Coconut Oil Salad Dressing

While I absolutely love cooking with coconut oil, and using it to clean my face, this coconut oil salad dressing is one of my favorite ways to freshen up big, colorful salads.

I don’t know about you—but I definitely don’t have time for small salad plates when it comes to creating and consuming my daily salad. For me, it’s all about filing an entire dinner plate with greens, diced vegetables, and all the special toppings like fresh blueberries, green olives stuffed with garlic, or pistachios.

If like me, salads are a regular (and sizable) part of your day, experimenting with different oils, vinegars, and flavor profiles is a great way to keep your relationship with salads spicy.

Given that coconut oil is my favorite fat of all time, I’ve recently come up with a coconut oil salad dressing recipe that is the perfect combination of oils and vinegars.

While I wasn’t originally a huge fan of balsamic vinegars, my husband and I found a local olive oil and vinegar taproom just down the road from us where we were able to taste test a variety of vinegars. We’re now huge fans of aged vinegars, and have experimented with infused vinegars like dark cherry, cinnamon pear, and pomegranate. All of them have worked fantastic in the coconut oil salad dressing recipe below, and add a nice “change” of flavor depending on the season.

As a result, I highly recommend looking into getting an organic, high-quality vinegar sold locally. Local vinegars are usually kept in stainless steel Italian “fustis” which preserve the quality, flavor and antioxidants, which kicks the flavor up a notch.

But what about the fat?

Rest assured, your salad needs fat, and this coconut oil salad dressing is a healthful contribution to your salad. Healthy, nourishing fats like coconut oil not only have amazing health benefits, they’re also crucial when it comes to the absorption of the vitamins and minerals.

Many vitamins and macronutrients in vegetables are fat soluble, meaning they are only absorbed in the body in the presence of fat.

In fact, research suggests eating vegetables doesn’t lower the risk of coronary heart disease unless consumed with a healthy dose of fat.¹ In addition, diets higher in fat have been shown to reduce body weight and increase lean mass, which can improve overall health.^[2][3]

In short, if your goal is to increase satiation, energy levels, or give your body better disease fighting capability, don’t fear this coconut oil salad dressing!

Got any questions about how to make this coconut oil salad dressing? Ask below!