Sunshine Salad Dressing
This creamy honey-mustard salad dressing recipe is lightened up with Greek yogurt. No mayo here! This homemade dressing is easy to make, too. I love it so much that I nicknamed it "sunshine salad dressing."
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on October 1, 2024
Let’s rewind to my trip to Costa Rica last month with my grandmother. It was the last day on our group trip, and we arrived at Sibu for our final dinner together. Sibu produces the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted, and they greeted us with rum-spiked, spiced hot chocolate.
I was literally a kid in a candy store all night as they presented a lesson in chocolate history (with wine and chocolate) and moved on to an incredible dinner.
After appetizers, they handed us chopped salads that looked fairly basic at first glance—I remember lettuce, tomato, avocado, feta and dressing. Then I took a bite and forgot about chocolate for a minute. That dressing!
I immediately tracked down the owner of the place to ask about it. He said it was a “honey-Dijon vinaigrette with yogurt base” and I vowed to recreate it at home. Mind you, this dressing is quite different from a classic vinaigrette.
I started with the honey-mustard vinaigrette that I made for my cookbook, which I love as written. I reduced the oil and added plain Greek yogurt until it tasted like the dressing at Sibu.
This dressing is essentially a creamy honey-mustard dressing made with Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise. It offers a more luxurious texture than any other honey-mustard dressing I’ve tried. I’m usually skeptical of using yogurt in place of mayonnaise or sour cream (mayo and sour cream have their place), but this salad dressing wouldn’t be the same without it.
Healthy Honey-Mustard Dressing
The only problem with this dressing is that “honey-Dijon vinaigrette with yogurt base” doesn’t do it justice. “Healthy honey-mustard dressing” sounds bland, and “creamy honey-mustard dressing” doesn’t quite capture the tangy deliciousness of the yogurt.
I dubbed it “Sunshine Salad Dressing” since it brightens up my salads so well. I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer, so I’m sharing it today for all of your side salad needs. The recipe yields a lot (almost 1 1/2 cups). I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finishing it off. It makes a stellar dip for vegetables, too!
I’ve been keeping a big jar of it in my fridge for the past couple of weeks, and it goes with just about everything. Try this honey-mustard dressing with any of the following:
- Fresh greens of any kind
- Avocado
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Kale
- Carrots
- Apples
- Bell peppers
- Goat cheese, feta or cheddar cheese
- Sunflower seeds, pecans, or almonds
Don’t miss my sunshine slaw with quinoa or my roasted and raw carrot salad with avocado, which both call for this dressing. I have more salads over here.
Please let me know how you like this honey-mustard dressing in the comments! I hope you love it as much as I do.
Watch How to Make Sunshine Dressing
Sunshine Salad Dressing
This creamy honey-mustard salad dressing recipe is lightened up with Greek yogurt. No mayo here! It’s so easy to whisk this dressing together. Recipe yields almost 1 ½ cups and keeps well for 10 to 14 days.
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (any % fat will do)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 3 to 4 tablespoons honey, to taste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or more lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 10 twists of freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or bowl, combine all of the ingredients as listed. Whisk until blended. Taste, and season with additional pepper if necessary.
- This dressing is intentionally bold, but if it tastes too tart for your liking, whisk in another tablespoon of honey.
- Store leftover salad dressing in the refrigerator, covered, for 10 to 14 days.
Notes
Make it dairy free: If you have a favorite unsweetened dairy-free plain yogurt, it should work well here.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I made this with vegan mayo, as I don’t have any yoghurt and didn’t want to go to the shop for it in these current times, so apologies for that! However it was absolutely delicious – so delicious in fact, that I made salad for dinner just to drizzle this on!
I’m happy you liked a vegan version of it, Erin! I appreciate you sharing.
Very tasty – all things I had in my pantry – will make again!
I was skeptical of honey mustard as a dressing, but I’m so glad I was proven wrong. The fact that I made it myself and knew exactly what was going into it made it taste even better, haha. I added some chopped green chili peppers to give it a kick.
I’m curious–would omitting the olive oil change the flavor of the dressing? Or is it there mainly for consistency? Thanks again for the great recipe!
Hi Nadia! I’m happy you loved it. The oil helps with flavor and the consistency to make it more dressing like, if that makes sense?
Oh my goodness. I have never left a comment on any recipe I just had to on this one but this was fantastic! My son is obsessed, he ate nothing but salad for dinner. This is my 3rd times making this salad and it never fails to impress. Now my family has all agreed that I need to make this salad at least once a week!
Delicious, thanks for the amazing recipe
This was simply delicious!!! I made a BLT salad with this dressing and it was wonderful!
Wonderful to hear, Jen!
I have allergy wid milk tell me dressing of salad without milk
Hello! I was wondering if there are any substitutes for the mustard? I don’t have any on hand and I really want to use this recipe! Thanks in advance!
Hey Angelina! I’m sorry, the mustard is the key flavoring in this recipe. If you have fresh herbs and yogurt, you could try my green goddess dressing, or you can browse my other salad dressings here.
This dressing is delicious and so quick to put together. It went down well with the family and it’s one I can see myself making a lot.
This dressing is easy to make and delicious!
Yum-yum.Tried this out today for dinner. Super delectable. The entire household loved it. They can’t stop raving about it. Thanks a bunch.
You’re welcome, Petra!
Wonderful mix, terrific in fact. Perfect for my fresh spring garlic. I added a small squeeze of anchovy paste for umami. Great recipe ~ thanks!
Thanks for sharing, Gary!
Ran out of store bought dressing, and had a really bad experience with low calorie store bought blue cheese dressing! I saw your recipe online and I had all the ingredients except for plain yogurt so I used vanilla yogurt… and it’s great!! Thank you for this recipe! Next time I’ll use plain Greek yogurt.
I never rate recipes but this was so good I had too! I’m a big salad eater and this has become my favorite dressing
This is my family’s favorite dressing! My 12 year old daughter loves it on kale! Thank you for such an easy, tasty and healthy dressing!
Absolutely delicious. I will never buy off the shelf sauces ever again!
Amazing! Makes me wasnt salad every night!
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Dorothy.
I have tried this recipe as written and it is fantastic! If I am feeling fancy, I add in some harvest coarse ground mustard (like 3/4 of the 1/4c dijon, and top with the coarse ground) and add about 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon. Totally not necessary if you don’t have those things on hand but they are yummy add ins!
Mustard based salad dressings are my fave and this one has to be the best I’ve had! Delicious!!
This was unbelievably tasty! I made a whole jar of it for later use.
Great blend, I added some mango curry spice, delicious
Wow so delicious! I was being lazy and left out the garlic and lemon juice and it was still so good! Will have to try next time with those two additional ingredients. I was trying to find something creamy without mayonnaise because mayonnaise had canola oil … I wonder if I make a mayonnaise out of Greek yogurt? I’m so missing tuna salad. Thanks for sharing something all the ways out !!
Hi Grace! I’m happy you liked it. Thanks for your review!
Amazing !!! Must try !!!
This dressing is wonderful. I made it exactly as written, using nonfat Greek yogurt, and 4 TBSP honey, as well as all lemon juice rather than vinegar. Not only is it nice for salad, but as you suggested, for pretty much any vegetable that can handle these flavors. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome, Becky! I’m happy you loved it. I appreciate you taking the time to review.
Delicious dressing that can go well with anything!
OUTSTANDING!! Used on chicken milanese and also roasted asparagus! Have shared recipe many times!
Just made the dressing and it’s delish! Any recommendations for salads to put it on?
Hi Natalia, glad to hear it! Don’t miss my sunshine slaw with quinoa or my roasted and raw carrot salad with avocado, which both call for this dressing.
Just made this. Served it over a baby lrttuce mix with sliced granny smith apples and feta. REALLY good. This is an excellent and versatile vinaigrette with a nice balance of sweet and tart and a good consistency.
That sounds delicious, Alex! Thank you for sharing.
Made this recipe for my salads as I’ve just been told I have gestational diabetes and can’t be happier to have my salads now! Thank you so much!!
I LOVE your Sunshine Salad Dressing Kate! Thank you for sharing. Even my picky teenage daughter loves it and that’s saying a lot. I make a batch and keep in a jar in the fridge, and it keeps quite well.
PS: I also LOVE the roasted and raw carrot avocado salad – delicious!!
Yummm this is delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
This dressing is seriously sooooo good! I’m on my fourth batch and it’s better than anything at the store. I can’t do dairy, so I use coconut cream from a can and it still turns out amazing!
Superb! Great way to get the family to eat their greens.
My husband has high blood pressure, and between that and the weight we have gained recently, I was looking for something healthier than what comes in the kale salad mix at the store. This dressing is absolutely phenomenal. Thank you so much! Your recipes (ok, mostly the granola…part of my weight gain, I am sure, since I can’t stop eating it…) are truly fabulous!
Kate, once again, this recipe rocked my salad!
I did cheat to appeal to my taste, though – skipped the apple cider vinegar. Two TB lemon juice shone beautifully alone for the acid. Only used 3 TB honey too.
Spinach loves you. Thanks Kate
Has anyone ever tried to add dill to this recipe? thanks!
That sounds interesting! I do love dill, but I’m not sure with this one. Be sure to let me know if you try it!
This is an awesome dressing – hubby and I loved it!
Made this last night and it is delicious! I only used 2 tbsp. of honey, and that was perfect. Will keep this recipe.
So good! I’ve been on a Caesar salad kick and needed a new dressing to get me out of it so I could ditch the extra calories. I honestly expected this dressing to be too tart, but it wasn’t! Well done, it’s balanced perfectly.
This is amazing! I drizzled a bit over grilled salmon. It was a bright and wonderful addition, can’t wait to use the rest for a big salad tomorrow! Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re welcome, Steph! Thanks for taking the time to make it and review.
Hello. Can I use buttermilk instead of yogurt?
Hi Eric, it will be very watery and I can’t guarantee the results.
Thank you!
I have been making my own salad dressings for decades. Mostly O&V based with maybe some Dijon. WELL, this Sunshine in a jar is now my favourite. Delicious, luxurious, refreshing and goes with anything. Having a girls lunch this week and this will be the dressing for my shrimp Cobb salad. I know I’ll be asked for the recipe and of course will share.
Thank you for sharing!
I’m excited you love this one, Debi Thank you for taking the time to review.
Honey Mustard Dressing is my favorite and this recipe doesn’t disappoint! To find something this delicious with so few calories is a Win Win! Thank you for sharing.
Very good with easily available ingredients…LOVE! It’s so thick that I thinned it out with some water. Perfect!I used Hot Honey for a little kick.
Salad dressing is delicious. Reminds me of the “English Cream Salad Dressing we had in England.
I was looking for a salad dressing that was a little different to the usual vinaigrette one and thought this sounded fabulous. It was really, really nice! Yet another Cookie and Kate success . I love the recipes that you so generously share and am more than happy to give them a whirl – I am never disappointed.
Very tasty and easy to make, thank you for a great healthy recipe!
Wow. Easily the best homemade dressing I’ve ever made. Just used it on honey mustard chicken wraps and I can’t get enough!
This is my favorite dressing of all time! I don’t usually favor honey mustard dressing, but this is different and so refreshing. Thank you, Kate!!!
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I made this tonight and I loved it!! Thank you so much for sharing!!