Name: Apple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Ingredients: ¼ cup apple juice; ¼ cup oil; 3 tablespoons vinegar; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon sugar; Paprika, salt, and pepper (optional)

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Apple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dressing

Combine apple juice, oil, vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, and spices (if desired) in a covered jar. Shake to mix well.

Serve

Serve over fresh greens or pasta salad.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

284Calories

1 gProtein

14 gFat

43 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Apple Juice	1 medium (182g)	95
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,551 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + vinegartop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,884 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apple juice: Provides sweetness and fruity flavor as the dressing's liquid base.
Oil: Adds fat and smooth mouthfeel, and carries flavors in the dressing.
Vinegar: Supplies acidity that gives the dressing its tangy, sharp bite.
Lemon juice: Adds further acidity and bright citrus aroma to balance the sweetness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar and lemon.

The step that matters

Shaking the jar to emulsify. Oil and vinegar-based liquids separate on standing. Shaking vigorously breaks the oil into tiny droplets, so the dressing looks uniform and coats greens evenly. Shake again before each use.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, lemon, sugar, pepper):

Limefits better
Orangefits better
Cherryfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, lemon, sugar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Apple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing