This homemade Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing is thick and creamy with fresh raspberries and just a few basic ingredients. There's no mayo and no refined sugar. It has a sweet and tangy flavor and comes together in just 5 minutes. The dressing stores well in the fridge, so you can make it in advance, and you can substitute frozen raspberries if you don't have fresh.
We love this dressing on a simple green salad with raspberries but it also goes perfectly with this kale berry citrus salad or strawberry kale salad!
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Quick Look: Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing
- ⏱ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🍽 Servings: 8 (2 tablespoons per serving)
- ⚡ Calories: 166 per serving
- 🌱 Diet: gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free.
- 🔥 Flavor/texture: sweet and tangy flavor; thick and creamy texture.
- 👌 Difficulty: easy, but a blender is needed.
- ❤️ Why you'll love: there is no mayo or refined sugar; it can be made with fresh or frozen raspberries; stores well in the fridge.
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Fresh, easy and budget friendly
Salads are on the menu a lot in our house and I love to make a homemade salad dressing to go with them.
If you haven't tried making your own salad dressings and vinaigrettes, it couldn't be easier to do. You normally just need oil, vinegar (or an acidic juice) and a few other ingredients to season and create the texture you want.
Some of our favorites include my orange poppy seed dressing and this jalapeño vinaigrette (if you like a little heat)!
The other thing we love about homemade dressings is that they use real and basic ingredients without any preservatives. And, with the cost of salad dressings at the grocery store, going with homemade can save you a little money too.
Table of Contents
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Raspberries - As mentioned above, you can use fresh or frozen raspberries for this recipe. If using frozen, just make sure to thaw them in the fridge first.
- Oil - I normally use extra virgin olive oil in my salad dressings, but you can also use olive oil, canola oil or avocado oil.
- Honey - To balance the tangy flavor, liquid honey is added to the dressing. In addition to bringing a sweet flavor, honey helps emulsify and thicken the dressing. You can also use agave syrup.
- Red wine vinegar - Vinegar adds a tangy flavor to salad dressings and red wine vinegar is a go to for me. You can substitute with white wine vinegar if you wish. For extra raspberry flavor, you can also use a raspberry red wine vinegar.
- Red onion - I love the punch of flavor a little red onion adds to this dressing. The onion is blended together with the other ingredients, so you get the flavor but not the texture. Feel free to use shallots instead if you prefer.
- Poppy seeds - A necessary ingredient in poppy seed dressing!
- Salt - Just a little to enhance the flavor of the other ingredients. Feel free to add more to taste.
How to make raspberry poppy seed dressing
Step 1: Add all of the ingredients, except the poppy seeds, to a blender. (I use my small smoothie cup blender).
Step 2: Blend on high until thick, smooth and creamy. The mixture will be bright pink.
Step 3: Add in the poppy seeds.
Step 4: Stir until combined.
Expert tips
- A blender is a must. In order to blend in the raspberries and emulsify this dressing, you'll need to use a blender. I use my small smoothie blender, but a full size one works too. If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor or a handheld immersion blender.
- Don't blend the poppy seeds. Be sure to leave the poppy seeds out of the blender. In order to maintain the beautiful pink color of the dressing, you'll want to just stir in the poppy seeds. This also ensures the seeds maintain their texture and don't get broken down by the blender.
Raspberry poppy seed dressing FAQs
Absolutely! I've made this dressing with frozen raspberries and it was perfect. In my experience, it results in a slightly darker pink dressing, but the taste is still the same. Just make sure to defrost your raspberries in the fridge first so they blend easily.
I haven't tried this, but I can't see why not. I think strawberries or blueberries would be a tasty substitution in this recipe.
It depends on how fresh your raspberries are, but I've found this dressing lasts about 5 days in the fridge. The dressing will thicken in the fridge, so let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes and give it a good stir before serving.
Even though it's a poppy seed dressing, you can leave them out if you prefer. It won't affect the flavor of the dressing, just the texture.
I think it works well with green leafy salads with plenty of fruit, like my blueberry spinach salad, stone fruit salad or blueberry peach salad.
More salad dressing recipes
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📖 Recipe
Raspberry Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup fresh raspberries
- ½ cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup (85 g) honey
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Add the raspberries, oil, honey, vinegar, onion and salt to a blender and blend until smooth.
- Stir in the poppy seeds.
- Pour into a jar or dish with a lid.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Notes
- You can substitute fresh raspberries with frozen, just make sure they are thawed first.
- If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor or a handheld immersion blender.
- The dressing will thicken in the fridge, so let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes and give it a good stir before serving.
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Nutrition Facts per Serving
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is an estimate only and will vary depending on the substitutions made and the brands used.
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