If you've ordered a salad at a Japanese restaurant you may have comes across this fresh and vibrant carrot ginger dressing. Besides being lick-the-blender good, this Japanese salad dressing is so easy to throw together. Get ready to up your salad game.
Serve it over fresh greens with my Japanese Tofu Curry and dinner is served.
Why We Love This Carrot Ginger Dressing
Honestly, I just love a good salad. Besides the no-cook factor - huzzah! - a really good salad just sings with freshness and all those balanced textures.
This carrot ginger dressing makes the most basic of salads jump from the plate.
I first tried it in a little Japanese restaurant on the Gold Coast served simply over chunks of iceberg lettuce and it was amazing. I think you're going to love it.
It is:
-super quick to make ready in around 5-minutes flat
-made from fresh, fuss-free, healthy ingredients
-naturally gluten-free
-easily stored in the refrigerator for up to a week
-restaurant quality - your friends are going to be so impressed.
This dressing is beautifully balanced and that's why it is so amazing. The sweetness of the carrots works perfectly with the ginger while the miso and French shallot create oomph. Everything just works together, you know?
What You'll Need
Equipment
First things first, you are going to need a stand blender. You can use an immersion blender but the carrot might still be a little pulpy.
This dressing is thick and full-bodied with a little texture. That's the carrots. A heavy duty blender will make a creamier, smoother dressing but that doesn't mean you need an industrial one.
A regular blender will do the job, I would just chop the carrots more finely is all.
Ingredients
What I love about this recipe is that I usually have all the ingredients in my kitchen and you probably do too! If you enjoy Asian cooking I bet you already have these.
Shallot: French shallots have a far more delicate, sweeter flavour than onions and they are widely available at supermarket and green grocers.
Rice Vinegar: rice vinegar is widely available at supermarket and grocery stores, it is worth tracking down. Rice vinegar is the most delicate and sweetest of the vinegars making it difficult to find a substitute.
Miso Paste: use Shiro or white miso paste for this recipe. It's lighter and more delicate than the red or brown rice varieties. Shiro can easily be found at the supermarket these days in the Asian food section.
Vegetable Oil: you'll want a neutral flavoured oil here like a sunflower, grapeseed or vegetable so that the sesame oil can shine through.
Japanese Dressing in Minutes
There are only two steps to making this salad dressing.
After roughly chopping the carrots and French shallot and slicing the ginger, you just throw the ingredients in to a blender and blitz until smooth-ish. And that's it. Pretty simple, right?
This recipe will make enough dressing for 6-8 salads. At least! I tend to use a lot because I am a bit obsessed with it so you may get more.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Carrot ginger dressing keeps really well. I pop my in a sealed jar and it will keep for a week +. Perfect if you are meal prepping. Simply give the jar a good shake and drizzle away. I've never kept the dressing for more than 10 days but it was still good at 10.
The short answer is yes but you do run the risk of a little separation when the dressing thaws. This dressing literally takes a few minutes in a blender to make, so making it fresh is easy. Also, it has a good fridge shelf life of a week so you could make it days ahead if you wanted.
While rice vinegar is preferred, a little apple cider vinegar is the closest substitute in a pinch.
If you love Asian cooking, try these easy vegan recipes:
Vegan Bao Buns with BBQ Mushroom
Vegan Bao Buns with Peking Tempeh
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If you like this recipe, please check out my cookbook. Great Vegan Meals for the Carnivorous Family is full of simple, carnivore-approved family recipes.
Make This Recipe
Carrot Ginger Dressing
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup sunflower oil or any neutral flavoured oil
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 carrots medium, around 200 grams, peeled and chopped
- 1 French shallot peeled and chopped
- 2 tablespoon ginger skin removed and sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon raw caster sugar or any caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste Shiro paste
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
Instructions
- Prepare you carrots and French shallot by peeling and roughly chopping them. Peel and slice the ginger.
- Add the ingredients to a blender in the order they appear in the ingredients list and blend until smooth. Add more water to thin out if needed.
- Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Alina Longbrake says
I'm going to try making it sounds so good