Asian Sesame Salad Dressing
Our simple Asian Sesame Salad Dressing is made with toasted sesame oil, soy, vinegar, garlic and a little sweet touch from maple syrup. It is savory and goes with a variety of salads and vegetables.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Simple Sesame Dressing Recipe
We love our salad dressings around here! From classics like Red Wine Vinaigrette to low calorie dressings like Greek Yogurt Ranch, we have covered several dozen different kinds of homemade salad dressing recipes to jazz up your salad bowl. This easy Asian-inspired salad dressing is one of our all time favorites though!
It is made with simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry right this minute! So what’s stopping you from making this delicious Asian sesame dressing for tonight’s salad?
More Sesame Recipes To Try
Sesame Vinaigrette Ingredients
The key ingredients you’ll need for this homemade salad dressing are:
- Orange juice — If possible, squeeze the orange juice from an actual orange for the best flavor. Adding this to the base of the dressing allows it to be much lower in calories!
- Toasted sesame oil — Toasted sesame oil really delivers a punch of sesame flavor. The flavor is incredibly unique and pairs well with a variety of salads.
- Soy Sayce or Tamari sauce– To season the dressing and give it delicious soy flavor
- White vinegar — The vinegar works with the orange juice to add acidity to this Asian sesame dressing.
- Pure maple syrup, dark or amber — Maple syrup adds a rich sweetness to this dressing. You don’t need much of it though, only 2 tablespoons!
- 1 small clove garlic — Don’t worry about crunching down on a chunk of raw garlic; this sesame dressing gets pureed before it’s served.
How To Make It
Combine orange juice, canola oil (or peanut oil), sesame oil, tamari, vinegar, maple syrup and garlic in a blender or mini prep. Alternatively use an immersion blender in blending jar.
Puree until completely combined and smooth. Stir in sesame seeds. Alternatively you can make this in a jar, and shake well to combine, just make sure to finely mince the garlic first.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Keep this dressing refrigerated in a sealed container or jar up to one week. Shake well to combine before serving.
If you use wheat free tamari it is gluten-free
Serving Suggestions
And we haven’t touched on all the creative ways you can use it.
- It is amazing on mixed Asian greens like we have it today (try it on a Mizuna Salad)
- Drizzle it on roasted veggies. Try our Roasted Asparagus with this Sesame dressing for starters.
- You can also use it to lightly dress noodles or zoodles!
- Buddha bowls are so good with this sesame vinaigrette
- Seasn brown rice and steamed veggies for an instantly flavorful but low calorie dinner
- It can even double as a quick marinade for beef, pork, tofu or veggies!
More Homemade Salad Dressings
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
PrintAsian Sesame Salad Dressing
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/3 cup 1x
Description
Our simple Asian Sesame Salad Dressing is made with toasted sesame oil, soy, vinegar, garlic and a little sweet touch from maple syrup. It is savory and goes with a variety of salads and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup orange juice, preferably freshly squeezed
- 3 tablespoons organic canola oil or peanut oil
- 3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons reduced sodium tamari sauce
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- Combine orange juice, canola oil (or peanut oil), sesame oil, tamari, vinegar, maple syrup and garlic in a blender or mini prep. Puree until completely combined and smooth. (Alternatively use an immersion blender in blending jar.) Stir in sesame seeds.
Notes
Keep this dressing refrigerated in a sealed container or jar up to one week. Shake well to combine before serving.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Salads
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: Asian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 48
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 102 mg
- Fat: 4 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 2 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
Absolutely lovely! I substituted a tablespoon of peanut butter instead of peanut oil which I didn’t have – perfect over shredded carrots, red onion, white cabbage and chopped coriander salad. So thank you!
This sesame dressing looks fabulous! And gorgeous photos too!
I recently bought a salad kit that had an Asian flare and include an dressing similar to this. It was okay, but this recipe would just take it over the top!
Hi Katie,
Love your photos!!
How do you get a yield of 1 1/3 cups using the measurements listed in the sesame dressing? Are you sure you didn’t double the recipe?
Thanks so much Liza. I am sure I didn’t double the recipe. I make this dressing pretty regularly as it is one of my favorites. Next time I do I will make sure to double check the yield. I know that adding up these ingredients you get 9.25 fl ounces plus there will be air incorporated in the blending process, which should make the 1 1/3 cup yield right about accurate.
I can almost taste your sesame dressing, just from the ingredients list. We’ve been experimenting with eliminating the oil in dressings altogether lately, but I think I’ll have to try this first just as you prescribe.
Thanks for the photography lesson. I’ll answer your questions as best I can.
Have you seen the movie Jaws? Nope. Never did.
Do you prefer when the details are left to the imagination? Depends.
Have you tried 3/4-back lighting? Never heard of it until now, but will try to understand it and begin employing it in my photographs.
Do you block light from the background of your set? Tried without success, but I hadn’t thought of using black foam core. Terrific idea! Thank you.
Do you like a short depth of field? I’m not sure what that means, being a totally amateur photographer with nothing but an ancient iPhone (in iPhone terms), but I’ll learn more about it because your photos are wonderful.
Yay glad you’re trying it this way because I think the oils are the best in this dressing. If you can find roasted peanut oil it is marvelous in this recipe. Plus according to EatingWell, the oils in dressing make it possible to absorb certain nutrients (like lycopene) in the salad. Glad these photo tips help, though an ancient iphone can be tricky no matter what you try to do. Keep rocking it! Glad you stopped by Kathryn. Have a great day.
Thanks for the info . I too, deal with seasonal allergies. I’ve also learned that allergy pills are not the way to go. They’re very expensive and not good for the body at all. Natural foods, as you’ve listed above, are very much the way to go.
Great post! I love the tip about blocking light from the background and scooting the background farther back. I’m definitely going to try it!
The dressing sounds great, too 🙂
THANK YOU as always for your helpful info with photography- I love all your previous resources and this is perfect! Love the sesame dressing too- I love adding it to cold noodle salads!
I am all about short depth of field! I have a 50mm f/1.2, which was a huuuge splurge but I love it so much. I also happen to love the movie Jaws, haha. I was actually looking for dressing ideas, and this sesame dressing- along with all the other ones you included- sound perfect for all my salads! Yum!
So yummy! I love sesame anything!
Food photography…o boy…..the lighting is my problem. Thank god I photographed all my recipes this year, over the summer! In my dorm there is no light…none!
Thanks Katie for the informative behind the scenes look at using a macro lens. As a newbie photographer, I need all the understanding I can get — have cooked and taught cooking for years, and I have to admit I have been a bit impatient with learning food photography! It’s like learning a new language- practice, practice, practice and memorization! And the dressing is something I would make to!
I don’t know what I love more, this dressing, or the BTS shot!! I love when bloggers show how they work, such a great pic! and this dressing looks like it’d be delish on anything, can’t wait to recreate it 🙂
Thank you so much my friend. Glad you like the BTS shot. I love them too when people share them. 🙂
Amazing dressing Katie. I really dig the flavor combo of orange juice, tamari, and sesame oil. Perfection!
Thanks so much Mike. It is hard to go wrong with a classic combo like that! Glad you popped over for a visit.
I absolutely love the pour shot – it’s just beautiful. Thanks for the info about your 100mm lens — I’ve been thinking about using one because one of my favorite food photography books recommends backing up and zooming in. I love the photo of you cranberry vinaigrette too – so pretty and understated.
Thank you so much Elizabeth. Absolutely back up and zoom in is such great practical advice. Even with an iphone it helps with the parallax.
That is so funny you said that about the cranberry vin. I really didn’t think much of those shots when I took them, but they have grown on me.
This dressing looks fantastic! There’s this one bottled sesame dressing that I love, but I’ve just never been able to create a good homemade version. Can’t wait to try this out.
Also thanks for the photography tips – I love the idea to block out some of the background light with the black foam board placed there. I got a 50 mm lens for Christmas and I love it compared to the one my camera came with, but lately I’ve realized it’s limitations. I think some sort of macro lens is on my wishlist next!
I have a 50 mm too, and it is helpful to use for overheads, but I really love the way the 100 changes the relationship between the subject and the background. If you have a good camera shop in your area, try renting one for a weekend before you buy.
That’s such a good idea – I never thought to ask about renting a lens. Thanks for the tip Katie!