This creamy dairy-free dressing has rich undertones from surprising ingredients that make it perfect for dressing salads during the cold winter months.
Lately I’ve been craving big green salads and I’ve been almost obsessed with making this dressing to go over it!
The backstory to this dressing was a beautiful bottle of salad dressing my in-laws gave me from a restaurant up in Canada. My husband and I liked it so much that we were very sad when the bottle was used up. I wanted to create something similar in taste, but their dressing had a long list of ingredients, so I wanted something simpler to make at home. I honed it on two of the ingredients – tahini paste (ground sesame seeds) and tamari (gluten-free soy sauce). It sounds like such a strange addition to salad dressing, and a strange combination too, but it works so well!
When combined with olive oil and vinegar, the tahini adds depth of flavor, richness, and creaminess to the dressing. The tamari adds a more complex saltiness than just salt alone, and a deep satisfying flavor.
These two ingredients appear to be the secret to dressing we enjoyed from Canada, as it does taste very similar, despite being so much simpler.
A word on ingredients:
- This is a good Organic Tamari brand.
- Don’t use toasted tahini paste. I’ve been using a wonderful organic tahini paste from Trader Jo’s. This Organic Sesame Paste looks similar. In the past, some tahini brands have been hard to deal with because the paste had gotten very hard, making it difficult to work with, but this brand and Trader Jo’s shouldn’t be a problem.
- I prefer raw apple cider vinegar. If you need a substitute, I’d try fresh lemon juice.
I make this in a wide mouth mason jar with a wide mouth plastic mason jar lid (nonreactive lid).
For another dairy-free yet creamy salad dressing, see this other favorite salad dressing that pairs balsamic vinegar and coconut milk. Also, check out my cookbook, Fresh: Nourishing Salads for all Seasons for practical, beautiful salads.
Creamy Winter House Dressing
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons tahini paste
- 1 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce, if not gluten-free)
- ¼ cup of raw apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
In a quart-sized mason jar (or container of choice), use a fork to combine the tahini paste and tamari, until smooth. Add the vinegar, and stir until smooth. Add the olive oil and stir again until combined. Put on the lid to the jar, tightly, and then shake to completely combine.
Serve right away, or keep refrigerated. Let the dressing sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, and then shake to recombine ingredients, if refrigerated. (I keep my dressing in the door so that it won’t harden quite as much as when I put it in the back of my fridge).
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When you choose the option to download as a pdf, there is no link or indication where the recipe came from. I am able to add information to a pdf but that isn’t so common. I suggest adding a link to your recipe to the pdfs.
Good suggestion! I’ll add it when I get the chance. Thank you!
Could I use coconut aminos instead of tamari? Thanks!
I don’t see why not. 🙂 You may need to add salt to the dressing, though. It won’t be exactly the same since it’s a lot sweeter. But I think it could work.
I’m salivating. And so wishing we had tahini in the house!
Could liquid Amazon be used instead of tamari? The sodium content is so high on the Eden brand.
This is looking great! I’m trying to incorporate more salads into my diet while avoiding processed dressings, so I will definitely have to try this one out.
I love the idea of using tamari too- I don’t know why I never thought of that for homemade dressing!
Thanks a lot Kimi for this 🙂
This is something extraordinary, with such food I have a chance to get into a summer dress 🙂
Great salad dressing recipe.
Good recipe, thanks