If you need a go-to dressing that’s weeknight fast, you’re in the right place. Sweet and creamy with a kick of fresh ginger, this Asian-inspired vegan salad dressing comes together in 5 minutes flat.
Delicious drizzled over a simple salad of spring greens and grated carrot, this ginger dressing is also the perfect accompaniment to my Tropical Chopped Salad, which I’ll be posting shortly. Better still, any leftover dressing stored overnight in the fridge thickens into the perfect dip for—drum roll, please—jicama sticks! (Or you can just whisk in a little extra pineapple juice to return it to dressing consistency.)
This dressing’s speedy secret? Ginger paste. You can find it in the refrigerated produce section of many grocery stores, and it delivers all the zip and zing of fresh ginger—minus the peeling and chopping. (I use the Gourmet Garden brand.) Because while I love fresh ginger, those squirrelly roots seem to be composed entirely of nooks and crannies designed to maximize the likelihood of peeling the skin off your finger.
If you can’t find ginger paste, save time by [carefully] peeling and chopping ginger in bulk, then freezing in recipe-friendly 1-tablespoon portions.
5-Minute Sweet Ginger Salad Dressing (Vegan, Oil-Free)
This tasty dressing was inspired by the sauce for the “Thai ‘Peanut’ Sauce Vegetables” in Kris Carr’s fabulous book, Crazy Sexy Diet. For a low-fat, highly addictive pineapple-lime version, see note at the bottom of the recipe.
5-Minute Sweet Ginger Salad Dressing (Vegan, Oil-Free)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¾ c pineapple or apple juice (plus more to thin as needed)
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ c almond butter
- 2 Tbsp raisins
- 1 Tbsp ginger paste or fresh chopped ginger
- 1 clove garlic chopped
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. You can also use an immersion (stick) blender, but the dressing won't be quite as smooth. Add a little extra juice, if needed, to thin to desired consistency.
Notes
Nutrition
Shared on Gluten-Free Wednesdays, one of the hippest blog hops around!
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I'm Lee, an RD thriving on a healthy plant based diet.
Oooh this sounds light & refreshing! I'll have to track down some ginger paste – we generally just mince the raw stuff, but this sounds pretty good! I look forward to the tropical chopped salad recipe =)
Hi Kimmy, no need to track down the paste; you can use an equal amount of fresh chopped ginger. (I've done it with paste and with fresh, and both work out great!) I also discovered that this dressing is really good massaged into raw kale. (For breakfast, no less!)
Try grating with a fine grater, it’s much easier than chopping if you don’t like bits of ginger try grating into cheese cloth then squeezing out the juice that’s my favorite way to use ginger
Great tip on using a fine grater to get a ginger paste!
YUM! This dressing looks absolutely delicious. Ginger is one of my very favorite things! I just made some hummus in the vitamix with white beans and lots of fresh ginger.
Hi Corinne! I never thought of fresh ginger in hummus, but it sounds really fresh and tasty. I'll have to try it! I've also never used my new (woohoo!) Vitamix for hummus. Does it come out extra creamy? And do you use a specific setting?
Congrats on your new vitamix– it's the best investment ever! Hummus definitely comes out much creamier than in the regular food processor. No specific setting, just crank it up slowly and use the tamper/plunger. I heard a secret is to peel the skin off the chickpeas first (at least off of as many as you can– it's a time consumer) for extra smoothness. I just tried this for the first
Hi Corinne, thanks for the tip! I'll try it out soon and report back. (Nothing helps me eat more veggies than having some good dip in the house…)
Mmmmm, that sounds really good. And I love your tip for freezing ginger in 1 T. portions. Love time-saving tips!! And ginger paste? Never tried it, but I'll have to look for it and give it a shot. Thanks, Lee!
Hi Heather, I took to freezing ginger because I so abhor peeling and chopping it that I like to minimize how often I have to do it. I'm not the most coordinated person, so the peeling especially rarely ends well…;-) <br /><br />Then I found out about ginger paste over at Pragati's blog, Rugrat Chow, and was thrilled! No more chopping! Only my Giant doesn't reliably carry it. So when
If you flip the knife and use the back (side opposite the blade) it takes the skin off without cutting into the ginger
Great tip, thanks Dee!
Update: Jeff and I have made this dressing at least a zillion times now, and occasionally–I think depending on how tightly the raisins are packed–it can come out a bit thick. So I've updated the recipe directions to reflect this. Hope it helps! <br /><br />Incidentally, it's also the raisins that cause the dressing to thicken overnight in the fridge. (We accidentally left them out one
I'm guessing it's because the raisin is a dried fruit. So as it absorbs the liquid, it thickens the dressing? BTW, thank you so much for this recipe. It's exactly what I need to help me make my kale more adventurous!!!