Carrot-Ginger Dressing

It’s summer-time and that means lots of salads in my house.  I love summer salads because they’re just so easy to whip up, they’re healthy for the most part (unless you slather them with too much dressing) and they pair with just about anything.  The best part is that there’s no cooking involved, which is the perfect thing on a hot summer night.  I try to make my salad dressings from scratch when I can because homemade dressings are full of fresh ingredients, and I love that you have control over what’s going into your dressing.  With dressings you can add a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and come out with something that makes your greens or veggies taste phenomenal.  I love pairing a salad with our favorite summer pasta and some french bread, or keeping it simple and just adding some roasted chicken to the top.  Summer-time is about simple, light and refreshing meals.

This dressing is a tiny bit sweet, but has a bit of a spicy kick to it from the ginger, and it’s vegan to boot!  It’s a wonderful dressing to toss in with some mixed greens, but also works well as well as a dip for fresh-cut veggies like sliced avocado, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower or sliced heirloom tomatoes (yum!). This dressing keeps well in a jar for up to a week, so you can make a batch of dressing and have a fresh salad every night of that week.

carrot-ginger dressing:

recipe from It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel GreatIt’s All Good
makes 2 1/2 cups – feel free to cut the below dressing in half

• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped – If you’re not a HUGE fan of ginger, then you can cut this back a bit, and add it in more to taste
• 2 tablespoons chickpea miso or sweet white miso paste – I’ve used both, and it’s great either way
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil – I used EVO
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Let’s first prep the ingredients.  Peel and chop up your carrots, shallots and ginger.  To peel your ginger, just use the back of a spoon.

Here’s a photo of the miso I like to use. It’s soy-free for those of you that can’t process soy, and it’s a mild tasting miso, which is kid-friendly.  I use this miso for my miso kale salad with miso roasted tofu, cold soba noodles with miso tofu, as well as for my vegetarian banh mi sandwiches.

 Once all of you ingredients are measured out and chopped up, put them together into a powerful blender.

Process until smooth.

Pour the dressing into a jar with a lid, and refrigerate for up to one week.

Note: The dressing will thicken up, so make sure to give it a good whisk before using. 

Toss the dressing in with your favorite salad greens.  

Use it as a dip for your favorite vegetables. I love it topped on avocado and heirloom tomatoes.

If you love homemade dressings, then check out my other salad dressings.