Make my iconic Japanese carrot ginger dressing in less than 10 minutes! Inspired by Japanese-American steakhouses, the sweet and tangy flavors make the perfect pairing to ice cold iceberg lettuce!
If you’ve been to a Japanese restaurant in the US or Canada, chances are excellent that you’ve had a variation of this carrot ginger dressing. I‘ve been a fan of the sweet and tangy taste of this bright orange dressing ever since I was a college student, back in Montreal. My friends and I used to sneak out of campus and take the bus to our favorite Japanese restaurant, where we always ordered the lunch special consisting of maki rolls, a side of miso soup, and a simple green salad topped with a carrot ginger dressing.
Since then I have had different versions of this dressing – some were more on the savory side, others had a strange bitter taste, and my least favorites very watery and somewhat bland. I decided to make my own version after discovering how easy it was to make. I like assertive flavors so this dressing is anything but boring! It has plenty of sweetness, a little fruitiness, and some tanginess. The flavors offset each other beautifully, bringing the perfect balance to this Japanese-American classic.
Table of contents
Japanese Carrot Ginger Dressing Ingredients
- Carrots: I’m using 7 ounces of carrots which comes to about 200 grams. Since everything will be blended the carrot can be roughly chopped here.
- Onion: A yellow sweet onion is best for this recipe but you can also use a regular yellow or white onion. I’m using 4 ounces which is about 110 grams.
- Ginger: You can use more than 2 tablespoons of ginger if you like your dressing to have some heat. Two tablespoons, which is what I’m using, is just enough to infuse it with ginger flavor without feeling any tingling on the tongue.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is preferred but you can use brown as well. One tablespoon is all you need.
- Soy Sauce: The soy sauce adds umami and earthiness to the dressing. Use a Japanese soy sauce such Kikkoman or Yamasa.
- Rice Vinegar: That’s the famous zing you taste in the dressing. Plain rice vinegar is recommended. If you have seasoned rice vinegar only, I suggest omitting the sugar for this recipe.
- Salt: I use kosher salt which has bigger granules. If you are using regular salt, start with 1/4 teaspoon, do a taste test, and work your way up if needed.
- Oil: Any neutral oil will do here. You can use organic canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, corn oil.
Variations
- Make it fruity. Use apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar for a fruitier taste.
- Add some nuttiness. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil to introduce a nutty element.
- Intensify the umami factor. Add a little white or awase miso paste to bump up the umami and savory notes.
Kitchen Equipment Needed
Blender: You will need a small or a regular size blender.
How To Make This Dressing
- Add all the ingredients, except for the oil, in the blender and press start. Blend until the texture is smooth.
- While keeping the blender on, slowly add the oil so that it emulsifies (blends) with the other ingredients. It’s important to do it slowly otherwise the oil can separate and ruin the dressing, so take your time for this step!
- Do a taste test and if you think it needs adjusting, add a little more sugar or salt.
Expert Tips
- Do not overblend. This dressing tastes best when it’s not completely watery. Leave a little graininess to the carrots so they can sit on lettuce leaves and make every bite taken, more intense.
- Use fresh ingredients. Make sure that the carrots, onion, and ginger you are using are in great condition. Fresh carrots and onions have a natural sweetness that older ones don’t have. And fresh ginger is juicier and milder in flavor.
Storage
Save the dressing in a jar or storage container with a tight fitting lid. It will keep in the fridge for up 2 weeks.
What to Serve With It
Serving this dressing over a bed of crispy iceberg lettuce is by far my favorite combination. However, you can use romaine lettuce or endives as well, or any other type of crunchy greens to enjoy this lovely dressing.
A side salad is usually served as part of a sushi meal here in the US but there are many other meal combinations where you can serve green leaves and carrot ginger dressing. Some of my favorites are:
- Japanese fried rice (yakimeshi)
- Japanese curry rice
- Honey sriracha tofu
- Singapore chow mei fun
- Korean sticky chicken
- Miso ramen
If you liked this Japanese carrot ginger dressing, you might be interested to try these other Asian dressings:
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use olive oil but keep in mind that if you are using a high quality olive oil with strong fruity and floral notes, the overall taste of the dressing might taste slightly different.
Unfortunately, I don’t recommend that you freeze this dressing as the texture of the fresh ingredients will deteriorate and get mushy and unpleasant.
No, this dressing is not gluten-free because it contains soy sauce. However, it’s very easy to make it gluten-free! Simply use a gluten-free soy sauce or use a substitute like tamari or liquid aminos.
Did you like this recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!
Print
Japanese Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: About 2 cups 1x
- Category: Dressings
- Method: Blender
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Diet: Vegan
Description
The classic sweet and tangy carrot ginger dressing from your favorite Japanese restaurant! Make it at home in just 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 7 ounces carrots, peeled and chopped
- 4 ounces onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup organic canola or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Blend. Put all the ingredients except for the oil in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Add the oil. Slowly add the oil and blend until the mixture has emulsified.
- Serve. Use this dressing with a crisp lettuce like iceberg or romaine.
Notes
Save the dressing in a jar or other storage container. Refrigerate for up to 2 week.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 3.7g
- Sodium: 372mg
- Fat: 20.5g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5.8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 6.3g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Absolutely needs sesame oil. Could not capture the flavor without it! Great base recipe. Just drizzle in a little sesame oil and then bring to desired consistency with the other (canola, for me) oil.
Caroline, I made this Salad Dressing today for my Neighborhood Gal Pals.
I took them to a new Asian Bistro in town and they all went nuts for the Dressing.
“Where can I buy this?”
I’ll make some for you, in fact, it’ll be even better!
I got roughly three cups and made two tweaks:
1) One teaspoon more Sugar
2) 1/2 teaspoon of Sesame Seed Oil
OIHII!
I packaged it up all pretty like (not nearly as cute as yours though) and will hand delivery them tomorrow.
Mahalo, thank you for yet another wonderful recipe Caroline.
ALOHA!
Mahalo aunti Doni, this is such a great story! 🙂
Can you use ground ginger? I don’t have fresh ginger. If so how much would you recommend? I also am pre-diabetic, do you have a ideas? Thanks so muchA
Hi Meana, ground ginger won’t give you the same kick of heat so I would advise waiting until you have some fresh one to make this recipe 🙂
This is soooo good!!! Will def be my new go-to. I made it exactly as described and it is just so tasty!! Thank you for sharing!
Delicious! I didn’t have fresh ginger so used a tiny bit of horseradish and ground ginger instead and it was stellar! I’m sure it’s even tastier with fresh ginger! My kids loved it as well.! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
That’s wonderful Stephanie! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Oh, just a note! When I asked at the ‘Okinawa’ what there secret ingredient was, they said an Orange??? Who knows, maybe?
Hi George! I hope you like the recipe, it would be interesting to try it with oranges too! 🙂
OOooh, some orange zest in here would be fantastic!
Can’t wait!! This just cost me $50.00 for a blender! Looks to be exactly what my favorite Japanese Steak House serves (Okinawa) in Ellijay, Ga. Only one correction is needed—you do not list the amt. of organic Canola/other oil till the next list. 3/4 cup is needed. Thanx God bless g
SO delicious! I couldn’t stop taste testing it. I was t the end of the recipe and found I had no canola oil, so I had to use peanut oil instead. It was great and next time I make sure I have the canola on hand so I can try the recipe as written to compare. Thanks you for this great recipe.
I was craving this style of dressing today, and boy did this taste EXACTLY like the dressing of my favorite Japanese restaurant. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Honestly, tasted pretty damn close to the japanese dressing I’m used to
Hello there! Are the carrots and onion measured by weight or volume?
Hi Amy!
The veggies are measured by weight 🙂 I hope you like this dressing!
perfect! never getting bottled ginger dressing again… add some toasted sesame oil, about 1 teaspoon…added such depth of flavor. I think it cannot be omitted!
This is so good! Thank you so much for creating this recipe!! I’ve already made it twice and I just found out 1 month ago.
How long can you keep the dressing in the refrigerator?
Hi Carol! The dressing should last about 2 weeks in the fridge 🙂
So happy I found this recipe. It’s delicious! I guess I’m just going to smell like onions all the time now.
Have you had any luck with freezing it? Also, is it 1 or 2 weeks that it’s good for in the fridge? The recipe says 2, but your response to a comment says 1. That makes a big difference in how long I have to eat the whole batch. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi Robin! That was my bad yes, it should keep for up to 2 weeks 🙂
So good and it tastes like restaurant quality. I never would have guessed the onion. Easy to make!
It taste delicious, but I reduce the oil by half.
I almost never cook but I’ve been craving a good japanese style ginger dressing so I finally decided to try making it myself a try. This recipe was very easy to follow and the result was delicious!
I followed the recipe almost exactly, though I only ended up using 1/4 cup of oil instead of the full 3/4 cups.
I wasn’t sure if it was just me or something to do with the ingredients in the dressing, but it seemed like it tasted better the longer it was in the fridge?
On that note, I was wondering how long you think this dressing would last in the fridge? I went through the serving this made in under a week, but I’d thought about making a second batch of it at the same time as the first. I didn’t go through all the ingredients I had with the first batch, but they were already going bad by the time I finished that first batch.
Hi Sara! It totally makes sense that the sauce would be more tasty after sitting in the fridge. The veggies would have more time to absorb the flavor and thus, make it more powerful. The dressing should keep in the fridge for about 1 week 🙂
I’ve tried Japanese dressing recipes so many times only to be disappointed. This one is the bomb!! Incredible!!! Better than my favorite Japanese restaurant’s dressing that I used to buy by the quart!! I’m so excited!!!
That’s wonderful Lisa! Thank you for sharing 🙂 ❤️
Better than the restaurant ! Perfect! I did go out on a limb and added a tablespoon of peanut butter to the recipe. Not necessary but gave a nice subtle elevation to the flavor. Either way you can’t go wrong. Definitely don’t add sugar if using seasoned rice wine vinegar. Thanks!
Wow!
I’m watching my weight and someone posted the link to this recipe . I cut down the recipe to 2/3, only used 2 tbsp of oil and 2 tbsp of water in place of all the oil. Used 2 tbsp monk fruit sweetener and it is delicious.
I’m sure it will be a quadruple delicious if I had used all the oil but this is plenty good for me. With all the substitution I think it end up being about 30-35cal/tbsp.
Not the least calories for dressing but definitely extremely flavorful.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing this Cynthia. Great tips for those looking for a lighter version!