Carrot Ginger Dressing is the naturally sweet, subtly spicy answer to "what can I put on this salad or bowl of nothing to make me want to shovel it with a spoon?" With only a few ingredients that you literally just toss altogether into a blender, Carrot Ginger Dressing is also super fast and easy to make. Shall we?
Explore More
- Is This the Same Carrot Ginger Dressing from My Favorite Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse?
- Is Carrot Ginger Dressing Healthy?
- What Ingredients You Need for Carrot Ginger Dressing
- How Many Carrots Do You Need for a Recipe?
- How to Make Carrot Ginger Dressing
- How to Use Carrot Ginger Dressing
- FAQ
- Carrot Ginger Dressing Recipe
Is This the Same Carrot Ginger Dressing from My Favorite Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse?
YES! This recipe for Carrot Ginger Dressing is based on the bright orange, sweet gingery dressing on the small side salad that usually precedes your Japanese steakhouse dinner.
The restaurant versions usually taste much more sugary, but you can always adjust the sweetness level to your taste.
So What Exactly Is Carrot Ginger Dressing?
When it comes to dressings, the combination of salad and dressing has to fall into one of two categories. Either the salad has a variety of deeply flavorful components that hit all the taste notes—salty, sour, bitter, umami, sweet (not as much)—so the dressing can stay fairly simple like oil and vinegar; OR the salad can literally be a bowl of chopped iceberg lettuce because they dressing is layered with flavors and also hits all the taste notes.
Carrot Ginger Dressing is an example of the high flavor dressing that balances a low flavor salad. You know that little "side salad" at Japanese restaurants of iceberg lettuce, maybe a few cucumber coins, and one wee little cherry tomato? You'd never eat that on its own, but covered in a highly palatable dressing that tastes so good you would drink it out of the bottle, you'll eat every last leaf of iceberg.
Carrot Ginger Dressing is a blended dressing made of, you guessed it, primarily fresh carrots and fresh ginger. There is some sweetness and flavor from fresh onions, salty umami from soy sauce, and tang from vinegar. The dressing is often associated with Asian cuisines because of the ginger, miso and tamari, but it tastes great pretty much in, on, and around everything. It is in the class of dressings we call Drinkable Dressings, the kind that are so good, you just want to drink it straight from the bottle or jar. They have to have the perfect pourable texture not too gloopy, and not be too sticky sweet.
Is Carrot Ginger Dressing Healthy?
Depending on your health needs and dietary considerations, Carrot Ginger Dressing can be healthier for you than other dressings.
Carrots provide much of the texture for the dressing, rather than the emulsification of a lot of oil. Carrots are also naturally sweet so you don't have to add any refined sugar or other sweeteners for that matter. The recipe has an option for adding some maple syrup, but you can obviously omit it, or substitute with any other type of natural low- or no-calorie sweetener.
Carrots are high in the antioxidant beta-carotene, which not only supports eye health, but is a precursor to vitamin A in the body which supports a strong immune system.
And of course, any dressing that tastes so good that it will make you want to eat more fresh vegetables is considered a health benefit here!
Health and Dietary Considerations of Carrot Ginger Dressing
As published, this recipe for Carrot Ginger Dressing is:
- 100% plant-based, suitable for vegans
- vegetarian
- dairy-free
- gluten-free
- wheat-free if you use tamari or a wheat-free soy sauce
- grain-free
- refined sugar-free
- keto, Whole30, low-carb adaptable
- anti-inflammatory
What Ingredients You Need for Carrot Ginger Dressing
If you've been following along with The Delicious Life for any amount of time, you probably already have the pantry staple ingredients in your kitchen!
Carrot Ginger Dressing fresh/refrigerator ingredients:
- Carrots, about 6 ounces
- Ginger, about 2 ounces
- Onion, ¼ cup chopped
Carrot Ginger Dressing dry/pantry ingredients:
- Rice vinegar, 6 tablespoons
- Tamari or soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
- Sesame oil, 1 teaspoon
- Avocado oil or other neutral oil, up to ¼ cup
- Maple syrup, 2 tablespoons optional and you may not need it because carrots, ginger, and onions already have a lot of natural sweetness!
How Many Carrots Do You Need for a Recipe?
Carrots range quite a bit in size, so 2 carrots could be 4 ounces or 2 carrots could be a full pound! Generally, an "average" carrot will weigh 3-4 ounces and roughly chopped, about 1 cup.
You will need about 2 carrots for this Carrot Ginger Dressing recipe.
Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources
- Rice Vinegar. Make sure to use rice vinegar, and not rice wine which is an alcohol you might know as sake, or mirin, which is a seasoned rice vinegar with salt and sweeteners. I use this organic rice vinegar. If you can't find rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar is a good substitute.
- Tamari is a Japanese style soy sauce, generally brewed without the use of wheat so it can be gluten-free. However, not all tamari is gluten-free so read the label if that's a concern. Tamari tastes amost identical to regular soy sauce, but has a higher tang. I use this brand, which is organic. For most soy-based products (soy sauce, tofu, soy milk, etc), try to buy organic or non-GMO, since soy beans are one of the crops that are more often sprayed with harmful weed-killing chemicals.
- Avocado Oil. Avocado oil has a light, neutral flavor, which blends into the background of this dressing. I use this organic avocado oil. You can use olive oil, if that's all you have. It works in almost every other salad dressing, but the olive flavor might be too pronounced for this Ginger Miso dressing. If you want to use olive oil, find a "light," everyday olive oil that won't overpower the dressing with its own flavor.
- Toasted Sesame Oil. Toasted sesame oil is added for the toasty, umami flavor, not as the usual oil component of a salad dressing or vinaigrette. This is the brand of sesame oil I use.
- Maple syrup. I use whatever organic, minimally processed maple syrup is available. If you like the deep dark color, use a dark amber grade A maple syrup. You can substitute with honey (though the dressing will no longer be vegan), or other sweetener of choice.
- Onions and all other fresh herbs and produce from either the Santa Monica Farmers' Market on Wednesday, or Whole Foods Market when I can't find what I need at the farmers' market.
How to Make Carrot Ginger Dressing
If you haven't already, peel and trim the carrots, fresh ginger, and onions.
After that, Carrot Ginger Dressing has all of ONE step, which is to blend everything together in a high powered blender or food processor. That's it. You have no excuse now to make it immediately and douse a pile of lettuce leaves.
Place all ingredients—2 carrots roughly chopped, 3-inch piece of ginger, ¼ onion chopped, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, ¼ cup rice vinegar, ¼ cup avocado oil, 1 teaspoon sesame oil—in a blender or food processor and run until smooth.
Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until Carrot Ginger Dressing if pourable consistency.
Ingredients Substitutions and FAQs
The recipe for this dressing is "fool-proof" because it is very forgiving in terms of ingredients and measurement precision. Here are the pro-tips:
- Rice vinegar. If you don't have rice vinegar, use Apple Cider Vinegar, which will impart its gut health promoting benefits to the already gut health-forward dressing, or any other light/mild vinegar or even lemon juice. Do not use distilled white vinegar, which you should only ever use to de-scale your coffee-maker.
- Avocado oil. If you don't have access to avocado oil, use any other neutral flavored vegetable oil like grapeseed oil, canola oil, or even "light" olive oil, which refers to the oil's flavor and color, not the calories.
- Tamari/soy sauce. Substitute any kind of alternative soy sauce in the same amount like liquid aminos made from soybeans or coconut aminos if you avoid soy products.
- Sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil adds a very distinct, troasted (toasted+roasted) flavor. If you don't have it, you cab substitute with tahini, which is toasted sesame paste. Otherwise, just leave it out.
- Maple syrup. I use maple syrup because I always have it in bulk in the kitchen, but I actually take the "option to omit" in this recipe because I just do. Any other sweetener to your taste works here.
Can You Make Carrot Ginger Dressing in Advance?
Yes! You can and absolutely should make Carrot Ginger Dressing in advance! Make it as part of your weekly meal prep and then use it all week. You don't even have to relegate Carrot Ginger Dressing to just salads, either. Carrot Ginger Dressing works great as a sauce for grain bowls and as a dip for spring rolls.
How to Store Prepped or Leftover Carrot Ginger Dressing
Refrigerator. You can keep Carrot Ginger dressing in a sealed glass bottle or jar in the refrigerator for 7 days. I like to use large mason jars with sealing plastic lids.
Freezer. You can freeze extra Carrot Ginger Dressing for about 3 months.
Tools and Equipment for Carrot Ginger Dressing
You don't need any special equipment to make almost any recipe. However, in the case of Carrot Ginger Dressing, you do in fact need a blender or food processor.
- High power blender - this is the one I have that can blend anything
- Mini food processor - the workhorse food processor I have had for 10, 15 years? It still works and when it breaks, I will replace it with ... the exact same one.
- High power blender that everyone else has
- Mini cordless personal blender - This might be too small for the recipe as is, but if you're making a quick half batch and don't want to haul out the huge blender, it's perfect!
- 2-ounce (4 tablespoons) liquid measuring cup
- Regular measuring cups
- Favorite measuring spoons - that fit into the narrow bottle of spice jars!
- Wide-mouth mason jars and air-tight screw-on lids
- Cutting board, my extra extra oversized one that covers the entire counter
- Chef's knife
- Vegetable peeler
How to Use Carrot Ginger Dressing
Other than just taking shots of it straight from the jar, here are some more civilized ways to use Carrot Ginger Dressing:
- Dressing for Mandarin Chicken Salad as pictured above
- Sub for the sesame-based dressing in LA-Style Chinese Chicken Salad
- Drizzle for Tofu Salad
- Perfect sauce tossed with julienned vegetables and buckwheat soba noodles
- Tossed with any Roasted Vegetables, my favorite the Japanese Sweet Potatoes
- Stir into Hot Rice or Quinoa for a Grain Bowl
- Dip for crunchy vegetable crudités
Best Healthy Asian Dressings
If you, like me, eat chopped vegetable-y salads like it's my business,
- Ginger Miso Dressing, same Asian vibe, just with more ginger, more miso
- Fish Sauce Vinaigrette, turn your spring roll into a spring boll
- Creamy Sesame Dressing, perfect for Tofu Salad
- Miso Mustard Dressing, sweet and spicy and so good with salads that include fruit
Apple Cider Vinaigrette, the one and only, original ACV dressing, is in a class by itself and you should definitely add that to the roster.
FAQ
Yes! Use pre-cut carrots or peeled baby carrots to make Carrot Ginger Dressing to make the process faster and easier, but avoid shredded carrots, which are almost always too dried out.
No, do not use ground ginger powder for Carrot Ginger Dressing. You need fresh ginger because when you blend it, its rendered juices add to the liquid consistency of the dressing. Fresh ginger also tastes, well, fresh.
Homemade Carrot Ginger Dressing lasts one week in a sealed glass container in the refrigerator. Once you make it though, you will finish it in a few days. Trust.
Carrot Ginger Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped into 1 inch pieces about 6 ounces
- 1 2-inch fresh ginger, peeled
- ¼ small onion, yellow or white about ½ cup chopped
- 6 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2-4 tablespoons water for texture
- optional: sea salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients—2 carrots chopped, 2-inch piece of ginger, ¼ onion chopped, 2 tablespoons tamari, 6 tablespoons rice vinegar, ¼ cup avocado oil, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and maple syrup if suing—in a blender or food processor and run until smooth.
- Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until dressing is a pourable consistency.
- Taste and season with salt if needed.
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