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A close-up of a glass jar filled with golden-brown honey or syrup, showing a smooth, glossy surface with a few tiny bubbles.

Burnt Honey Vinaigrette

5 from 2 votes
A bold, smoky-sweet vinaigrette that starts with deeply caramelized honey and finishes with cider vinegar, bay, and a slick of olive oil. Originally a wing glaze, it works just as well whisked into a salad dressing.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 16
Course: Dressing/Condiment
Cuisine: Californian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup honey
  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 cups beef or chicken stock optional
  • 1-2 tablespoon olive oil

Equipment

  • Tall saucepan
  • Whisk or small blender
  • Tongs
  • Heatproof container or jar
  • Wooden Spoon

Method
 

Burn the Honey
  1. Add the honey to a tall saucepan and set it over medium heat. Nothing else goes in the pan.
  2. It will foam up the sides first. That is the water boiling off, and while it lasts the honey cannot get hot enough to caramelize. When the foam falls and the surface goes glassy, the water is gone and the temperature climbs fast. Stay with it from here.
  3. Take it to the color of a dark copper penny, and to a smell that has left honey behind and turned toasted and nutty. On a thermometer that is 340 to 355F. The first wisp of smoke means you have gone past it. All in, 6 to 9 minutes over medium, but go by the foam and the color, not the clock. A light-colored pan is worth using, because a dark one hides the only thing you are watching.
Deglaze and Reduce
  1. Take the pan off the heat first. Stand back, keep your face away from the pan, and pour the vinegar down the inside wall in three goes, letting each one settle before the next. Do not stir while it is erupting. A cup of cold vinegar hitting sugar this hot turns to steam instantly, and hot sugar sticks to skin in a way boiling water does not.
  2. The honey will seize into a hard lump on the bottom of the pan. That is supposed to happen and you have not ruined anything. Add the bay leaf, return it to the heat, and the lump dissolves back in over the first few minutes of simmering.
  3. Optionally, add the stock for extra depth of flavor.
  4. Move it to a wider pan if you have one, because how fast this reduces depends almost entirely on how much surface is open to the air, not on how long you leave it. Simmer until three cups have become about a cup and a half.
  5. Test it cold, not hot. Drop half a teaspoon onto a chilled plate, give it a minute, and drag a finger through it. It should be about the thickness of maple syrup. In the pan it always looks thinner than it is, and it roughly doubles in body once it is cold. If you added the stock, you have two extra cups of liquid to lose, so expect it to take about twice as long.
  6. Remove from heat and discard the bay leaf.
Finish the Vinaigrette
  1. Let it cool for a few minutes, then whisk in 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. There is very little oil against a lot of syrup, so it will not stay mixed and it is not meant to.
  2. Transfer to a jar or bottle. Shake or stir before each use.

Notes

It will be almost solid out of the refrigerator. That is not a mistake and nothing has set. It is a sugar syrup, and sugar syrups get dramatically thicker as they get colder. Ten seconds of warm water around the jar, or twenty minutes on the counter, and it pours again.
If it is still thick once it is warm, it went a little too far in the pan, and a spoonful of water or vinegar brings it back. If it has gone grainy rather than thick, the honey's glucose has crystallized, and gentle warming dissolves that too.
Use a tall saucepan for the burn and the deglaze. The honey climbs and the vinegar erupts, and a pan with room to spare is the difference between a mess and a burn.

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