This 5 Minute Carrot Ginger Dressing is a family favorite for good reason! It has A LOT of flavor and a creamy, luxurious texture. It's easy to make from scratch with basic ingredients like raw carrots, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Best of all, it tastes delicious on everything!
Carrot ginger dressing is the star of my Crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad, but it's versatile and delicious on so much more! So if you're looking for a tangy new dressing to slather on pasta salads, coleslaw, green salads, noodle bowls, grilled veggies, and everything in between; you won't be disappointed with this recipe. Oh, and I would definitely dunk vegan dumplings in this sauce!
A beginner friendly recipe, this homemade carrot ginger dressing is ready in just 5 minutes. And it's made with everyday ingredients like raw carrots, sesame oil, fresh ginger and garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, sriracha, plus lime and rice vinegar for some pucker power.
If you love a zingy salad dressing, here's a few popular dressings to try: Creamy Sesame Dressing, Everyday White Balsamic Dressing or Miso Sesame Ginger Dressing
Carrot Ginger Dressing Ingredients
Just 10 ingredients that come together to create a literal explosion of tangy, bright, salty, sweet, and spicy flavors in your mouth! Here's what you need:
- Carrots: Carrots add color, natural sweetness, and tons of nutrients.
- Rice vinegar and fresh lime juice: Adds a bright zinginess to the dressing. Can sub lemon juice for lime.
- Soy sauce: Adds complex savory, umami, salty notes. Use gluten free soy sauce or tamari as needed. Choose low sodium soy sauce if preferred.
- Neutral oil and toasted sesame oil: Gives the carrot ginger dressing a rich, creamy texture while adding an Asian flair.
- Maple syrup: The sweetness softens the acidity and balances the salty, savory notes in the dressing.
- Brown sugar: I like the depth of flavor from the combination of dark brown sugar and maple syrup, but you can use all maple syrup if you prefer.
- Garlic and ginger: Adds a spicy kick and pungency to the dressing.
- Optional add ins: For a kiss of heat, add a squeeze of sriracha. Also, I love coarse ground black pepper in this dressing. Water for thinning and diluting as needed.
Let's Make Carrot Ginger Dressing
My family and friends are obsessed with this quick, vegan salad dressing because it's minimum effort (easy) for maximum flavor payout (tasty). Only two steps:
- Mix it: Rough chop the larger ingredients and place everything (except black pepper) into a blender like Vitamix or use an immersion blender. Blend until smooth.
- Taste it: Taste and adjust the ingredients to suit your personal taste. Add more vinegar, sweetener, soy sauce, ginger, sriracha, etc. Stir in the black pepper if using.
- Chill it: Store in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks. Give a shake before serving -add a tablespoonful of water at a time to thin out the consistency as needed.
- Serve it on everything: This dressing is the perfect addition to any salad, noodle bowl or grilled veggies. It makes everything taste 1000% better!
Tips & Options
I first started making this dressing a few summers ago after being introduced to it on TikTok. I've made some tweaks here and there over the years, and now it's a family favorite! Feel free to do the same - use my recipe as a template then customize it to suit your personal taste by playing around with the ingredient ratios. Here's a few tips:
- Too tangy?: If the dressing is too acidic for you, add another teaspoonful or two of sweetener to balance out the flavors.
- Is your dressing missing something?: If your salad dressing tastes flat or like it's missing something, the answer is usually salt which is a flavor enhancer. Soy sauce is the salt source in this dressing. Add another teaspoon of soy sauce or a pinch or two of salt to suit your palate.
- Too flavorful?: This dressing has a bold flavor profile, if it's too strong for your taste, add a tablespoonful of water to dilute it as needed.
- Oil options: This recipe uses sesame oil for a nutty flavor and neutral oil for extra richness. You can use canola oil, vegetable oil, olive oil, light olive oil or any oil of your choice. I cut the oil back in my version to suit my family's preference, feel free to add a bit more in to suit your personal taste.
- Sweetener: For vegan options instead of maple syrup, sub with agave or vegan honey or another sweetener of choice.
- Make ahead and meal prep friendly: Make a batch or double batch and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
How to Use Carrot Ginger Dressing
Now that you've whipped up a batch of carrot dressing, I'm sure you'll find plenty of ways to use it. I like to serve it in shot glasses at summer parties - ha ha ha, just kidding (but it is that good!). Here's a few, more practical suggestions:
As a salad dressing: Carrot ginger dressing has all kinds of flavor so no matter what you pour it on, it will excite your taste buds. Perk up your green salads, pasta salads, noodle salads, coleslaw, and kale salads. It's also incredible on my roasted edamame crunch salad.
As a drizzle: Amp up your veggie game by drizzling this sauce over grilled broccoli, cauliflower or asparagus. Drizzle it over vegan tacos, and grain bowls. Plus this flavorful sauce magically transforms leftovers!!
Best Sauce Recipes
Here at SCC, we're known for our craveworthy sauces and dressings. If you're looking for a new one, here's a few popular options:
- Creamy Sesame Ginger Dressing - NEW and epic!
- Good Vegan Caesar Dressing - Everyone asks for this recipe!
- Miso Sesame Ginger Dressing - Reader favorite!
- Sweet and Spicy Tahini - Top 3 favorite!
- White Balsamic Dressing - Popular everyday dressing!
- Spicy Peanut Sauce - I make this every week without fail!
If you enjoyed this Japanese-style Carrot Dressing, scroll down to leave a star rating and comment. Also, tag me with any photos on Instagram.
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5 Minute Carrot Ginger Dressing (Japanese style)
Rate this recipe!
Equipment
- Vitamix style blender or Immersion Blender
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup (agave or vegan honey)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated, ~1" piece (more to taste)
- ½ cup carrots, grated or rough chop
- 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (optional)
- coarse black pepper (optional to taste)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add all salad dressing ingredients* to a high power blender like a vitamix and blend until smooth and creamy. If you want a bit of texture in the dressing, blend on medium-high until desired texture. Taste and adjust the flavor profile to suit your taste.*Start with the smaller amounts, blend and taste.
- OR put all ingredients into a tall jar like Weck or a tall deli container and blend using an immersion stick blender.
- Serve over greens or any salad. See the post for more serving ideas.
- Store the dressing in the fridge with a lid on for up to 2 weeks. Be sure to shake the dressing before serving. If the dressing is too thick, thin it out by adding a tablespoon of water at a time until the desired consistency is met.
Sandra
This dressing is WOW! So much flavor and it's so quick and easy to make. For sure I'll have a jar in the fridge all summer long! Thanks for the great dressing recipe!