Simple and delicious homemade Japanese Salad Dressing (known as Wafu Dressing)! Made with soy sauce, rice vinegar, roasted sesame seeds, and grated onion, this versatile salad dressing goes well with any salad combo you can think of.
Today I’m sharing another recipe requested by a reader and it is Wafu Dressing. Wafu (和風) means Japanese-style. You might have a similar Japanese food term that starts with “wa” and that is Wagyu (和牛), which means Japanese beef. In Japanese, “wa” (和) means Japanese-style. Washoku (和食) means a Japanese meal and Wagashi (和菓子) means a Japanese snack.
Wafu Dressing – Japanese-style Salad Dressing
Generally, Wafu Dressing (和風ドレッシング) refers to a salad dressing that consists of vegetable oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Every household has a slightly different recipe for it and this is my version with grated onion to make it extra flavorful.
On a side note, if you replace a part of the vegetable oil with sesame oil, we call it Chuka Dressing (中華ドレッシング), meaning Chinese-style dressing in the Japanese culinary world. I thought it’s kind of interesting that the Japanese created a “Chinese-style dressing” since Mr. JOC (he’s a Taiwanese American) told me that salad exists in the Chinese food culture but it’s not very common to eat raw salad. If you’re interested in Chuka Dressing, please click here.
There are so many kinds of Wafu Dressing choices available in Japanese supermarkets, but homemade dressing has no MSG and preservatives and the best part is you can adjust the flavor as you wish. The ingredients and condiments are very typical for Japanese cooking so I hope you will give this a try today!
Interesting in More Homemade Salad Dressings?
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Wafu Dressing (Japanese Salad Dressing)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp grated onion (this is my favorite grater to grate onion, daikon, ginger, etc)
- 3 Tbsp neutral oil
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or mason jar and whisk everything together. Drizzle on top of a simple salad. Here I prepared hand-torn iceberg lettuce topped with tomatoes, boiled egg, wakame, cucumber, and red radish.
To Store
- Keep the dressing in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
Nutrition
Update: The post was originally published on October 14, 2011. The photos are updated in November 2013.
This was soooo delicious! Tastes just like what one gets at a Japanese restaurant!
Hi Shirley! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear that you enjoyed her recipe. Happy Cooking! 🤗
Hi. Can’t wait to make this. What kind of onion should I use? Should it be sweet like Vidalia? Does it make a difference? Thank you in advance!
Hi Marlene! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
Yes! Sweet or yellow onions work well, but any onion will do. The flavor will vary depending on the type of onion used.
We hope this was helpful!
Greets from an American in Japan ! Found this recipe this evening and just prepared it . Yummy !
Hello, John! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s dressing recipe!☺️
Nami, another delicious recipe! Poured this over lettuce, carrot, red capsicum, snow peas, cherry tomatoes and spring onion and served with Honey soy chicken kebabs.
Hi Sarah! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s dressing recipe!
Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you enjoyed it.😊 Thank you for your kind feedback.
Hi Nami, can I substitute avocado oil for the oils that you listed on your recipe or would that not be light enough and mess up the taste?
Hi Karen, Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
We have never tried this recipe with Avocado oil, and not sure how it will turn out. Let us know how it goes!
This is a great recipe. If you want to make it a creamier dressing (for poke bowls) add a tablespoon or two of light sour cream (or mayo). Delicious!
Hi Kim, Thank you very much for your kind feedback and for sharing your tip with us!🙂
Thank you for ongoing recipes.Love it.
Hi Noel! We are glad to hear you enjoyed many recipes! Thank you for your kind feedback.
Made it many times. So yum.
Hi Bia!
Yay! Thank you very much for trying this recipe many times and for your kind feedback!☺️
I’ve made this dressing multiple times – I absolutely love it! The recipe makes quite a lot (we use it on a side salad for 2 people), so I divide it into 3 small plastic containers and freeze 2 of them to enjoy later 😁👏 don’t want to waste a drop it’s so good!
Hi Jo! I’m super happy to hear you like this recipe! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 🙂 xo
Great recipe Nami! I love all your recipes. I substituted some Yuzu Ponzu for part of the soy sauce as I had it on hand and wanted a little citrus hit. So easy and tasty.
Hi Ann! That sounds really good! Thank you for trying my recipe and for your kind feedback!
This is sooo good! Definitely worth the watering eyes while grating the onion. My local Japanese restaurant serves this salad as a complimentary starter, but I never knew what it was called. I knew it had onion in the dressing and have searched for years to find a recipe to make it at home. I’m so glad I found this recipe – now I can have it whenever I want 😁 Thank you!!!
Hi Jo! I’m so glad to hear you liked this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback, Jo!
This is one of my absolute favorite salad dressings! A lovely combination of richness from the sesame with sour, sweet, and salty. I also recently used some leftover dressing as a sauce for lettuce wraps with chicken, and it was delicious there too! Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Hi Cameron! I do use this recipe often for my weekly salads too! It’s pretty basic that goes with Japanese food! 🙂
Very simple but very tasty! The toasted sesame seeds give it an extra hint of nutty flavor. I’ll have to make a bigger batch next time because I don’t think this will last more than a day or two!
Hi Bryce! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. 🙂