If you enjoy the salad dressing served at Japanese restaurants, this delicious Carrot Ginger Dressing recipe is for you. Seasoned with miso, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, this sweet-tangy dressing will zest up your salad. It‘s a light and refreshing addition to any meal.
Many Japanese restaurants in the U.S. serve a salad with either Sesame Dressing or Carrot Ginger Dressing (にんじんドレッシング). While the sesame dressing is creamy and mild, this carrot ginger dressing is light and refreshing with a kick of ginger.
Why You’ll Love This Carrot Ginger Dressing
- It’s SUPER easy and quick to make. Ready in 10 minutes.
- Tastes just like the Japanese restaurant dressing you love. Maybe better!
- Homemade dressings are healthier than store-bought.
- Works great in any salad combination.
- Look at the color. It’s bright, refreshing, and zingy!
All You Need is 10 Pantry Ingredients!
If you cook a few Japanese dishes, you will have these ingredients in your pantry and refrigerator.
- Carrot
- Onion
- Ginger
- Rice vinegar
- Oil
- Sesame oil
- Miso (I use mellow and mild white miso)
- Sugar
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
That’s it, you can make the carrot ginger dressing right now! 🙂
For the authentic taste, use rice vinegar because it is much milder in flavor than other vinegar.
Use a Food Processor or Blender
Using a food processor makes it easier to create a smooth texture for the dressing.
I use my Cuisinart Food Processor that I have had for years, but if you have a high-powered home blender such as Vitamix, it will work really nicely too.
How to Store Carrot Ginger Dressing
You can store this homemade dressing in an airtight container like a mason jar for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. I recommend pouring out the amount you use in another serving dish and putting the rest of the dressing back in the refrigerator right away. That way, you can keep it for up to 2 weeks. Shake well before you use it.
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Carrot Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 carrot (4.8 oz, 135 g)
- ¼ onion (2.5 oz, 70 g)
- 1 knob ginger (1 inch, 2.5 cm; 0.6 oz, 17 g; use young/spring ginger for a milder taste, preferably)
- 1½ Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp miso (use white miso for a mild, mellow taste)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (to taste)
- freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ cup rice vinegar (unseasoned) (rice vinegar is mild; DO NOT substitute it with other vinegars as they are too acidic and strong)
- ¼ cup neutral oil
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Peel 1 carrot and chop it into ½- to 1-inch (1.25- to 2.5-cm) pieces.
- Chop ¼ onion into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces.
- Peel 1 knob ginger and slice into small pieces. Put all the chopped vegetables into a food processor.
- Purée until fine and smooth.
- To the food processor, add 1½ Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp miso, ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
- Add 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, ½ cup rice vinegar (unseasoned), and ¼ cup neutral oil.
- Process again until the dressing is completely smooth. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning with salt. If it‘s too sour, add a bit more sugar. If you prefer the dressing to be lighter, add water to thin it (I don‘t add water so the dressing will keep longer).
To Serve
- Shake well and serve over a green salad (here, I have iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, and tomatoes).
To Store
- You can store the dressing in an airtight container or mason jar for up to 1 week. If you take out the portion you need and put the dressing back into the refrigerator right away, it will keep for up to 2 weeks. Or, you can store it in the freezer for up to a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Mar 23, 2014. The post has been updated with new images and step-by-step images in April 2020.
You are my absolute go to for everything delicious!!
Made this tonight. Totally awesome. I like a heavy heavy ginger flavor, so I just added more after I tasted the original recipe. The original is devine as is though! I kept all measurements and ingredients exact other than ginger and used a good scale measuring grams.
Fresh and authentic! Thank you as always. You’re a wonderful teacher.
Hi Kristie! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for trying this recipe and your kind feedback. I’m glad you enjoy cooking Japanese food at home! xo
Better than the local Japanese restaurant my mom and brother take me to when I go visit them in Los Angeles . Am addicted to this tasty dressing.
Hi Ray! One of my close friends told me this morning she loves this dressing and just made it over the weekend. Then I remembered that these dressing pictures need to be updated because they are so old and nobody would be interested in making this recipe. And here you are with the kindest comment! THANK YOU for trying this recipe and for leaving the sweet comment!
It’s Excellent with Fried Rice too!!🤗🙌
Thank you Alyce!
Looks so good. Ingredients look spot-on for the version at my fav restaurant, The only difference being they used soy sauce instead of the miso here.
Hi Li! You can definitely use soy sauce for this dressing too. Both miso and soy sauce makes nice versions. 🙂
The only time I buy ginger is to use in this recipe. (freezing works great for extra) I have made this multiple times now and the recipe never disappoints. The only modification I made to this recipe was not adding the sugar. After tasting it, I didn’t think it was necessary. Will continue making again in the future.
Hi Hillary! Awww I’m so happy to hear that you like this recipe! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. xo
Rice vinegar overpowering. I’d try halving amount or possibly ignoring it. Otherwise, spot on
Thank you for your feedback, Alex!
Some carrots are much sweeter than others. With super sweet carrots I use less sugar.
Did you know you can SMELL the sugar in carrots? It is harder when they are chilled, like in many supermarkets, but still possible. Conversely, some carrots are weirdly bitter, and you can smell that too. If you don’t mind the odd looks you will probably get 😊, try sniffing your carrots when you next buy some.
Hi Peggy,
Thank you very much for your input! We gonna try sniffing my carrots.😉
Hi Peggy,
Thank you very much for your input!
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Made it tonight. Loved it! used romaine lettuce, shredded zucchini, chopped tomato, chopped cucumber,& roasted pine nuts. Salt & pepper in the grinder, perfect.
Hi Mary! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for the kind feedback. 🙂
Thanks Nami…….just made it now….tastes great and better than the restaurants!!
It’ll go great with my green salad with grilled chilled snow peas and miso marinated Halibut.
Just what I was looking for.
Hi Gary! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
This is fantastic. I made it in a smoothie blender so it’s smooth. Thanks for giving measurements in grams. So much easier!
Hi Cindy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 🙂
[…] and substituted in ginger paste for an actual ginger knob, but otherwise followed the recipe, Carrot Ginger Dressing, with the sugar proviso […]
like your recipe but the ads are overwhelming.
Hi Gail! Thank you for your kind words. Are you using mobile or desktop? If any ads are intruding, please send me a screenshot so I can complain to the ad network. Thank you!
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