This is one of my very favorite recipes. I had a maple balsamic vinaigrette when I was eating out years ago and I loved it. Which is not surprising because I kind of have a love for all things maple. After I began experimenting with recipes this was one of the ones that I really wanted to find a way to replicate, and I spent a couple of years playing with it. The secret it turns out is just to keep things simple, with just three ingredients for the dressing.
This is a sweet delicious vinaigrette with a pleasant but not overpowering maple flavor. I love it pared with a simple salad of baby spinach, dried cranberries and walnuts, but it can easily be used for many different salads. Fast, simple and easy to prepare it is a great recipe for impressing guests, or for getting that little bit of extra veg onto your plate.
What you will need:
- 1 tbsp of Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
- 1 tbsp of Maple Syrup
- Baby Spinach
- Crushed Walnuts
- Dried Cranberries
How to Make A Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad:
This will be one of the easiest dishes that you make with one of the biggest pay-offs.
Combine the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup in a small bowl. Whisk until they are well combined. This is a really nice recipe because it uses equal parts or each ingredient. This makes it extremely easy to adjust the amount you would like to make, and makes it super easy to remember.
Drizzle the maple balsamic dressing over a plate of baby spinach, or whatever greens you prefer, sprinkle a few dried cranberries and some crushed walnuts.
Total time to make this was less than five minutes and you are now ready to indulge your mouth and invigorate your taste buds.
Try a baby spinach salad with maple balsamic vinaigrette paired with a plate of homemade perogies for a fantastic special meal.
Enjoy and have a great day!
Could I use Caramelised Balsamic Vinegar instead of Balsam8c Vinegar do uou think? How much spinach would I use for this amount of dressing and how many would this serve? Thanks
I have not used caramelized balsamic vinegar before, but I think that sound delicious and I don’t see why it would not work. I would expect it is slightly sweeter which would likely blend nicely with the maple. For this amount of dressing I would use about 2-3 cups of spinach, depending on how tightly you put it in. This would serve about 2-4 again depending on how large a portion you are giving. This nice thing about this recipe is that it is so easy to adjust. Just use equal amounts of, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and maple syrup, and it will turn out each time.
I think I would like this but have a question is it white or dark Balsamic white is sweeter and dark a little stronger???
I have always used dark Balsamic. I think it works best with the sweetness of the maple syrup.
Have you ever roasted or caremlized the walnuts?
No I have not done that for the salad, but it is a wonderful idea! Tossing the walnuts in a drizzle of maple syrup before roasting might be great as well. Thank you for this!