This Easy, 4-Ingredient Green Olive Dressing Adds A Burst Of Umami To Your Salads

We are huge fans of homemade dressing here at Tasting Table. What's not to love? It tastes better, infuses freshness into your meals, and is made with fewer preservatives than the store-bought stuff. The easiest dressing to make is a simple vinaigrette, but today, we're introducing olives to add a burst of umami to your dish.

This green olive dressing starts out like a traditional, homemade vinaigrette with oil, acid, salt, and aromatics mixing to create a perfectly balanced dressing. The beautiful thing about vinaigrette is you can mix up which oils, acids, and aromatics you add depending on what you have in your pantry. For this recipe, adding olives will not only add depth to the salt category but will also touch on the oils and aromatics.

When it comes to proportions, we've previously recommended a 3:1 oil-to-acid ratio, with aromatics being largely left to taste. The only way you can mess up this dressing recipe is by not tasting and adjusting your ingredients throughout, other than that it's pretty foolproof. When it comes to mixing your green olive dressing we recommend starting with 4 tbsp olive oil, 3 tsp red wine vinegar (or lemon), one clove or garlic (or thinly sliced shallots) — try soaking your garlic or shallots in the acid for a 10-15 minutes if you have time. This will give it a nice, light pickled flavor. When it comes time to add the olives and aromatics, start with 1 tsp of diced olives and go up from there. We like to add a pinch of pepper and some red flakes to give our dressings a bit of spicy kick, and of course, if you're missing salt, feel free to add a sprinkle.

This type of dressing is great on your simple, everyday salads. It also shares a lot of the same flavors as a tapenade, a Mediterranean spread served with crackers or pasta. While our recipe doesn't have anchovies, you should feel free to add half a fillet if you want to up the briny umami factor. And if you're looking for an inventive way to use your green olive dressing, try drizzling it over a tomato and feta open-faced sandwich or a Mediterranean pasta dish.