How to Make Greek Salad Dressing (Authentic Restaurant Recipe)

Drop one diced shallot and twenty peeled garlic cloves into a high-powered blender (Vitamix or similar). Add three ounces of homemade mayonnaise made with avocado or olive oil. The mayo is the trick of this whole recipe - the egg yolks inside it are what keep your finished dressing emulsified for six weeks in the fridge without ever separating.

If you don't make your own mayo, a clean store-bought avocado-oil mayo works as a substitute. Skip soybean-oil mayonnaise; the flavor gets in the way of the lemon and oregano. Twenty cloves of garlic sounds like a lot - it is, on purpose. This is restaurant strength.

Spoon in three ounces of French Dijon mustard. Add one tablespoon of fresh ground black pepper - grind it that morning if you can, the difference shows up in the finished dressing. Then add two to three tablespoons of kosher salt to taste.

The Dijon is the second half of the emulsifier system. Together with the egg yolks from the mayo, it's what holds the oil and acid in suspension week after week. Use real French Dijon, not yellow mustard or a sweet honey Dijon - both throw the flavor off and don't emulsify the same way.

Measure in three ounces of dried Mediterranean oregano - this is roughly half a cup. Mediterranean (or Greek, or Italian) oregano has a warm, golden flavor that defines Greek dressing. Mexican oregano is a different plant and tastes bitter in this dressing. Read the jar label before you buy.

Add a quarter cup of fresh Italian parsley and fresh dill, chopped together. The parsley gives a clean green base note and the dill ties everything to the Mediterranean. Both should be bright green and recently chopped, not dried.

Squeeze one cup of fresh lemon juice. You'll need four to five lemons - roll each one on the counter under your palm before cutting to break the membranes and release more juice. Strain out the seeds.

Add one cup of apple cider vinegar. The combination of lemon and apple cider vinegar is what makes this Cretan-style dressing distinct - a basic vinaigrette uses only one acid; this recipe uses two for layered brightness. Bottled lemon juice works in a pinch but loses the floral note that fresh has.

Turn on the blender and run it until everything inside is fully pureed and a uniform pale green. Then, with the motor still running, pour the olive oil in a slow, steady stream through the lid opening. Take your time - a slow drizzle is what lets the oil emulsify with the acid instead of pooling on top.

For Greek dressing, use about two ounces of oil for every one ounce of acid. With two cups of combined lemon and vinegar in there, you're aiming for around two cups of olive oil. That's less oil than a standard vinaigrette ratio because the dressing gets tossed with lettuce, which dilutes the flavor naturally.

As the oil goes in, the dressing visibly thickens. The egg yolks from the mayonnaise and the Dijon mustard grab the oil molecules and lock them into the lemon and vinegar. What started as a thin, splashy puree turns into a creamy, pourable dressing about the consistency of ranch.

Crank the blender up to high for the last 10 seconds to finalize the emulsification. The finished dressing should coat the back of a spoon and not break apart when you stop the motor. If it still looks thin, drizzle in a little more oil while blending until it thickens.

Tear off a small rib of romaine and dip it into the finished dressing. Taste it that way - not off a spoon. Eaten on its own, this dressing is intentionally strong and salty enough to make you blink. On lettuce, the same dressing balances out to perfect Greek salad strength.

If it's too sharp for your taste after the lettuce test, blend in another splash of olive oil to soften the acid. Pour the dressing into wide-mouth mason jars and refrigerate. It keeps creamy for at least six weeks. Use it on Greek salad, broiled cod, grilled or baked chicken breasts, or as a drizzle on Greek-style ribs.