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, it's so easy to throw together. Perfect for a quick lunch, this dressing will change your salad game.
From salad dressings all blessings flow
paul newman
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. At the risk of sounding like a cliche, us vegans are pretty good at salads. And salad dressing? Forget about it, I got you covered.
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.
This dressing is beautifully balanced and that's the trick. The sweetness of the carrots works perfectly with the ginger while the miso and shallot create oomph. Everything just works together.
A Healthy Dressing in 9 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.
- Carrots
- Ginger
- Shallots
- Salt
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Sugar
- Miso Paste
- Sesame Oil
- Vegetable Oil
You'll also be thinning out the dressing with water.
And that's it. Pretty simple, right? After roughly chopping the carrots and shallot and finely slicing the ginger, you just throw the whole lot in to a blender and blitz until smooth-ish.
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.
A Note On Texture
This dressing is thick and full-bodied but it also has a little texture. That's the carrots. A heavy duty blender will make a creamier, smoother dressing but that doesn't mean you need one. A regular blender will do the job, I would just chop the carrots more finely is all.
Does it Store Well?
Yes! This dressing stores 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.
Faqs
I don't have rice wine vinegar, what else can I use?
I've run out of rice wine vinegar and simply swapped it for white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. The difference is barely noticeable.
Can I freeze this dressing?
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 ahead if you wanted.
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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.
Easy Carrot Ginger Dressing
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup sunflower oil or any neutral flavoured oil
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 carrots medium, around 200 grams, peeled and chopped
- 1 shallot peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger skin removed and finely sliced
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp raw caster sugar or any caster sugar
- 1 tbsp white miso paste Shiro paste
- ¼ cup water
- ½ tsp fine salt
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to a blender in the order they appear above and blend until smooth. Add more water to thin out if needed.
- Store in a sealed jar for up to a week.
