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.
love this recipe.
Hi Stacey! I’m so happy to hear you like this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback!
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!
Hi Julie! I’m really happy to hear you enjoyed this dressing. Thank you for your kind feedback, Julie!
Hi, just wondering how much salt we’re supposed to use? It says 1/4 but tsp or tbsp? Thank you!
Hi Amanda! OH! Thank you for catching it. It’s 1/4 tsp. 🙂
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.
Hi Lin! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your honest feedback. Just quick question, you said “one half cup.” Does it mean 1 1/2 cup or 1/2 cup. I think you mean half cup, right? I also assume you use regular Japanese rice vinegar… two major brands, but as long as you use one of them, it should be okay. What type of oil did you use? If you add everything and measured correctly, it probably comes down to one’s preference. Next time, try reducing the vinegar a little bit. Thanks again for giving this recipe a try!
Can the dressing be frozen?
Yes, you can freeze it for up to a month. 🙂
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?
Hi Jennifer! Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Use small amount first, and gradually add. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
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.
Hi Ericka! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks for your kind feedback and I hope you’ll find some recipes on my site that inspire you. 🙂
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 stars
Hi Chanda! Haha yeah, I wish I can cut down on prep time. 😆 I already use the food processor to dump all ingredients in, so there’s not much I can do to cut down on time… 😅
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!
Hi Julia! Aww I’m so happy to hear you enjoy the dressing recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! 😀
Thank you for posting this recipe! I will definitely try to make that tonight:)
Hi Tina! I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Thank you! How long will this keep in the fridge?
Hi Larry! I think I wrote up to 2 weeks in the recipe? 🙂
I agree that the sesame oil is strong, I lowered it as well. My advice is to add only a small amount of sesame oil (maybe 1/4 tsp or even less) and add sesame seeds!
Tasted a bit wonky. What miso did you use? What kind of onion? I used white as in photos but it might have been old. Will try again today with red onion and a new tub of miso.
Hi Jim! Thank you for trying this recipe! I used mellow and mild white miso (I added that info – thanks for letting me know) and yellow onion. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe
I love the color , will try to make it.
I have try to look for this yellowish salad dressing color. I thought the yellow color is from mango.
Now l learn it from you, Sensei 😊
Hi Kui! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
So good and super easy! I just eyeballed all the ingredients and threw them in a blender. It turned out perfect!
Hi Yi-Nan! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Love the dressings!
Thank you so much for your kind feedback, Lori! 🙂
This dressing is fabulous, so fresh and lively! I love this dressing on kale salad, too, massaged into the kale. This dressing is now part of my weekly rotation, and I am always looking for new ways to enjoy it.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Hi Tricia! Ohh kale and carrot ginger dressing are delicious. Both has a strong flavor and they don’t overpower each other. I’m really happy you enjoy the recipe. Thank you!