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The Kitchn’s Jan Valdez has reported on a homemade sweet onion dressing adapted from Sheldon Simeon’s cookbook, Cook Real Hawai‘i. Valdez says a whole sweet onion helps emulsify the oil and vinegar and adds sweetness; the recipe also uses apple cider vinegar, sugar, Dijon mustard and celery salt.
The Kitchn recipe producer Jan Valdez has shared a homemade salad dressing built around an unusual addition: one whole sweet onion. Based on a recipe in Sheldon Simeon’s cookbook Cook Real Hawai‘i, Valdez says the onion blends into the dressing, helping oil and vinegar hold together and giving the mixture a creamy texture without mayonnaise or yogurt.
Valdez said the onion caught their attention while browsing Simeon’s cookbook, after they had made other recipes from it. The dressing calls for a whole sweet onion, rather than the smaller amount of minced shallot or grated garlic Valdez was accustomed to adding to vinaigrettes. The Kitchn report describes the onion as blending into the finished dressing rather than remaining as distinct pieces.
The recipe pairs the onion with apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar and Dijon mustard for a sweet-and-tangy flavor. Valdez singled out celery salt as an unexpected addition that brought a savory note. The source does not provide the full ingredient quantities or detailed preparation instructions, so readers would need to consult the linked recipe for exact measurements and method.
Valdez says the recipe uses neutral oil but that olive oil also worked well in their test. The report suggests changing the mustard or replacing some of the sugar with honey or maple syrup. Those are the writer’s suggested variations, not reported results from a controlled comparison of ingredients.
A Dressing With Onion for Body
The report offers home cooks a way to make a dressing with a creamy consistency without dairy or mayonnaise, using an ingredient many people already have or can buy inexpensively. Valdez attributes the texture to the onion helping emulsify the oil and vinegar, though the article presents this as the writer’s recipe experience rather than a laboratory finding.
The dressing’s combination of sweetness, acidity and savory seasoning also gives it potential uses beyond a basic green salad. Valdez says it worked with kale and apple and suggests serving it with Cobb salad ingredients, spinach, apples and walnuts, cabbage slaw, roasted vegetables or a grain bowl. These are serving ideas, not claims that the dressing has been tested with every pairing.
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From Cook Real Hawai‘i
The dressing came to Valdez while reading Sheldon Simeon’s Cook Real Hawai‘i. Valdez’s Kitchn author biography says they work on recipe content, write and update recipes and roundups, and have 10 years of experience in research-and-development test kitchens and food publishing, including work at Serious Eats and EatingWell.
The Kitchn report is a first-person account of trying a cookbook recipe and explaining why the writer liked it. It is not a formal taste test comparing onion dressing with bottled products or other homemade vinaigrettes. The source also states that The Kitchn independently selects products and may earn a commission from purchases made through its links; it says prices were accurate at publication.
““I haven’t looked at bottled dressing the same way since.””
— Jan Valdez, The Kitchn associate recipe producer
Recipe Details and Testing Limits
The source material does not specify the dressing’s exact quantities, yield, preparation time or storage life. It also does not report nutritional information or a controlled test of how well the dressing keeps its emulsion over time. Valdez’s description is based on making the recipe, and the report does not establish that every type of onion or oil will produce the same result.
The article does not give a price for the onion or calculate a per-serving cost, so the “cheap ingredient” framing cannot be verified as a specific cost comparison from the supplied material. The source also does not say whether the proposed honey, maple syrup, mustard or oil substitutions were all tested.
Ways to Try the Dressing
The source does not announce a follow-up test or an upcoming development. Readers interested in making the dressing can use the linked Kitchn recipe for its full measurements and instructions, then follow the publication’s handling guidance for any ingredients and leftovers. Valdez’s suggested pairings include kale with apple, spinach with tart apples and walnuts, cabbage slaw, roasted vegetables and grain bowls.
Any further assessment would depend on testing the recipe with different sweet onions, oils and substitutions, as well as checking how its texture changes after storage. Those results are not provided in the report.
Key Questions
What is the unusual ingredient in the dressing?
It uses a whole sweet onion, such as Maui, Walla Walla or Vidalia, according to The Kitchn report.
What does the onion do?
Valdez says the onion blends into the dressing and helps emulsify the oil and vinegar, creating a creamy texture without mayonnaise or yogurt. This is the writer’s account of the recipe.
What else goes into the dressing?
The reported ingredients include apple cider vinegar, granulated sugar, Dijon mustard, oil and celery salt. The supplied source does not include quantities; consult the linked recipe for the full method.
What can the dressing be served with?
Valdez says it paired well with kale and apple and suggests trying it with spinach, apples and walnuts, Cobb salad ingredients, cabbage slaw, roasted vegetables or a grain bowl.
Source: thekitchn.com
