Carrot Ginger Dressing

Name: Carrot Ginger Dressing
Prep time: 10 min
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 tbsp ginger (skin removed and 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

Last updated on August 3rd, 2021 at 04:28 pm

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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.

Recipe Summary

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

None

Total Time

10 mins

Difficulty

Easy. Zero skills required here.

Bowl of green salad with a bowl of carrot salad dressing.

From salad dressing all blessings flow.
Paul Newman

Why We Love This Japanese Salad 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?

A bowl of carrot ginger salad dressing on a table of salads.

What You'll Need | 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.

Ingredients in a bowl on a blue background.

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

Two food images showing salad dressing made in a blender.

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.

Equipment

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.

Recipe FAQ's

Does the dressing store well?

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.

Can I freeze it?

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.

I don't have rice wine vinegar, what else can I use?

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:

Japanese Tofu Curry

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.

Carrot Ginger Dressing | Japanese Dressing