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.

Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

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. My homemade recipe tastes just like the restaurant version. If you’re a fan of this dressing, I hope you give it a try!

Why You’ll Love Carrot Ginger Dressing

  • Easy and quick to make – It’s ready in just 10 minutes. 
  • Tastes just like Japanese restaurant dressing that you love. Maybe better!
  • Healthier than store-bought – You can control the ingredients when you make it homemade.
  • Versatile – Works great in any salad combination.
  • Bright, refreshing, and zingy – ​​​​Just look at the color!
Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

Ingredients You’ll Need for Carrot Ginger Dressing

If you cook Japanese dishes, you will likely have these 10 ingredients in your pantry and refrigerator.

  • carrot
  • onion
  • fresh ginger
  • Japanese rice vinegar – for an authentic taste, please use unseasoned rice vinegar because it is much milder in flavor than other vinegars; in a pinch, you can substitute diluted white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar mixed with some sugar
  • neutral oil – includes avocado oil, untoasted sesame oil, rice bran oil, canola oil, refined safflower oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, refined olive oil, grapeseed oil or peanut oil
  • toasted sesame oil
  • miso – I use mellow and mild white miso
  • sugar
  • salt
  • freshly ground black pepper

Blend It Fast In a Food Processor

Using a food processor to blend the ingredients makes it easier to create a smooth texture and cuts down on prep time and total time!

Carrot Ginger Dressing | Easy Japanese Recipes at JustOneCookbook.com

Process 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. You can add water to thin it to your desired consistency. However, I don‘t add water so the dressing will keep longer.

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.

Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

Shake well and serve over a green salad. Here, I drizzle a tablespoon or two of this Japanese carrot ginger dressing over a salad of iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, and tomatoes.

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 what you want to use in another serving dish and putting the rest of the ginger carrot dressing back in the refrigerator right away. That way, you can keep it for up to 2 weeks. Shake well before you use it.

More Delicious Japanese Salad Dressings

Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

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Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

Carrot Ginger Dressing

4.86 from 245 votes
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.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 6 (roughly 1½ cups per batch)

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)
  • 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
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

Instructions
 

  • Gather all the ingredients.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing Ingredients
  • Peel 1 carrot and chop it into ½- to 1-inch (1.25- to 2.5-cm) pieces.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 1
  • Chop ¼ onion into 1-inch (2.5-cm) pieces.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 2
  • Peel 1 knob ginger and slice into small pieces. Put all the chopped vegetables into a food processor.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 3
  • Purée until fine and smooth.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 4
  • To the food processor, add 1½ Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp miso, ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 5
  • Add 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, ½ cup rice vinegar (unseasoned), and ¼ cup neutral oil.
    Carrot Ginger Dressing 6
  • 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).
    Carrot and Ginger dressing in food processor

To Serve

  • Shake well and serve over a green salad (here, I have iceberg lettuce, cucumber slices, and tomatoes).
    Carrot ginger dressing drizzled on the refreshing iceberg lettuce and cucumber slices.

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

Calories: 121 kcal · Carbohydrates: 7 g · Protein: 1 g · Fat: 10 g · Saturated Fat: 8 g · Sodium: 170 mg · Potassium: 96 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 5 g · Vitamin A: 3792 IU · Vitamin C: 2 mg · Calcium: 13 mg · Iron: 1 mg
Author: Namiko Hirasawa Chen
Course: Condiments
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: carrot, dressing, ginger, miso, salad
©JustOneCookbook.com Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any website or social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Did you make this recipe?If you made this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #justonecookbook! We love to see your creations on Instagram @justonecookbook!

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.

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4.86 from 245 votes (209 ratings without comment)
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Hi! I really want to make this recipe, but I only have red miso on hand. Can I use it or will it alter the flavor too much? Thanks!

Hi Darling,
The red miso usually has a more salty and strong bean taste compared to white miso. So you may want to adjust the salt and sugar amount. As for flavor, it will give you more miso taste in this dressing.
We hope this is helpful.

I do not have miso. Is there a substitute.

Hi Jo,
Unfortunately, there is no substitute for the flavor of miso. 😞
How about Wafu dressing? https://www.justonecookbook.com/wafu-dressing-japanese-salad-dressing/

This recipe has gotten my daughter to start eating salad so it is a family favorite. I’m wondering if it can be frozen so we can make big batches ahead of time and freeze in quantities we can eat within a few days?5 stars

Hi Cindy,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We’re so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed this dressing!
This dressing can be stored in an airtight container like a 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, you can keep it for up to 2 weeks. You can also store it in the freezer for up to a month as noted in the recipe under “To Serve and Store”
I hope this is helpful. 🙂

Nami, this turned out absolutely perfect!! My only regret is that it is for tomorrow night’s meal and I must stare longingly at it in the fridge. I don’t know how long I’ve fiddled around on the internet looking for exactly this recipe. Thanks so very much.5 stars

Delicious! So happy I found this recipe. Maybe even better than restaurant dressing!5 stars

Hi Nami, this dressing is amazing! It definitely gave a brand new identity to my salad. As there weren’t sesame oil and rice vinegar in my kitchen I used tahini and apple vinegar instead. Now I have to go to grocery store to buy missing ingredients and make the original recipe! 🙂

love this recipe.

I’ve been wanting to make this for so long but didn’t even know what it was called! So glad I stumbled upon your website. I made this today and it was perfect!5 stars

Hi, just wondering how much salt we’re supposed to use? It says 1/4 but tsp or tbsp? Thank you!

I’m a fan of your recipes, and can see from the comments that everyone loved this one, but it didn’t work out for me. I followed the recipe, but in the end all I could taste was the rice vinegar. Even when I was making it, I thought that one half cup of rice vinegar seemed like way too much. I mean I couldn’t taste the ginger or miso, literally just vinegar. I ended up adding more ginger and A LOT of sugar to balance it out, but maybe that affected the flavor. The final result was so-so. The texture also seemed heavy on a green salad. My family is Japanese, they ate it but didn’t love it. I have enough left over for another salad … wondering what to do with it.2 stars

Can the dressing be frozen?

This recipe looks great, but I don’t have any Miso on hand. I DO have miso soup mix (the dry envelope that you add water to)—is there a way to utilize that and forego the salt?

I made this dressing for our side salad and it is amazing. I am pregnant so my taste buds are a little off. I followed step by step then decided since I live garlic I will add that and it was still really good. I stumbled across the recipe and Im glad I did. I will be looking at more of your recipes. Thanks for posting and updating.5 stars

Made with a seaweed and mushroom miso soup and egg fu young. Excellent compliment on a simple salad side. Only complaint is the amount of time to prepare, otherwise I would have given it 5 stars4 stars

My sister has been begging for salad but I can never understand her desire for dry leaves mixed with vegetables. Now I have a reason to make salad because I am in love with this dressing!! Made it today and have kept the rest in the fridge – I don’t think it will last long though 😉

As always, thanks Nami!
御馳走様でした!5 stars

Thank you for posting this recipe! I will definitely try to make that tonight:)