This restaurant-style Japanese salad dressing is easy to make and insanely delicious! This dressing is delightfully tangy, packed with ginger, and balanced out with a bit of sweetness. It’s also quick to throw together for a busy week or anytime you’re craving Japanese salad dressing at home!
What Makes This Japanese Salad Dressing So Good
- It tastes just like the dressing you’d order at your local Japanese restaurant! One of my favorite parts about going out to a hibachi restaurant is the orange, ginger dressing they give you with your salad. Though if I knew making my own dressing at home was so easy, I would have made this Japanese salad dressing sooner! Seriously, this recipe is an exact dupe to that hibachi restaurant salad dressing.
- It takes just 5 minutes to make! Start by roughly chopping the vegetables, then throw everything in a blender and pulse for a few seconds. You’ll have the easiest and tastiest salad dressing in no time.
- It’s loaded with veggies and surprisingly nutritious. Fresh carrots, ginger, and celery create the healthy base to this Japanese salad dressing!
Key Ingredients for Japanese Salad Dressing
Soy Sauce – Soy sauce gives this dressing its signature savory flavor. Though feel free to use gluten-free and/or low-sodium soy sauce if you’d like. And if you’re looking to reduce the sodium in this recipe, start with just two tablespoons of soy sauce then work up from there.
Rice Vinegar – Most dressings contain some type of vinegar or acidic ingredient. In this Japanese salad dressing, we use rice vinegar to balance out the flavors. Rice vinegar, used mostly in Asian cuisine, is slightly less acidic than most other vinegars and makes for the perfect addition to this salad dressing. If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can use 2-3 tablespoons of white vinegar instead.
Peanut Oil – Feel free to use any neutral tasting oil you’d like in place of the peanut oil in this recipe. Peanut oil adds a subtly sweet, nutty flavor to this dressing. Though canola oil or vegetable oil would make great substitutions for the peanut oil in this recipe!
Chef’s Tips
- If you have the time, chill this Japanese salad dressing in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving. This time in the fridge will allow the flavors to develop and there’s just something about this dressing that taste so much better when served cold.
- Store leftover dressing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. This Japanese salad dressing is the perfect addition to your weekly meal prep. Simply make this dressing at the start of your week then enjoy it over your salad all week long!
- Depending on your blender, it might have a bit of a hard time pureeing this dressing into the consistency you’d like. If this happens to you, you can add a tablespoon or two of water or more oil to help loosen things up. Start small and gradually add more liquid until you achieve that perfect pureed consistency!
Other Easy Salad Dressing Recipes
- Creamy Italian Dressing
- Miso Dressing
- Asian Salad Dressing
- Cilantro Lime Dressing
- Avocado Salad Dressing
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Japanese Salad Dressing
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup carrots chopped
- ½ cup yellow onion chopped
- ¼ cup fresh ginger grated
- 2 tablespoons celery chopped
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup rice vinegar
- ½ cup peanut oil
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until pureed.
Notes
- Make it Paleo: Use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce and avocado oil instead of peanut oil.
- Make it Vegan: Use maple syrup or white sugar instead of honey.
Nutrition
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Hi! I’m Sam, a travel, food and fitness enthusiast from the New York metro area. I love creating new and inventive recipes, and my favorite part is sharing them with others. My love of food goes all the way back to my early childhood, I grew up cooking alongside my mom and Nonna – the two best cooks I know! When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m either planning my next vacation, spending time outdoors (preferably on a beach), or bingeing Netflix’s latest docu-series. My passion for eating and living well led me to create the blog and Instagram account, Sam Does Her Best, where I health-ify my favorite comfort foods. I’m a big believer that good-for-you food can still be exploding with flavor and (most importantly) easy to make. I’m thrilled to be here at 40 Aprons doing what I do best – creating, photographing, and sharing delicious recipes with you all!
Sabrina says
love a great dressing and always looking for a new one, this one also, have had this rarely in places like a hibachi recipe like you write about, so thank you for this recipe, all of these ingredients work for me and my diet