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This sesame ginger dressing is creamy and zingy, featuring soy sauce and rice vinegar! It’s ideal for salads and bowl meals.
Want a great creamy drizzle for salads and bowl meals? Introducing…this Sesame Ginger Dressing! This dressing is part sauce, part dressing: creamy and full-bodied, with a bright zing from rice vinegar and a spicy ginger finish. Take one bite and every part of your tongue lights up: it’s savory, salty, tart, and a little sweet all at once. It takes salads to new heights, and transforms the everyday bowl meal into something transcendental. Here’s what to know!
Ingredients in sesame ginger dressing
This sesame ginger dressing is one of our favorite dressing recipes because it’s packed with loads of umami flavor. It makes any salad or bowl meal taste like a dream! This vegan salad dressing is inspired by Asian-style flavors, but pairs them with Mediterranean tahini (sesame paste) to make for a creamy body to the dressing. The tahini also enhances the sesame flavors! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Fresh ginger root
- Tahini
- Rice vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Honey or maple syrup
- Neutral oil like grapeseed, organic canola or vegetable oil, plain sesame oil, and so forth
- Toasted sesame oil: use only a small quantity of the toasted variety: it’s potent!
- Garlic powder
Whisk it, whiz it or double it for a blender
This dressing works as a whisked dressing, though it will have some texture due to the grated ginger. If you’d like a fully creamy dressing, whiz it up! Here are some notes on the various techniques:
- Whisk it: This dressing works well whisked, and you don’t have to dirty a blender (which is always a plus, in our book!). It does have some bumps in the texture due to the grated ginger.
- Blend with small blender or immersion blender: Want it fully creamy? Just whiz it up with a small blender or immersion blender. You’ll need a small blender because the quantity is fairly small. Or you can…
- Double the recipe and make it in a standard blender. Double the quantities and you can whiz it in a large blender. Use the 2x button in the recipe below!
Add a bit of water as necessary
All tahini paste tends to vary in texture. So this dressing can come out rather thick depending on the tahini brand. It also thickens in the refrigerator as you store it. So like our Tahini Sauce and Lemon Tahini Dressing, add a bit of water by the teaspoon until it comes to the desired texture for drizzling. It won’t dilute the flavor since you’re only adding a small amount.
Storage info
Store this sesame ginger dressing refrigerated for up to 10 days. It becomes thicker in the refrigerator, so make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving. If it’s very thick, you can stir in a teaspoon or so of water to bring it back to a drizzle-able consistency.
Ginger dressing variations
This sesame ginger dressing is part of our ginger dressing trio, where we experimented with a few different flavor combinations to make different styles of dressings. Here are a few other ideas:
- Ginger Dijon Dressing: This vinaigrette-style dressing uses ginger, Dijon and white wine vinegar for a bright and tangy dressing.
- Carrot Ginger Dressing: This flavor-packed drizzle features sweet carrot, tangy rice vinegar and savory miso, with a little added tahini for creamy body.
How to serve sesame ginger dressing
There are many ways to serve this sesame ginger dressing! Use it on salads or bowl meals, or as a dip for fries. Here are a few ideas:
- Salads like Simple Spring Mix Salad, Sweet Potato Salad or Spinach Apple Salad
- Bowl meals like Simple Salmon Bowl, Easy Grain Bowl or Roasted Vegan Buddha Bowl
- Fry dip like for Carrot Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Baked French Fries or Baked Avocado Fries
How are you planning to serve this dressing? Let us know in the comments below!
More salad dressing recipes
Love making dressing at home? Try these tasty salad dressing recipes:
- Try our best Balsamic Vinaigrette or Easy Vinaigrette
- Opt for Caesar Dressing or Ranch Dressing
- Grab Healthy Ranch Dressing or more Healthy Salad Dressings
- Go for Cilantro Lime Dressing or Poppy Seed Dressing
This sesame ginger dressing recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Sesame Ginger Dressing
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 10 tablespoons 1x
Description
This sesame ginger dressing is creamy and zingy, featuring soy sauce and rice vinegar! It’s ideal for salads and bowl meals.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger, loosely packed
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Peel the ginger with a spoon and grate it. Whisk it together with the remaining ingredients, or for a smooth dressing use a small blender or immersion blender to blend until creamy. (Or, make a double recipe in a standard blender.)
- If the texture is very thick, stir in water a teaspoon at a time until it comes to the desired consistency. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 10 days; allow to come to room temperature before serving and stir in a bit of water to loosen if necessary (it can become very thick during storage).
- Category: Essentials
- Method: Stirred
- Cuisine: Dressing
- Diet: Vegan
WOW THIS WAS DELICIOUS!
ok, I sub’d a few things and I’m still thrilled with the result. So just in case anybody out there is wondering what can be substituted:
I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce
Trader Joes seasonally carries pumpkin vinegar. Yes, I said PUMPKIN vinegar – and it was incredible in this dressing.
Lastly, I bypassed the honey or syrup entirely. I added a few drops of monk fruit, but when I make this again, I don’t think I’ll even add that to be honest.
It did make for a somewhat runnier pour, but I’m good with it.
Thank you thank you thank you!
Let us know if you have any questions!
What can I use instead of tahini ?
Peanut butter would work — but the flavor will definitely come through!