Caramelized Lemony Dressing
Caramelized Lemony Dressing is my new favorite salad dressing. It’s full-on flavor with immense brightness and texture…a touch of sweetness and smokiness with a well-balanced hint of tang.
Jump to RecipeIngredients
Organize all of the salad dressing ingredients – olive oil, honey, lemon, kosher salt, and pepper.
Caramelizing the Lemon Slices
Cut lemon into approx 1/4″ round thin slices. Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat. Then place lemon slices in the pan and cook lemons until browned on both sides. Approximate cooking time is 8 minutes total, 5-6 minutes on the first side and 1-2 minutes on the other side. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of your lemon slices. Be sure to keep an eye on the lemons as they are cooking to make sure they are browning and not burning!
Making the Dressing
Remove the lemons and place them on a cutting board. Scrape out all of the brown bits and oil from the bottom of the pan (because they’re packed with tons of flavor!) and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Before chopping the lemons, let cool slightly and set aside 1-2 lemon slices to use in your salad as garnish, if desired. Then finely chop the remaining lemon slices. It’s best to chop them by hand until they’re in itty bitty pieces, creating somewhat of a paste. Place chopped lemons into the reserved medium-sized bowl with the scraped oil and browned bits from the pan, and add honey, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. Combine ingredients together with a spoon or spatula. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Sample Salad Suggestion
One of many salads that would be perfect with Caramelized Lemony Dressing – arugula, chopped macadamia nuts, chopped dates, sprouts, and parmesan cheese.
Caramelized Lemony Dressing
If not using the dressing immediately, store in an air-tight container and refrigerate. Let come to room temp before using.
Caramelized Lemony Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 lemon seeds removed, sliced thinly into rounds
- 5 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons honey your favorite kind, more or less according to the level of sweetness you prefer
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper few grinds
Instructions
- Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium heat.
- Place lemon slices into the pan and cook lemons until browned on both sides. Approximate cooking time is 7-8 minutes, 5-6 minutes on the first side, and 1-2 minutes on the other side. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of your lemon slices. Be sure to keep an eye on the lemons as they are cooking to make sure they are browning and not burning!
- Remove the lemons and place them on a cutting board. Scrape out all of the brown bits and oil from the bottom of the pan (because they’re packed with tons of flavor!) and place them in a medium-sized bowl.
- Before chopping the lemons, let cool slightly and set aside 1-2 lemon slices to use in your salad as garnish, if desired. Then finely chop the remaining lemon slices. It’s best to chop them by hand until they’re in itty bitty pieces, creating somewhat of a paste.
- Place chopped lemons into the reserved medium-sized bowl with the scraped oil and browned bits from the pan, and add honey, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper. Combine ingredients together with a spoon or spatula. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
- If not using the dressing immediately, store in an air-tight container and refrigerate. Let come to room temp before using.
- Salad suggestions for the Caramelized Lemony Dressing. Use any combination of the following: Lettuce: bibb, butter, raddichio, romaine, watercress, etcFruit: dates or figs sliced or dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries Nuts: macadamia, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews, choppedCheese: parmesan or Gruyere, shaved or grated Protein: chicken or turkey, chopped or shreddedGrain: cooked quinoa or wild rice
Notes
Recipe shared with me by Marlie (my daughter). Original recipe is from Carolina Gelen and was found on TikTok.
If you like this recipe, you may also like these GFchow recipes. Lemony Chicken with Artichokes and Gruyere, Lemongrass Chicken, and Crab Pasta with Spicy Lemon Oil.
Gluten Free Disclaimer
The recipes you find here are considered by me to be gluten free. However, it is up to you to make sure the ingredients you use are gluten free. Whenever possible, I will list specific brands of ingredients that I use, but always be sure to check the labels yourself to verify the item is gluten free.
