making a basic vinaigrette. You could also use any light, neutral-flavored oil like safflower, canola, or soybean oil.
- Ideally, you’d prepare the vinaigrette in advance and then let it sit for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. Just don’t refrigerate it during this time!
Check Out These Other Delicious Vinaigrettes
- Caprese Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
- Sesame Seared Tuna with Lime Ginger Vinaigrette
- Roasted Carrots with Sesame Ponzu Vinaigrette
- Heirloom Tomato and Avocado Salad with Crispy Wontons and Spicy Cilantro Vinaigrette
*I’ve developed this recipe for a client, Mitsukan, the maker of rice vinegar shown above.
I love hearing from you! If you have made this Asian Orange Vinaigrette with Ginger, be sure to leave me a star rating and a comment below!
Asian Orange Vinaigrette with Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/2 each orange, juiced
- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
- 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar I prefer Mitsukan brand
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/8 tsp sea salt to taste
- ¼ cup light vegetable oil
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the ingredients.
Notes
Store vinaigrettes in a jar or other container with a tight lid so that it's easy to shake it up again when you need it.
Generally speaking, any oils labeled "vegetable oil" or "salad oil" are fine for making a basic vinaigrette. You could also use any light, neutral-flavored oil like safflower, canola, or soybean oil.
Ideally, you'd prepare the vinaigrette in advance and then let it sit for anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. Just don't refrigerate it during this time!
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Yum !!! Made miso glazed japanese sweet potatoe…drizzled this on top…perfect !
Thank you for sharing your recipe!! Made this last night, put over roasted beets, parsnip, squash and broccoli, almond salad. Family went crazy for this. Chicken breasts are marinading I this.dressing now. Roasted heads of garlic mashed with this.dressing-just a touch of dressing, I’m expecting to be sensatt. Again thank you!
Thanks so much Laura!
Thank you so much for this excellent dressing. I used it over cubed sweet potatoes, snap peas, dried cranberries and toasted pecans. It really made it so delicious.
Thank you, Birte
Thanks Raymond, I was careful not to get any of the white, but I’ll try using less zest next time!
Too much zest and or white of the zest. The white is very bitter so use only the orange part.
I will have to wait a while to harvest garden fresh tomatoes. Our temp was 8 degrees on Tuesday night. I agree, home meade salad dressing is the way to go.
That is one shiny spoon. 😉
Gorgeous photo!
Wow, the tomato looks gorgeous! As I’ve gotten older, my taste buds seem to have changed and I started liking bottled dressing less and less. Then I realized that making dressing is easy and I’ve never turned back. At a pinch, I rather throw in some olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper than use bottled dressing!
Your tomatoes look gorgeous – I am so missing my summer tomatoes and jealous of the warm weather down south! Love how light and bright this vinaigrette is. Now that I make my own dressing, I rarely buy any from the store. Fresh citrus (Meyer lemons and oranges) are my favorites in vinaigrettes.
Great recipe. Deliciuos. and liked the tomatos. I hope I can find them here in my area
As if you have access to those gorgeous tomatoes in January! #jealous
Those tomatoes are gorgeous!!! Wonderful dressing, Jaden! Hope you’re staying warm!!
I am always looking for new staple dressings – seems like I end up making the same ones. Pinning this one to keep. Your tomatoes look fabulous!
I love that salad dressing. I am so happy you gave the recipe for it. I only wish I had your tomatoes. They look gorgeous and are making my mouth water. Living in Syracuse, New York I won’t see a tomato like that until August. The ones in the store right now are just impostors. I will still make your dressing on put on a salad with beets. Got to get some color in with all our white snow.
It also sounds like this would be a mouthwatering marinade for grilled chicken.
Hi Jaden, this sounds delicious. My problem is that in the past when I made a dressing with orange zest, the zest made the dressing very bitter. Is there any way to avoid this?
Thanks! I’m also freezing down here in South Florida today!
I’m: a) really jealous of your tomatoes right now, b) would love to open my mouth and have you drizzle that down my throat and c) really jealous of your tomatoes right now.
I’m always buying salad dressing and I don’t know why I do it. They never live up to my expectations, or store bought dressing. The only dressing I never buy is Caesar, I just have to banish picky eaters from the room when I make it. I wish I still had tomatoes. Its 80 degrees out, but all of our tomatoes died 2 months ago.
I sure hope you can protect them tonight. I live just a few miles south of you. I guess this cold snap is the price we pay for such lovely weather over Christmas.
I heard! We’re covering with sheets.
The boys must be going crazy picking all those gorgeous tomatoes! The green stripped one is so beautiful. I just want to dive into the middle of all that freshness!!
The boys miss you!!! Come back soon! Another party?