Here’s an easy, delicious Miso Dressing recipe you’ll want to use repeatedly throughout the week! Made with ginger, garlic, miso paste, and sesame oil, use it to drizzle on salads, buddha bowls, or veggies. Vegan.
Why you’ll love this Miso Dressing!
This miso dressing recipe originates from our vegetarian restaurant. It is deliciously balanced and pairs well with many things! Miso paste and toasted sesame oil provide the backbone of flavor, creating a deep umami base, while ginger, garlic, and rice vinegar add brightness and punchy, tangy flavor. Maple syrup (or honey) rounds out the flavors, adding a hint of sweetness- the perfect balance!
It’s featured on our Miso Mushroom Bowls, and our Crunchy Asian Slaw, but lately, we often make double batches of it to spoon over warm roasted eggplant, or grilled zucchini- so simple and tasty!
It’s a lovely dressing to make ahead, for busy workweeks because you’ll find a myriad of uses for it during the week, whether it be lunch or dinner.
Why make homemade Salad Dressing?
All too often, store-bought dressings are made with low-quality, seed oils (canola, soy oil, sunflower, corn, grapeseed, rice bran, or safflower) because these are much less expensive to produce than high-quality olive oil.
The process by which these oils are made (heated to very high temps, then treated with chemicals to remove bad smells and dark color) is what appears harmful to the body. Consuming too much of these seed oils can create inflammation in the body. Store-bought salad dressing- even seemingly “good” brands that tout "organic" and "non-GMO" are guilty of including these less expensive, low-quality seed oils. Always check the labels. For more info on seed oils - read this and scroll all the way to the bottom.
The thought of people taking the time to create a beautiful, nourishing salad, then dousing it with seed oils makes me shudder! So please friends, check the labels or make your own.
Miso Dressing Ingredients
- Extra Virgin Olive oil
- Sesame oil
- Rice wine vinegar- you can use seasoned or unseasoned- either work.
- Maple syrup or honey
- Miso paste – white miso paste, yellow miso, red miso paste or even gluten-free chickpea miso will work here.
- Soy sauce or gluten-free Braggs Liquid Aminos
- Fresh Garlic clove and fresh ginger- fresh is best!
- Salt, black pepper and cayenne
- Optional- sesame seeds
What exactly is Miso?
Miso is a Japanese condiment made from soybeans fermented with salt, grains (usually rice or barley), and koji, a type of fungus. It tastes savory, earthy, and umami-flavored, adding depth to soups, sauces, dressings, and marinades. Different types of miso vary in flavor. Miso is considered healthy because of its beneficial probiotics and immune-boosting properties-read more about it here!
How to make Miso Dressing
Simply place the Miso dressing ingredients in a mini blender and blend until silky smooth. How easy is that?
Variations
If you don’t have a blender, grate the garlic and ginger (or use a paste) and whisk everything in a small bowl. You can also use a food processor or immersion blender.
Make it creamier! To create a little extra creaminess or thicker dressing, add a few teaspoons of tahini paste, peanut butter or almond butter.
Storing Miso Salad Dressing
Store the Miso Dressing in an air-tight mason jar in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.
How to use Miso Dressing
- Drizzle over Buddha Bowls or grain bowls.
- Toss with shredded cabbage or cucumbers.
- Toss with noodles or make a noodle salad
- Toss with greens or slaws.
- Drizzle over veggies: edamame, broccoli, carrots, eggplant, zucchini, or mushrooms
- Drizzle it over tofu, shrimp or chicken
More Favorite Dressings
- Sesame Ginger Dressing
- Basil Vinaigrette
- 25 Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes!
- Avocado Dressing
- Creamy Cashew Basil Dressing
- Mustard Seed Maple Dressing
- Spirulina Dressing
- Creamy Herby Hemp Dressing
- Lemony Leek Dressing
- Creamy Pesto Dressing
- French Dressing
The Best Miso Salad Dressing
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: dressing
- Method: blended
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
What you’ll love about this miso salad dressing, is how perfectly balanced the flavors are! Easy to make, simple ingredeints, it keeps for a week!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons miso paste
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 small garlic clove
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- pinch cayenne
Instructions
Place all ingredients in the blender, and blend until silky smooth.
Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for 7 days.
Notes
If you are intent on lowering the maple syrup– I would suggest lowering the vinegar as well, perhaps in equal portions. You’ll have to adjust it to taste.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
- Calories: 80
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 158.4 mg
- Fat: 6.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
There are numerous different types of miso available. Is there a particular one you recommend for this recipe?
White miso paste is usually what we use, but yellow miso, red miso paste or even gluten-free chickpea miso will work. The darker the miso the more the flavor intensifies.
I made this with the mushroom bowl recipe and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for this amazing recipe.
Happy to hear this!
This sauce/dressing is absolutely wonderful!! I was skeptical at first, but will definitely have this in the fridge regularly. Thank you for your wonderful recipes.
Glad you gave it a try Lou!
We had a salad dressing that tasted like this at a local Japanese restaurant, and have been trying to recreate it for years when we ran across this Miso dressing recipe. Eureka, this is it!
Yay! Happy you enjoyed. 🙂