Carrot Ginger Dressing is a simple recipe for a vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and egg-free salad dressing, made with fresh ingredients in only a few minutes.
It's sweet, tangy, and really tasty. Use it on salads, in wraps, as a dip, or to drizzle on most grilled and baked veggies.
Check out our best sauce recipes.
If you are looking for a different, exciting, super healthy, and refreshing condiment for your salads and veggies you are gonna love this carrot ginger dressing.
It's bright, fresh, light, sweet, zesty, and tangy. The combination of ginger and carrot is spot on. And it makes any dish look beautiful thanks to its brilliant orange color.
And the best thing is that as opposed to many other dressings, this one is also incredibly healthy, thanks to the carrots and ginger.
To make it, you just need to throw the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Then taste and adjust acidity and sweetness based on your preferences.
Since carrots and ginger contain quite a bit of fiber, it's best to make this recipe in a high-speed or power blender. With a Vitamix for instance, it turns out silky smooth! We think it's going to become one of your favorite homemade dressings.
The dressing is so tasty that you might end up just drinking it out of the blender jar. It's kind of like a sweet, savory, and zesty smoothie-like condiment to drizzle onto your favorite meals.
This recipe is Japanese-inspired, and if you've ever been to a Japanese restaurant in the US you might be familiar with those flavors. Let's see how it's made!
Ingredients
Carrots: the main ingredient. They add sweetness and color when blended.
Ginger: peeled fresh ginger is recommended. It adds a tangy, zesty taste to the dressing.
Lemon juice: you can make this carrot ginger salad dressing with lemon juice or orange juice. The lemon juice makes a fresher, brighter dressing. The orange juice makes it sweeter. You can replace lemon juice with rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar for a bolder, more acidic flavor.
Oil: extra virgin olive oil makes the dressing rich. If you like a more neutral flavor you can substitute a more neutral oil like regular olive oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, or canola oil, for the extra virgin olive oil.
In addition to the olive oil, you could add a teaspoon of sesame oil if you'd like to give the dressing a Japanese spin. We like to add sesame oil if we are serving this dressing with Asian-inspired dishes, such as a side salad for a vegan sushi dinner. We leave the sesame oil out if we are serving this condiment with western-inspired dishes, such as simple grilled veggies or as a dip for air-fried vegetables.
Water: to help the blender turn the carrots into a smooth sauce. Add more water if you'd like your dressing more liquid.
Maple syrup: to add a little sweetness. Agave syrup or brown sugar are also good here. We use those instead of honey to keep the dressing vegan.
Salt: to bring all flavors together. Sea salt and kosher salt are best. You can also add a touch of black pepper if you like, but that's optional.
Other ingredients: in some carrot ginger dressing recipes you might find onion, soy sauce, and white miso in the ingredients list. After some testing, we decided to leave those ingredients out so that you can use this condiment more widely.
Instructions
Note: carrots and ginger are rich in fiber. We recommend using a high-speed blender to have a smooth, silky dressing. A food processor or an immersion blender won't produce the same smooth result.
Wash, peel, and chop the carrots. Then to a blender, add carrots, olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice without the seeds, water, peeled and chopped up ginger, maple syrup, salt, and optionally the sesame oil.
Blend at high speed for about 2 minutes, or until the dressing is completely smooth.
Taste the dressing and adjust for salt, maple syrup, or lemon juice. Add more water if you want a more liquid dressing.
Pour from the blender into a bowl and serve with your favorite veggies.
Serving suggestions
As a salad dressing
This condiment was born as a salad dressing. For example, try it on a simple salad with iceberg lettuce, arugula, spinach, cherry tomatoes, and finely chopped red cabbage. We sprinkled some sesame seeds on top as garnish. You can also drizzle it on:
- Easy tofu salad and replace tahini dressing with ginger carrot sauce
- Red cabbage salad for a rainbow-colored salad serving
- Quinoa chickpea salad with fresh and crispy vegetables
- 20-min chickpea salad as an easy lunch idea
On grilled vegetables
We love this on grilled vegetables because as I mentioned before, the smokey, slightly bitter flavor of the charred vegetable pairs well with the sweet, tangy flavor of the carrot ginger dressing.
It's so good that you can either drizzle it on top of the grilled veggies or use it as a dip. As you can see in the picture, we tried it on grilled beets and it was incredible.
We grilled pre-steamed beets, arranged them on some fresh arugula, then added toasted pine nuts, fresh thyme, some salt and pepper, sesame seeds, and plenty of carrot ginger dressing on top. Best side dish ever!
If you want something even tastier, make a salad with grilled vegetables, such as:
- Grilled zucchini and grilled cherry tomatoes
- Crispy grilled asparagus
- Tender grilled eggplant
The smokey and slightly bitter charring on the veggies is the perfect match to the sweet, tangy flavor of the dressing. This is a must-try combination.
Make it a meal
Pair the dressing with your choice of protein and turn your side or salad dish into a complete meal, for example:
- Tofu (try grilled tofu, air-fried tofu, marinated tofu, or fried tofu)
- Toss in some legumes such as beans, chickpeas, and lentils.
You can also add healthy carbohydrates with grains or pseudo-grains like:
- Couscous, rice, barley, quinoa, millet, and buckwheat to turn the salad into a grain bowl. Here's an idea for a nutritious vegan barley salad.
As a dip with raw veggies
Portion the dressing in smaller bowls, then serve as a dip for an appetizer with crunchy veggies.
Try it with red cabbage, fennel, celery, red pepper, and even carrots. It's a great way to make kids and picky adults eat more fresh veggies because this thing just makes anything taste delicious.
More Sauce Recipes
If you like this carrot ginger dressing, you might also enjoy these sauces:
- Vegan basil pesto: ultra-creamy and indulgent
- Easy mustard dressing: easy and a perfect pairing with salads
- Tahini dressing: fits with pasta salad and fresh veggies
- Chili oil dressing: infuses soups, salads, and pasta
- Cilantro lime dressing: a refreshing and vibrant green dressing
- Italian salsa verde: perfect with those grilled veggies
- Green goddess dressing: creamy, herby, and bring bold flavor to most veggies
Storage
Transfer the carrot ginger dressing to a jar (or other airtight containers) and store it in the refrigerator. We find that it's best to consume within one week. Stir well before use. This dressing is not freezer friendly.
Since this is a very quick recipe made with fresh ingredients we recommend making a fresh batch every time you need this, rather than storing the dressing for more than a week.
For more condiment ideas, check out our dressing and sauces category page.
Recipe
Carrot Ginger Dressing
Equipment
- Blender best if high-speed
Ingredients
- 2 medium carrots
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup water
- ½ inch ginger peeled
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (optional)
Instructions
- To a blender, add peeled and chopped carrots, olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice without the seeds, water, peeled and chopped up ginger, maple syrup, salt, and optionally the sesame oil.
- Blend at high speed for about 2 minutes, or until the dressing is completely smooth. Taste the dressing and adjust for salt, maple syrup, or lemon juice. Add more water if you want a more liquid dressing.
- Serve over salads, grilled veggies, or tofu. Check out our serving suggestions chapter for more ideas. Store in airtight container like a mason jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. Stir before use.
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Michelle Lepore
Delicious! I use a bit of sesame oil and replaced the ginger with some cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg and clove (as I have a food sensitivity to ginger). We put it over veggies. Will be on our regular list of "go to" sauces!
Louise
Fantastic, Michelle!
I love the cinnamon and nutmeg addition, it sounds like a great match for veggies 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Kindest,
Louise