Honey and Mustard Salad Dressings

Summer is well and truly here in the UK and many of us will be reaching for a lovely cool and crisp salad at teatime. With just a few simple ingredients it's dead easy to whip up some delicious fresh salad dressings to make your 'boring' lettuce extra delicious. Many of the ingredients we've used before in other Just Bee recipes, so hopefully you'll have most of it in the cupboard already! Below the honey and mustard dressings we've also included some tasty mayonnaise recipes that are perfect for adding to salad sandwiches and dipping cucumber sticks!

Basic Honey and Mustard Dressing

You will need:

• 1 Tbsp of Just Bee Original Honey
• 3 Tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp of Wholegrain Mustard
• 6 Tbsp of Sunflower Oil
• A Pinch of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• A Pinch of Freshly Ground Sea Salt

It couldn't be quicker or easier to make this honey and mustard dressing. Simply put the vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk until combined. Then gradually whisk in the sunflower oil a few teaspoons at a time. Once you've added all the oil, whisk until it is all nicely blended and the dressing is thick and beautifully glossy.

You should season your dressing to taste, so if you think it needs more salt or pepper add a little more until it's right for you. Once finished put in the fridge to chill for an hour.

Drizzle over your salad and enjoy!

Honey and Mustard Chilli Dressing

If you like a bit of a chilli warmth to your salad dressing, make the basic honey and mustard dressing as above but also add:

• ½ Tsp of Chilli Flakes
• ½ Tsp of Mild Chilli Powder

Honey and Mustard Garlic Dressing

We love garlic but we understand that not everyone does, so we left it out of the basic dressing. If you love garlic then we'd highly recommend adding some. Make the basic honey and mustard dressing as above but also add:

• 1 Tbsp of Garlic Puree

              or

• 2 Cloves of Fresh Minced Garlic

We recommend leaving this dressing to sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours to allow the garlic to really infuse.

Honey, Dijon and Balsamic Dressing

It's always nice to have a choice of dressings and this is a nice variation that goes well with any salads but particularly ones that have a lot of tomato. A small plate with a selection of sliced tomatoes drizzled with this dressing also makes a great starter for a larger meal.

You will need:

• 1 Tbsp Just Bee Original Honey
• 3 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
• 6 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
• A Pinch of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• A Pinch of Freshly Ground Sea Salt

Put the vinegar, mustard, honey, salt and pepper into a bowl and whisk until combined. Then gradually whisk in the olive oil a few teaspoons at a time. Once you've added all the oil, whisk until it emulsifies into thick and glossy dressing.

Season to taste and pop it in the fridge to chill for an hour.

If you don't have Dijon mustard, you can use any yellow French-style mustard or even a basic hot-dog mustard from a bottle.

Sriracha & Honey Mayonnaise

Sriracha sauce is a bright red hot sauce that originates from Thailand and made popular in Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese restaurants throughout America. Thankfully you can easily find it in our supermarkets in the UK today, we used Tesco's own brand at £1.75 for a 285g bottle.

You will need:

• 1 Tbsp of Just Bee Honey with Lemon and Ginger
• 4 Tbsp of Mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup
• 1 Tbsp Sriracha Sauce

Simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl!

This spicy, sweet pink mayonnaise is not only great with salad it's also fantastic on sausages and burgers. It's a great mayonnaise to have on the side at a barbecue to add that little extra something over a plain mayonnaise.

Just Bee Original Honey works just fine in this mayonnaise too if that's what you have, but we really like the extra zing that the honey and lemon brings to it. We don't find this needs any extra seasoning either but feel free to add a pinch of salt and pepper if you wish.

Sweet Asian Style Mayonnaise Sauce

This mayonnaise based sauce is very versatile and goes great with just about anything. It makes a great dip, a fantastic salad dressing as well as a mayonnaise to top off chips and burgers. It's also a favourite of ours to have with sliced boiled eggs!

You will need:

• 1 Tbsp of Just Bee Original Honey
• 6 Tbsp of Mayonnaise
• 1 Tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 Tsp of Garlic Puree
• 1 Tsp of Ground Ginger

Just mix everything together in a bowl until well combined and serve.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there really isn't anything difficult to making your own salad dressings, you can experiment very easily by swapping ingredients in and out and you can season them to your own tastes and preferences. When you make them yourself you can also be sure that there's nothing added that you don't want, such as artificial preservatives and colourings.

Enjoy the beautiful weather we are having at the moment and don't forget to keep hydrated and stay under some shade when the sun it at its strongest around midday.