Miso Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing
This creamy Miso Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing pairs perfectly with any hearty salad. Easy to make with tangy, sweet, and umami filled notes.
Not sure about you, but I am a big fan of creamy dressings. Make them tangy with a hint of sweet and lots of flavor and I will gladly pour it over all the greens.
My ideal dressing typically has creamy tahini as it’s base. When mixed with a little lemon juice and other ingredients, you get the perfect pourable consistency that’s great for nourish bowls and even this Chopped Kale Salad. And if you’ve never had tahini dressing, I’ll share some of my favorite tips so you can enjoy it too.
More About Tahini
If you’ve ever had hummus before it’s listed as a significant ingredient. Tahini is a seed butter made from ground toasted sesame seeds. It’s blended until it’s perfectly smooth. But don’t just grab any old tahini from the shelf. To experience tahini at it’s best you want the good quality stuff. It should be nutty in flavor and very creamy. So, you’ll know if you have a bad tahini because it will have a bitter flavor and be slightly dry and chalky.
Nutrition Benefits of Tahini
So why even consider incorporating tahini? It’s rich in plant based fats, fiber, protein and minerals like copper and selenium. Copper helps to better absorb iron and selenium is a powerful antioxidant that may help with reducing chronic disease risk by reducing inflammation. Because it’s rich in plant based fats, adding a little bit to a meal can help improve your satisfaction with a meal.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Tahini: We want a nice smooth and creamy tahini for this recipe. My go to brand is Soom Foods, but I have also had success with Whole Food’s 365 brand as well.
- Lemon Juice: Provides a lovely tang for our dressing. You can substitute this out for some apple cider vinegar.
- Miso Paste: Gives us the umami flavor in this dressing. I recommend using a mild yellow or white miso for this recipe.
- Tamari: Another umami boosting ingredient. If you are gluten sensitive opt for a gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos.
- Mustard: Provides a little bit more sharpness to the dressing that combines well with the garlic and ginger.
- Maple Syrup: Balances out the salty and tangy ingredients to help bring everything together.
How to Make This Dressing
This dressing takes about 10 minutes to make and requires one small bowl. Start by making sure your garlic is finely minced. It might help to use a garlic press to help spread the flavors out better or you can make sure to mince and lightly smash your garlic with your knife.
Now add your tahini, lemon juice, tamari, maple syrup, garlic, ginger, and mustard. With a whisk or fork, mix the ingredients super well until you have no chunky bits left. Then, slowly pour in your water 1 tablespoon at a time until your dressing is nice, creamy and easy to pour.
Based on your palate, you may want to alter the taste a bit. If too tangy, balance out with a little more maple syrup. Maybe it’s too flat? Add a little more mustard or ginger with a pinch of salt to bring out some of the sharp flavors.
Tips for the Perfect Creamy Dressing
- To avoid large lumps in your dressing, concentrate on mashing your miso well while whisking. Continue to whisk until you see no visible clumps.
- Mix in your water slowly. I like to pour in small amounts at a time while mixing. This will ensure that you don’t end up adding too much, which will make the dressing too thin.
- Use a good quality tahini for the dressing. Not only will it impact the taste of your dressing, but good quality tahini products tend to also be more smooth and creamy.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are using a poor quality tahini that tastes really bitter, focus on readjusting the flavors. Bitter notes can often times be muted with a little pinch of salt and/or some additional sweet, in our case the maple syrup. Make small adjustments at a time and continue tasting it until you achieve your desired flavor.
Pouring in cold water helps to make your dressing more fluffy when it is whisked together.
More Dressing Recipes to Try
- Cashew Mustard Dressing
- Creamy Ginger Sriracha Dressing
- Sesame Cashew Lime Dressing
- Ginger Green Goddess Dressing
Miso Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings (1 tbsp each) 1x
- Category: Dressings
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This creamy Miso Ginger Tahini Salad Dressing pairs perfectly with any hearty salad. Easy to make with tangy, sweet, and umami filled notes.
Ingredients
Instructions
- To a small bowl, add in your tahini, lemon juice, tamari, miso, maple syrup, garlic, ginger and mustard.
- Now whisk to combine until a thick consistency is achieved, then slowly pour in your water one tablespoon at a time while whisking until you reach your desired creamy salad dressing consistency.
- Adjust the flavor of your dressing to your preference by adjusting the tang with more lemon juice or mustard, the sweetness with more maple syrup or a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Pour your dressing over your favorite salads and store remaining dressing in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Notes
To avoid large lumps in your dressing, concentrate on mashing your miso well when whisking. Continue to whisk it until you see no visible clumps.
Mix in your water slowly. I like to pour in small amounts at a time while mixing, so that I don’t end up adding too much, which will make the dressing too thin.
Use a good quality tahini for the dressing. Not only will it impact the taste of your dressing, but good quality tahini products tend to also be more smooth and creamy.
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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10⭐️ from me on this one. So good!
Very delicious dressing (we used it for your gorgeous recipe “Chopped kale salad with pan seared herb tofu”.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
Greetings from Savitri and twin daughters from The Netherlands
Where can I purchase a small amount of miso paste?
Hi Theresa! So sorry I missed your question. Normally, you can find smaller amounts of miso paste in places like an Asian grocery store. I do know that regular grocery stores often carry small containers of miso in their produce section next to the tofu. Usually these are the 8 oz containers, so you don’t have to have a large container of it in your fridge (usually this is for the brand Miso Master). Hope that helps.
All I can say is WOW. Thankyou for sharing this recipe.
Awww so glad to hear! Thank you for making it. 🙂