Maple Dijon Pomegranate Molasses Dressing

One of the best things about always being surrounded by food people is that I’m often reminded of things I haven’t made in the longest time. 

It keeps things interesting in the kitchen. I’m constantly encouraged to go back and make this or that again. 

Take pomegranate molasses, for example. 

My friend Lisa (@hellolisalin) over at Healthy Nibbles and Bits shared the best video for how to make pomegranate juice. She also recently shared about how to make pomegranate molasses with juice. 

To be honest, I’ve made pomegranate molasses before, but I’ve never made it with a fresh pomegranate. Normally, I make it with natural pomegranate juice. I’ve tried sending the arils through the juicer, but it makes a mess. 

Lisa simply purees all the aril in a blender and then strains out the solids. Brilliant. I tried it this time and it worked perfectly. 

If you haven’t had pomegranate molasses, it’s simply pomegranate juice reduced down until it is thick and syrupy. Some add sugar, but I usually make mine with only pomegranate juice. Especially for this dressing recipe, which has maple syrup added. 

Once blended and strained the arils of 2 pomegranates will give you about 1 cup of juice. Simmer that over medium heat for about 30 minutes and it reduces to about 2 tablespoons of a thick, beautiful, and delicious syrup, much like molasses.

Now if you don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own, you might be to find it if you have a good international market around. It’s traditionally used in Middle Eastern cuisines. 

Once you have the molasses, whichever way you choose to get it, you can make this dressing recipe. Well, I hesitate to call it a dressing. If you use it for light, fresh greens, you might want to thin it a bit more with olive oil. 

It’s pretty thick. More like a sauce. And delicious on SO many things. 

A few things it is perfect with, especially around this time of year:

Tossed with roasted Brussels sprouts

Stirred into sauteed dark, leafy greens like bok choy and kale

Dipping sweet potato fries

Topping turkey burgers

Drizzling over tacos

What you’ll need:

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Grade A Dark Amber maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
Pinch of ground black pepper

How to make it:

Pour the pomegranate molasses into a medium bowl. Add half of the olive oil and whisk vigorously until the oil is completely distributed into the molasses. Add the remaining olive oil and continue to whisk. 

Add the mustard and maple syrup, continue to whisk until smooth and thick. Whisk in the salt and pepper. Store in a jar sealed with a lid in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

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