Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

Published: Jun 11, 2018

· Last modified on: Apr 13, 2022

A creamy and tart lemon poppy seed salad dressing that's destined to become a family favorite and staple in your fridge for the summer!

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A creamy and tart lemon poppy seed salad dressing that’s destined to become a family favorite and staple in your fridge for the summer! Use it with your favorite salads, like strawberry avocado spinach salad.

Lemon poppy seed dressing surrounded by fruit

Sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to get when you come to this site. Sometimes might find yourself scouring through pages of decadent desserts, and other times you’re pinning gluten free almond honey protein bars.

On Monday you might be craving some baked mac and cheese, and then on Tuesday you need some raspberry rosé sangria.

I like to believe I’ve got options for you, regardless of the day or the craving.

Here’s a prime example:

My last new recipe used strawberries to create this ridiculously rich, ooey gooey, chocolatey no-bake strawberry s’mores cake.

This recipe is light, creamy, and intended to be poured on salads. But those salads could have strawberries in them, so… that’s the dotted line to any relevance between the two.

Lemon poppy seed dressing being poured into a glass bottle

Quick story: So, the head of my tripod recently broke which left me without a mount for my camera to take any kind of action shots. I had ordered a new one, but on the day I wanted to do a last minute shoot for this dressing it hadn’t yet arrived.

I hadn’t even planned on making this, it was just a last minute addition to dinner and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to grab a few pictures before the light completely disappeared.

And of course, I couldn’t remember where all my lighting equipment was in the mess that is our office, so I just threw it on a windowsill that still had a touch of light.

Seriously, you guys – moving turns a completely organized person with OCD into a scattered lunatic that sometimes walks out the front door for work while wearing slippers. True story.

So you know what happens when you try to frantically take action shot pictures on a windowsill with waning light without the help of a tripod?

Lemon poppy seed dressing spilled on the counter

Spoiler alert: A giant mess, is what happens.

All over your new, white windowsills.

And then a cat jumps up to investigate while you walk away for five seconds to get paper towels.

And then another cat tries to “help” and you end up pushing two cats out of the way with your ass and one hand while you sop up pooled dressing with the other hand.

No cat photo-bombing photos this time – I was too busy trying not to throw them out of said window and preventing salad dressing from becoming a permanent window garnish.

SO ANYWAY. The lesson here is that you shouldn’t do what I did, and just make this lemon poppy seed dressing with an immersion blender and just pour it into a jar like a normal person. #foodbloggerproblems

My favorite way to use this dressing is on a spinach salad with strawberries, blueberries and almond slices. I’m so basic, I know.

But there’s a reason it’s such a popular combo – it’s delicious! It’s the perfect spring/summer salad and requires very little effort.

Lemon poppy seed dressing next to a strawberry spinach salad

A few more ideas for using lemon poppy seed dressing

Drizzle it on some baked salmon
If you’re not into avocado dressings, try my girl Lauren’s gigantic and fantastic Grilled Corn Salad and swap the avocado dressing for this lemon poppy seed liquid sunshine.
Swap the leafy greens for heartier greens like asparagus and broccoli in this side dish salad from Foodal that’s perfect for any summer BBQ.
We’re getting crazy here, but stay with me – try swapping it out the standard dressing in this ultimate chicken caesar salad!
Or try it as a marinade for some grilled chicken! Plating Pixels has tips for making the best grilled chicken you possibly can.

Lemon poppy seed dressing poured on a strawberry spinach salad

However you use it, I hope you also call it liquid sunshine. I know people use that phrase and “liquid gold” for all sorts of things, from melted butter to bright yellow cheese sauces, but I feel like this is the only justified use for the phrase.

Maybe we can tweak it a little and call this liquid lemony sunshine. Or creamy dotted sunshine. Or really goddamn good salad dressing.

[shrug] Tomato, tomatoe.