Mango Salad Dressing

I love salads.  I eat one almost every day, sometimes twice a day.  How boring you might be thinking!  But honestly I do.  When you find the right oils and vinegars, you can dress up that boring stack of spinach leaves and enjoy every bite you take.

I've become obsessed with my infused oils and vinegars.  I have established quite a collection of them too:

This is in part thanks to a local specialty store here in Pensacola, Florida called The Bodacious Olive.   We love going to this place to sample and purchase a new flavor, especially when our out-of-town family and friends come to visit us.  It reminds me of wine tasting in California.  You've got your little paper cups and even some bread for dipping.  Except this place has more than 20 different flavors of both infused vinegars and olive oils.  Going there and sampling their products is so much fun (and delicious too)!  I have tried nearly all of them, from blood orange olive oil to garlic butter olive oil and from white chocolate truffle vinegar to aged 18+ years balsamic vinegar.  They are all good in their own ways.  You just have to figure out what you'd use the most of and how you'd use it.

However, this little obsession has gotten expensive.  All of those bottles add up ($10 per average small bottle). When you're on a tight summer budget, it's time to start thinking more frugally and to start making your your own! 

So that's what I did.  I had a mango on hand and wanted to try a mango sauce/dressing that would be sweet and tasty on salads.  Thankfully I achieved that! 

Mango Salad Dressing
(Makes one cup - about 6 to 8 servings)

1 mango - peeled, seeded and sliced
3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp white cooking wine
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried and crushed sweet basil leaves
1 cup water


Grab all your ingredients and spread them on the table.  It's much more helpful to have everything at your fingertips, ready to pour.



Prepare your mango first by peeling, removing the seeds and slicing it.  Place it in a medium size bowl.  Place all other ingredients into that bowl.  Mix well.  Pour into a blender or food processor. 



Puree until smooth.  Some small chunks are okay if yours doesn't quite liquify. 



Serve over spinach leaves, Swiss chard or any salad green of your choice.  This is really good and very simple to make.



In my next post, I will show you what else you can use this mango dressing for to really enhance a weeknight meal.  Stay tuned!