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Carrot Ginger Dressing is inspired by the dressing you’d get at a Japanese restaurant. It’s bright and flavorful, and very easy to make at home without any specialty ingredients.
What is Japanese Salad Dressing Made of?
This carrot ginger dressing requires just a few basic ingredients.
- Carrots
- Ginger
- Onion (or shallot)
- Honey (or maple syrup, for vegans)
- Toasted sesame oil
- Apple cider vinegar (or rice vinegar, if you have it)
- Olive oil
I’ve left out the miso and soy sauce that can sometimes be used in this dressing, because I don’t always have them on hand. The flavor is still fantastic!
How to Make It
Just toss everything in the blender, and you’ll have a flavorful sauce that you’ll want to pour on everything. I could even just drink it straight from the blender!
What I love about this carrot ginger dressing, is that you can taste as you go. If you think it’s too sweet, add an extra splash of vinegar, or a pinch of salt.
If it’s not sweet enough, you can add an extra squeeze of honey, or a touch of maple syrup. The flavor is totally up to you!
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I make this in my Vitamix blender, which has a narrow base and is great for making small batches of dressing. You can probably also make this in a smaller single-serving blender.
I have not tested making this in a food processor yet, but I imagine you’d need a larger quantity in that case, to get everything blended.
How to Use Carrot Ginger Dressing
The recipe below is the smallest batch I can make in my blender, since you’ll need a minimum amount to get everything blending smoothly. So, here’s how you can use the leftovers if you need some ideas.
- Drizzle it on a buddha bowl, loaded with grains and crunchy veggies.
- Pour it over roasted cauliflower.
- Use it on a side salad, served with a bowl of Miso Soup.
- Serve it with a Vegan Sushi Bowl.
- Use it as a dip for Garden Vegetable Rolls.
However you use it up, I hope you’ll enjoy this Carrot Ginger dressing as much as I do!
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 medium carrots; 175 grams)
- 2 inches fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup chopped onion or shallot (57 grams; about 1/4 of an onion)
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (43 grams)
- 2 tablespoons honey (38 grams)
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (7 grams)
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in a blender, and blend until completely smooth. Taste and adjust any of the flavors to your liking.
- You can serve this dressing right away, or store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- If you don't have fresh ginger on hand, I'd start with 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, and add more to taste.
- To make this recipe vegan, use 2 to 3 tablespoons of maple syrup instead of the honey.
- Nutrition information is for roughly 3 tablespoons of dressing. This information is automatically calculated, and is just an estimate, not a guarantee.
Nutrition
More Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes
If you need more salad dressing inspiration, try one of my other favorites below!
- Lemon Tahini Dressing (oil-free)
- Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Italian Dressing
- Tahini Dill Dressing
- Easy Greek Salad Dressing
- Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
- Balsamic Dressing
If you try this Carrot Ginger dressing recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite salad dressing?
This is my favorite dressing! 🙂
YUM! I adore the dressing at Japanese restaurants and love that you made it at home. I am definitely giving this a try this week.
Wow! This looks delicious – I had something similar this weekend and was thinking “I need to find a healthy version of this!” Thanks!! Do you think white balsamic would also work well?
This dressing sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try it on a kale salad this week-I bet the whole family will gobble the salad up 🙂
Where do you get the coconut vinegar?
I bought mine at Whole Foods, but it’s also available online: http://amzn.to/1gdUT6d
I love anything with ginger–this looks so yummy!
This sounds tasty! I bookmarked it & look forward to making it :0). I do have all the ingredients except the raw coconut vinegar, but that may be worth getting as I wonder if it’s a less acidic vinegar. I already have rice vinegar. Would that be a good fit for this & be less acidic than other vinegars? Wisely or not I’ve been avoiding vinegar because it’s acid-forming, & I have acid reflux. But I’ve also heard that vinegar can help with acid reflux? Thank you for any light you can shine on my quandary, & thank you for always sharing your fantastic recipes!
Rice vinegar should definitely provide a similar flavor! I’m not sure about the acid refulx issue in regards to vinegar, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I come across any reliable info on that.
Acid reflux occurs when the sphincter valve doesn’t close all the way & occurs when it needs more acid to digest your food. Do you drink a lot of water during meals? Try to drink 4 oz. or less at meals – If you want more to drink – have it at least 30 min prior to meal or wait 1 ½ hrs. after meal. Our dr. told us to have a little vinegar or pickle juice at the end of a meal to help digest our food. As you get older, your body isn’t producing as many enzymes needed to break down food but drinking too much water at meals can create the same thing as the water dilutes the enzymes so the enzymes aren’t as effective in breaking down the food. (I’m not a dr. – this is just what a doctor told us years ago……………………when my husband was experiencing acid reflux. He started drinking less water during meals and takes 1 or 2 teaspoons of pickle juice after dinner and the acid reflux went away. Also allow 2 hours after meals before going to bed.)
Yay! My boyfriend and I have been trying to recreate our favorite sushi place’s dressing for a while now with little success. This might be it! Any suggestions to replace the raw coconut vinegar? It sounds awesome but I’ve never seen this at my store =( Apple Cider Vinegar maybe?
Apple cider vinegar might be more pungent in flavor, so I’d start with less and add more to your taste.
I’ve never used raw coconut vinegar. What are the benefits to this as opposed to another vinegar? Does it add coconut flavor? I have all the ingredients except that vinegar. What would be another vinegar I could substitute and get similar flavor? This sounds delicious (like all your recipes I might add 🙂 )
Raw coconut vinegar has a higher amino acid, vitamin and mineral content when compared to other vinegars, and is a bit lower in acidity. I think a rice vinegar would work well as a substitute in this recipe, since that’s what is typically called for in this style of dressing.
Thanks Megan for the quick reply – know you are busy with your cute little one! All of your recipes are delicious! Thank you! All I’ve tried are great!
Just made it with rice vinegar and. O honey. Delicious!
That looks great! What kind of lettuce did you use?
I used mixed greens that I already had in the fridge– but I imagine it would work well over most greens!