Name: Homemade Ginger Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Cuisine: Japanese-American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup peanut or sesame oil; 1/2 cup diced yellow onion; 1/4 cup rice vinegar; 1/4 cup water; 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh ginger; 2 tablespoons chopped celery; 2 tablespoons soy sauce (we used reduced sodium); 1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup; 2 teaspoons granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice; Salt and pepper to taste; Chopped romaine lettuce; Halved cherry tomatoes; Thinly sliced/shredded carrots; Thinly sliced red cabbage

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

You can make Japanese steakhouse (hibachi) style salad with the most delicious homemade ginger dressing in just a few minutes! It's zingy, super flavorful, packed with fresh ginger, and makes any salad taste SO much better. You just need a few basic ingredients and a blender to whip up a quick batch in 10 minutes!

Side view of a bottle of homemade ginger dressing with a label on the bottle.

Dressing that's good enough to drink!

I keep joking that this ginger dressing is good enough to drink, but I'm not really joking. It seriously is! I can't get enough of this stuff.

We first decided to make this recipe when we had a dinner party a few weeks ago and my husband decided he wanted to go all in on hibachi. We went the whole nine yards – the mustard sauce, ginger sauce, garlic butter, 3 types of protein on our flat top, and even the onion volcano. It was a total blast and all of the recipes were an absolute hit, especially this ginger dressing!

It's such a great way to start a meal. It's light, refreshing, zingy, tangy, and really elevates an otherwise boring salad.

The first version we tried was good, but still not gingery or zingy enough, so we added extra ginger and lemon juice and it's absolutely perfect! Keep it simple with a basic hibachi-style salad of romaine, cabbage, carrots and tomato, or try it on something like Sesame Ginger Chickpea Salad or our Crispy Rice Chicken Bowls.

Overhead view of a simple salad drizzled with homemade ginger dressing.

Key Ingredients Needed for Ginger Dressing

Overhead view of ingredients for homemade ginger dressing in small bowls.

How to make Ginger Dressing

This dressing really couldn't be easier to make:

Add all of the dressing ingredients to a blender or a jar with a immersion blender. Blend until the dressing is smooth and all of the ingredients are completely incorporated. Taste and adjust salt as desired.
That's it! Drizzle it over your salad and enjoy.

overhead view of ginger dressing ingredients in a blender before blending.

overhead view of ginger dressing in a blender after blending.

Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!

Taste as you go: If you don't like a super gingery flavor, it's always better to start with less and add as you go. The same goes for soy sauce/salt. You can always add more, but it's much harder to fix it once there's too much! Every soy sauce brand is a little different, too.
The easiest way to peel ginger is with a spoon! The skin scrapes away easily. Just hold the knob firmly against the cutting board and use the end of the spoon to scrape off all of the skin.

More Flavorful Salads You'll Love

We can't wait for you to make this ginger dressing in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!

Homemade Ginger Dressing

Dressing that's good enough to drink!

Key Ingredients Needed for Ginger Dressing

How to make Ginger Dressing

Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!

More Flavorful Salads You'll Love

📖 Recipe