This Clever 2-Minute Trick Takes My Salads From Good to Great

While store-bought salad dressing is an undeniable convenience, it’s also a frequent salad-killer—there’s just no comparing a bottled vinaigrette to a good, basic homemade one. To save myself the hassle of having to whip up dressing when I’m hungry, I always keep a batch of my favorite lemon vinaigrette on hand. But I also go one step further and keep it in a squeeze bottle, ready to go.

It’s not just any squeeze bottle, though: It’s one that I label with a marker to indicate how much oil and acid I should add. This saves me from having to pull up a recipe and dirty measuring cups; when I’m ready to make a new batch each week, all I have to do is wash and dry the bottle, use the markings on the it to measure out a new batch of vinaigrette, then shake it all together.

Marking one of these labeled squeeze bottles is a quick and easy two-minute trick that will save you time each week. For a simple vinaigrette, you’ll want to use three parts oil to one part vinegar. To properly mark the bottle, first measure your vinegar and add it to the squeeze bottle, using a permanent marker to draw a line on the outside of the bottle at the top of the vinegar level. Next, with the vinegar still in the bottle, measure and add the oil, marking the oil level as well. It’s helpful to do the vinegar first and then the oil, because that’s how they settle due to their differing densities.

If needed, you can scribble salt, pepper, and mustard at the bottom as a reminder to add them, but since their quantities are so small, there’s no way to mark their total volume on the bottle the way you would with vinegar and oil. Once you fill the bottle with the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard, just shake it to combine everything. 

While this is a baseline recipe for vinaigrette, you can swap some of the ingredients to your liking. (Too little mustard, though, may result in a dressing that won’t emulsify as well.) Experiment with oils like avocado, olive, or grapeseed, and vinegars like balsamic, sherry, white wine, or apple cider. You can add seasonings like dried oregano to give your vinaigrette Italian flair, as well as aromatics like very finely minced shallots and garlic. (If you’re including these chunkier ingredients, make sure the tip of your squeeze bottle is large enough for them to come out of, snipping off the top with a pair of scissors to enlarge it.) 

Also note that adding ingredients like garlic to the vinaigrette significantly reduces its shelf life, taking it from more or less shelf-stable even at room temperature down to only a few days in the refrigerator. That’s because garlic can produce botulism toxins when stored in oil, whether refrigerated or not.

If you’re not a fan of plastic, this will also work on a glass jar, but you’ll want to use an oil-based paint marker instead of a permanent marker. (Glass is a non-porous surface, making it difficult for Sharpie ink to adhere to.) In my experience, a permanent marker stays on plastic bottles but a paint marker adheres better to the glass jar—but either way, you’ll want to wash each by hand so the markings don’t fade. If fading does occur, you can always reapply the markings. 

Once assembled in the marked bottle, the vinaigrette can be refrigerated for weeks and weeks if it only contains vinegar, oil, mustard, salt, and pepper, but only a few days if it contains garlic and other botulism-prone ingredients. It makes meal prep a breeze—and will ensure your salads are not just good but spectacular.