Yogurt Cumin Dressing
by Katie Webster
February 6, 2015 (updated 4/18/23) Jump To Recipe
This creamy yogurt cumin dressing gets plenty of bold flavor from whole toasted cumin seeds and grated fresh garlic. Match it with a kale salad, grilled lamb or eggplant.
Table of contents
Why We Love This Recipe For Yogurt Cumin Dressing
Regardless of the season, I love this creamy cumin salad dressing in a salad with bitter greens like kale, with some briny feta cheese, and perhaps shaved fennel and sliced radishes. It is also a great dressing to dress up steamed broccoli or cauliflower in the Winter, grilled asparagus in the Spring, a tomato salad in the Summer or roasted kabocha squash in the Fall.
Any grilled or roasted lamb like this almost spit-roasted Moroccan lamb shoulder from the New York Times would be a natural with this dressing. I also love it with grilled chicken.
Recipe Highlights
- Only takes 5 minutes to make
- Calls for 5 simple ingredients, not counting salt or sugar.
- You can easily make a bigger batch and use it for multiple meals.
- Just as delicious on a salad as it is on a vegetable side dish or with grilled lamb or chicken.
Key Ingredients For This Cumin Dressing
- Greek Yogurt: I like the body of full-fat Greek yogurt in this dressing. That said, if you’re trying to cut calories, try making the dressing with low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt instead.
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Garlic: I grate the garlic with a microplane grater. You could also use a garlic press if you don’t have a microplane. The idea here is that the raw garlic is a bit more tame and balanced when you prepare it this way rather than mincing it.
- Cumin Seeds: This recipe calls for whole cumin seeds. If you have time, toast them to bring out more flavor and add more cumin essence to the dressing. In a pinch you could replace the cumin seeds with 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin.
- Sugar: Just a pinch of sugar is added to balance the tartness of the yogurt and red wine vinegar. It’s not enough to make it taste sweet and is optional.
How To Make It
Whisk together the yogurt, vinegar and oil in a medium bowl. Add the garlic, cumin seed, salt and sugar (if using) and whisk to combine.
Chef’s Tips:
- To toast the cumin seeds: 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 while they’re still hot.
- To prepare the garlic if you don’t have a microplane or garlic press: 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 that melts seamlessly into the dressing, leaving no big palate-jarring chunks of garlic.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Store this cumin dressing in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Prepare the dressing up to 3 days in advance. Store in a jar in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use.
What To Serve This Creamy Cumin Dressing On
- Escarole, chickpeas, goat cheese, and shredded carrots
- Use it for a twist on 3-bean salad 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 and 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.
More Salad Dressings You’ll Love
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Yogurt Cumin Dressing
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3/4 cup 1x
Description
This creamy yogurt cumin dressing gets plenty of bold flavor from whole toasted cumin seeds and grated fresh garlic. Match it with a kale salad, grilled lamb or eggplant.
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
Storing Instructions: Store this cumin dressing in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
To Toast Cumin Seeds: 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
Katie Webster
Katie Webster studied art and photography at Skidmore College and is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. She has been a professional recipe developer since 2001 when she first started working in the test kitchen at EatingWell magazine. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines including Shape, Fitness, Parents and several Edible Communities publications among others. Her cookbook, Maple {Quirk Books} was published in 2015. She launched Healthy Seasonal Recipes in 2009. She lives in Vermont with her husband, two teenage daughters and two yellow labs. In her free time, you can find her at the gym, cooking, stacking firewood, making maple syrup, and tending to her overgrown perennial garden.
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.