This homemade coleslaw dressing recipe will take any coleslaw to a whole new level! Made with just 5 ingredients, it's creamy, tangy, and delicious.
Once you learn how to make coleslaw dressing at home, you’ll never buy it at the store again! Here’s why:
- It’s super easy. This creamy coleslaw dressing recipe calls for 5 basic ingredients, and it only takes a few minutes to whisk together.
- It’s made with good-quality whole foods ingredients. When you make homemade coleslaw dressing, you know exactly what’s in it. There aren’t any additives or stabilizers here, and it’s sweetened naturally with maple syrup instead of processed sugar.
- And last but not least, it’s delicious! This creamy, tangy dressing makes fantastic coleslaw, but it’s darn good on other salads too. Toss it with lettuce, baby greens, or kale, or use it to make broccoli salad. Once you have it on hand, you’ll find all sorts of ways to use it.
If you like coleslaw, you’ll love this easy dressing recipe. Let’s cook!
Coleslaw Dressing Recipe Ingredients
You only need 5 simple ingredients to make this homemade coleslaw dressing:
- Mayo – For the best flavor, use really good mayonnaise in this recipe. If I’m using store bought mayo, my first pick is Sir Kensington’s. My homemade vegan mayo is great here too!
- Apple cider vinegar – It makes the dressing nice and tangy.
- Dijon mustard – It adds extra tang and a mild peppery flavor.
- Maple syrup – It balances the assertive vinegar and mustard.
- Celery seed – If you’ve made my egg salad, deviled eggs, or creamy potato salad, you know that celery seed, mayo, and mustard taste fantastic together. These little guys add a delicious savory flavor that takes this dressing over the top.
Whisk these ingredients together, and season to taste with salt and pepper!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Use Homemade Coleslaw Dressing
I most often use this coleslaw dressing in my homemade coleslaw recipe, but it works well with pre-shredded coleslaw mix too. Whether you shred the veggies yourself or use a mix, aim to have about 8 cups of shredded cabbage and carrot. That way, you’ll have enough dressing to lightly coat all the vegetables.
Once you toss the the dressing with the slaw mix, it’s time to eat! I love to serve my homemade coleslaw as a side dish with these classic cookout recipes:
- Best Veggie Burger
- Portobello Mushroom Burger
- Quinoa Burger
- Vegan BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Crispy Cauliflower Po’ Boy Sandwiches
Round out the meal with fruit salad, grilled vegetables, or corn on the cob, and don’t forget the brownies for dessert!
If you have leftover dressing, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. It tastes great with any type of greens, but I especially love it in my kale salad recipe!
More Favorite Sauces and Dressings
If you love this coleslaw dressing recipe, try one of these delicious dressings next:
- Homemade Caesar Dressing
- Cilantro Lime Dressing
- Green Goddess Dressing
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Lemon Vinaigrette
- Classic Basil Pesto or Vegan Pesto
- Tahini Sauce (4 ways!)
Coleslaw Dressing
Ingredients
- Scant 3/4 cup mayo , or Vegan Mayo
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- ¾ teaspoon celery seeds
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the mayo, apple cider vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, celery seeds, salt, and several grinds of fresh pepper.
- Serve with about 8 cups cabbage coleslaw mix.
Excellent and easy. My two favourite adjectives.
Maple syrup is the bomb in so many homemade dressings!
This recipe works wonderfully. I just add a tablespoon of cream. once the maple syrup is in which thickens it more. It reacts with acetic acid in vinegar as well as the syrup..
I’m so glad you love the dressing!
Love this recipe! We use it every time we have pulled pork and it’s delicious!
So glad you love the dressing!
Excellent recipe! I love the maple syrup over the traditional white cane sugar. Skipping the lemon juice completely changed the flavor and how it hits your palate. This is a keeper. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Krishna, so glad you loved it!
Wonderful recipe! Would have never thought of adding maple syrup to a coleslaw dressing but all of the flavors work so good together! Thank you.
So glad you loved it!
Made this for Super Bowl and it was quick, simple and delicious! Thank you!
So glad you loved it!
I love coleslaw and this dressing is so good. I often add chopped apple and crumbled blue cheese to my coleslaw and call it my “red, white and blue” coleslaw…the blue cheese and the sweetness of the dressing and apple is so good. I also sometimes add chopped mango, a little red onion and chopped snow peas… that is also a great combo
Those variations sound fantastic! So glad you love the dressing.
I’ve had this before and it’s AMAZING! I want to make it for my daughter’s party this Sunday…will it be fine if I make it today (Friday) and then let it sit in a mason jar until Sunday morning when I pour it over my coleslaw mix?
Hi Jillian, so sorry for my late reply – that should work fine!
Perfect dressing that was enjoyed by my family tonight. I had every component in the recipe which pleased me to no end. I also added chopped yellow onions to my salad. The dressing developed and bloomed in about 2 hours and it was so much more delicious. Thank you for the perfect coleslaw dressing.
Hi Elsa, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Omg! Pardon my French , but best f****** dressing ever! I added some finely chopped red onion to cabbage. Heavenly! Love and Lemons always has the best recipes!!!!
Hahaha so glad you loved the dressing!
I made this foe a party for Christmas everyone loved it. Will make again thanks.
I LOVED this! I made it for a birthday celebration and got rave reviews. It will be my go to recipe from now in. I didn’t have Dijon Mustard so I substituted honey Dijon. It was still fantastic!
I’m so glad it was a hit!
Love this recipe. It was quick and easy. Hate this website though. Every time I put my phone down a full screen ad would pop up that I couldn’t close easily. And as I am trying to write this ads keep popping up and closing my keyboard. Aaaargh
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I’ve made this twice now with angel hair slaw mix (thin sliced cabbage) and my hubs and I really love it. It’s tangy and flavorful. I’ve served it with Soy Curls pulled BBQ and they go great together. Thanks for a great recipe!
I made this in a desperate dinner moment. It was so good! Couldn’t stop eating my slaw.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I grated a green apple spread with some lemon juice to keep from browning.
Also added a little hot mustard with Dijon mustard
Family loved it
I’m so glad you loved it!
Always add diced apple 🍏👍
OMG– best dressing EVER!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!! Janet O, you can’t give 2 stars if you didn’t actually make the recipe:))))
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hi Janet, the Dijon mustard will definitely make it more tangy. If you like it sweeter, I’d suggest just adding more of the syrup or some granulated sugar.
This is the BEST. Tangy but a little sweet. Great for jazzing up a basic bagged cole slaw! I’m on a reduced sodium diet but also to lazy/fatigued to make my own mayo. Used reduced sodium/cholesterol Miracle Whip and you never would know with the other flavors at play. (Yes, I know people have feelings about Miracle Whip. But it’s what I grew up with AND suits my current energy level and dietary needs when I don’t want a vinegar based dressing.)
Hi Diane, I’m so glad you loved the flavors in the dressing!
This has become my go to slaw dressing, so quick and easy to come together, we love it!
I’m so glad you loved it!