creamy yogurt cumin seed salad dressing
This creamy cumin seed dressing is a game changer in the world of salad.
I know cumin seeds in creamy salad dressing sounds like a strange idea, but you kinda have to trust me on this one.
Actually, you don’t HAVE to trust me. You could ignore me, and never try this dressing.
But that would be a shame.
Because this dressing is obsession worthy. Or at least, I can say that I have been obsessed with it for the last seven months. My sister made it last summer and there was a jar of it kicking around in our fridge at our lake cottage. I drizzled it over our salad and was like rock-em-sock-em-what-the-heck-is-that?!
She told me how to make it, which is head-slappingly-simple, I made it myself like 100 times in a row and I have been obsessed with it since.
I am busting it out for my new salad dressing stream of consciousness that is just possibly about to unfurl here on a weekly basis. Don’t quote me on that, since I am about as fickle as humanly possible. Last week we had a classic Cider Vinegar Salad Dressing for starters.
This dressing is a year round dressing for sure. But I happen to love it right now in winter while all of those awesome bold bitter greens are in season. It is especially fantastic on embarrassingly large portions of finely chopped raw lacinato kale with feta cheese, shaved fennel and black radishes. Seriously this happened for dinner last night, and when I was through serving my portion of salad, there was no room on my plate for anything else. I had a laughably tiny spoonful of tabbouleh on the side. Heaven.
Last Saturday, we also drizzled it on this almost spit roasted Moroccan lamb shoulder my mom made. I die.
What To Serve This Creamy Cumin Dressing On
- Escarole, chickpeas, goat cheese, and shredded carrots
- Use it for a twist on 3-bean salads with blanched green beans, kidney beans and edamame
- Big Taco salads with green lettuce or Romaine, browned ground turkey (or pinto beans) avocado, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, salsa.
- 2 part Romaine and 1 part raddichio with diced apples and walnuts
- Perhaps my favorite idea is best for grilling season: arugula topped with grilled lamb, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers. You could also add mint, pita chips, feta and/or chickpeas.
Let me know which one you try!
How To Make Creamy Yogurt Cumin Seed Dressing
- I call for full fat Greek yogurt in this dressing because I think it has better mouth feel as an ingredient in this tart dressing. EatingWell did a great piece on fat last year that if you missed it totally worth reading. Here’s another post- short and sweet they ran about fat. They sing the praises of full fat yogurt. That said,if you are trying to cut calories, please feel free to try making the dressing with low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt and let me know how it goes.
- I added a few notes below about this, but I will reiterate here too. The garlic is too strong if you just mince it, who wants big palate jarring chunks of garlic in their salad? Not me, so IMO there are two options to get around that. My favorite way to do it, I learned from watching the Rachael Ray show. No joke. Just grate the garlic with a microplane grater. You have one of those by now right? I also call them a rasp-style grater since microplane is a brand name, and I have no favoritism when it comes to these graters. If you don’t have a rasp-style grater, go ahead and order one right now. I’ll wait right here.
- Hi, you’re back. While you wait for it to arrive you can still make the dressing. Just do this: Mince the garlic, sprinkle it with some of the salt, and then mash it with the side of your knife into the cutting board. It will make a smooth garlic salt paste, and will melt seamlessly into the dressing. No big surprising palate jarring chunks of garlic. No sir-ee.
- The other note is this. The cumin seeds are best if they are fresh or better yet toasted a bit in a dry skillet. This really brings out their flavor, and imparts much more cumin essence into the yogurt. It works fine if you don’t do this step, but if you have the time, it makes a difference for sure.
QUESTIONS:
What combination of salad ingredients would you try with this dressing?
Do you have a Microplane grater?
Please make me feel better that I am not the only person who has picked up more than a few great cooking tips from Rachael Ray.
Full fat yogurt- yey or nay?
creamy yogurt cumin seed dressing
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3/4 cup 1x
Description
Creamy yogurt dressing with cumin seed and garlic. A delicious dressing for kale, with lamb or to go on taco salad.
Ingredients
- ½ cup full fat plain greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small clove garlic, finely grated with a rasp-style grater tip*
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, tip*
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pinch sugar, optional
Instructions
- Whisk yogurt, vinegar and oil in a medium bowl. Add garlic, cumin seed, salt and sugar (if using) and whisk to combine.
Notes
0 g Cholesterol, 0 g Added Sugars
Tip * If you do not have a rasp style grater, mince the garlic, then mash with the side of your knife with the salt to form a paste.
tip* take an extra three minutes to toast your cumin seeds for even more flavor. Heat seeds in a small heavy skillet over medium heat,swirling the pan often, until fragrant and starting to darken, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes. It is okay to add to the dressing hot!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad Dressing
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 55
- Sugar: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 11 mg
- Fat: 4.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 2 g
Keywords: Creamy Salad Dressing,Cumin dressing,yogurt dressing
This recipe reminds me of a salad dressing offered on my favorite Indian buffet in town. Simple, not too sweet, kinda like a salted lassi if you know what I mean. I’ll lose the Ranch dressing and opt for this one any day! Made it twice, realizing I was out of cumin seed the second time and used the powder instead. Not as good as the toasting really does add magic and the whole seeds add great texture but powder was good as well.
I know this comes really late but I came across this dressing recipe and it reminded me so much of home. I am from India and yogurt (curd) is a staple in our diet. Roasted cumin with yogurt was something my grandma used to make, specially when we were sick and needed easily digestible food. The vinegar and the garlic are a new twist to this and was great 🙂 Thank you for bringing back some great memories and adding new ingredients to make new ones. Take care.
★★★★★
Hi Katie,
This salad dressing sounds great. I was just wondering what sort of shelf life this dressing would have if left in a sealed jar in the fridge. I have always used my home made dressings immediately, however it would be great to be able to make a jar on the weekend which can be used for my work lunches during the week.
Cheers,
Nick
As a cumin and yogurt fan, I’m sure I’m going to love this dressing. I can imagine it pairing beautifully with roasted potatoes.
Happy Monday! Just letting you know that I featured this recipe in my Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes Round-Up for last month. Hope a lot of my readers will click over here and try it!
Kalyn, I always love your round-ups and I am honored to be included this month. Thank you so much.
I’m always on the lookout for salad dressing recipes.. as salads frequent my dinner rotation most nights. I definitely will be making this recipe!
We eat so much salad too. I never seem to tire of them, but I do like to vary dressings and ingredients a lot. Thanks for visiting today Thalia.
This dressing sounds so delicious!! I love making my own salad dressings so this I will be trying next!
It is an unusual combination, but really wonderful. I hpe you enjoy it Ami.
I have never made my own salad dressing, and I seriously have no idea why. This sounds so good!!
Oh well, you’ll just have to get on that. I am on a dressing kick around here, so hopefully one of these recipes will inspire.