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carrot ginger dressing

Name: Carrot Ginger Dressing
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients: 1 cup shredded peeled carrot; ½ cup peanut oil, preferably roasted; 3 tablespoons white vinegar; 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, dark or amber or agave nectar; 2 teaspoons miso paste *see ingredient note; 1 ½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger root; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon white pepper

Jump To Recipe March 11, 2016 by Katie // 50 Comments »

This carrot ginger dressing tastes just like the dressing you’re served at a Japanese restaurant. Bonus: it tastes less than 10 minutes to make!

Creating This Carrot Ginger Dressing Recipe

If you’ve ever gotten salad at a Japanese restaurant, especially hibachi restaurants, then you’ll know what I mean when I talk about the orange-colored Japanese ginger dressing that comes on the little pile of (often crappy) lettuce. A lot of people call it Benihana dressing, I’m guessing because Benihana is the restaurant that made it famous. Duh.

No matter the origin, as a salad dressing snob, I marvel at the fact that the Japanese ginger dressing is so lean but so flavorful. That it can turn iceberg lettuce into a worthwhile experience, a feat previously reserved for the culinary muscle of blue cheese and bacon. Or, if you hang with me, creamy curry dressing. But I digress.

I’ve always loved that orange-colored ginger dressing. And in my mind it has always been made with carrots. Like, never a question in my mind. I don’t know why I’ve assumed that. So after I made this carrot ginger dressing recipe and photographed it, I decided to google the real Benihana recipe to see how far I was off from the real McCoy. And I have to say that I have been wronger in my life. But not by much.

I’m not even close. All of the Japanese ginger dressing recipes I could find had onions, celery and tomato paste or some combination thereof. None of the sources I found had carrots. Not one. In my defense, I couldn’t find the actual certified Benihana dressing recipe. So maybe they are wrong and I am right? Who knows.

But I do know one thing, one solitary thing about which I am not wrong. This carrot ginger dressing is spectacular. Like, I wanted to drink it with a straw. Like, so good it would turn cardboard into a delightful meal.

Am I making my point?

So Benihana it is not. (Or maybe it is.) But I know you will never be more excited about my mistake.

How to Make Carrot Ginger Dressing

When making homemade salad dressing, I like to keep things as simple as possible. To make this Japanese carrot ginger dressing, I blended shredded carrots, peanut oil, white vinegar, maple syrup, miso paste, freshly grated ginger, salt and pepper on high until smooth (it’ll take about 30 seconds). If you don’t have miso paste, feel free to substitute 1 tablespoon of reduced sodium soy sauce or wheat-free tamari, and add a pinch of salt to taste.

To store this Japanese ginger dressing, keep it in the fridge in a tightly sealed container. It should keep for up to a week and tastes delicious mixed into a variety of salads. I’d recommend setting this dressing on your countertop 10-15 minutes before you plan on using it, as the oil and vinegar have a tendency to separate a bit in the fridge.

Questions:

Do you ever eat iceberg lettuce?

Have you been to a Benihana restaurant?

Do you think the real Benihana dressing has tomato paste and celery?

More Easy Salad Dressing Recipes:

Maple Sherry Vinaigrette

Lemon Juice Salad Dressing

Cranberry Vinaigrette

Light and Creamy Italian Dressing

Maple Tahini Dressing

Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing

Don’t miss this Ultimate Guide to Carrots!