Sesame Dressing
This homemade sesame dressing requires just four core ingredients: toasted sesame oil, tamari or soy sauce, lime juice, and a dab of Dijon.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 28, 2024
This homemade sesame dressing offers bold flavor for your homemade salads. It requires just four core ingredients: toasted sesame oil, tamari or soy sauce, lime juice, and a dab of Dijon mustard.
If you have the time and energy, add freshly toasted sesame seeds, fresh ginger, and garlic. They ramp up the flavor, but this dressing is already delicious in its simplest form.
Make this sesame dressing when you’re craving a green side salad. It’s easy to whisk together from basic pantry ingredients, and it tastes so much better than store-bought dressings.
I created this dressing recipe to serve over this seaweed salad, but it goes with so much more. Below is a full list of suggestions for making your own salad tonight!
How to Serve Sesame Dressing
This salad dressing is the perfect accompaniment to main dishes with Asian influences. It’s almost guaranteed to complement your meal when your entrée includes flavors like soy sauce, sesame oil or ginger. Try it with my Extra Vegetable Fried Rice, Vegetarian Pho, Veggie Sushi Bowls, or homemade sushi rolls.
Complementary Salad Ingredients
To round out your meal with a healthy dose of greens and veggies, improvise a simple salad with any of the following ingredients.
- Avocado
- Bell pepper
- Broccoli, raw or roasted
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cilantro
- Cucumber
- Edamame (shelled)
- Green beans
- Green onion
- Leafy greens, including Bibb, romaine and spring greens
- Seaweed
- Snap peas or snow peas
- Thai basil
More Dressings to Make
Homemade salad dressing makes all the difference, and I think you’ll love these. View my full collection of salad dressings here.
- Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Cilantro Lime Dressing
- Classic Vinaigrette (Plus 3 Essential Variations)
- Lemon Vinaigrette
Please let me know how your sesame dressing turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you and am eager to hear how you serve this one.
Sesame Dressing
This sesame dressing offers fresh and bright flavor for your homemade salads! The recipe is easy to whip together with sesame oil, soy sauce and lime juice. Recipe yields about ½ cup.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional, for texture and flavor)
- ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 to 3 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
- 1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, for spice)
Instructions
- If using the optional sesame seeds, place them in a small skillet over medium-low heat and cook, stirring frequently, until they’re starting to turn golden, about two to three minutes. Remove from the heat.
- In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, combine the sesame oil, tamari, lime juice, 2 teaspoons of ginger, garlic, mustard, optional red pepper flakes, and optional toasted sesame seeds.
- Whisk until the mixture is well blended. Taste, and if the flavor isn’t quite there yet, whisk in the tiniest pinch of salt. If you would like stronger ginger flavor, mix in the additional teaspoon now.
- This dressing can be served immediately, but the flavors are even better after twenty minutes’ rest. Store the dressing in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 1 week.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use gluten-free tamari rather than conventional soy sauce.
In a hurry? You can simplify this dressing by skipping the sesame seeds, garlic and ginger. You’ll still end up with a flavorful dressing.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Wow this dressing is tasty, you’ve done it again. Looking forward to more.
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know, Barb! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it. I have several new salad dressings coming soon!
This was fun & easy to make, & so delicious! We had it on a simple salad with greens. I’m going to try it as a marinade the next time we have salmon. Thanks Kate!
That’s awesome to hear, thanks Jen! Great idea to use it as a marinade, too.
This all looks wonderful but could you suggest a substitute for the Dijon? I just don’t care for it. Yellow mustard doesn’t sound right and I would love to find a stone-ground mustard without added spices but have had no luck. Any thoughts?
Mary
I don’t think you taste the dijon in this as you would if you just ate it plain, but adds to the flavor. I don’t have a good alternative, but you could try to omit it. I know some add mayo for creaminess when they don’t like dijon. I’m not sure how that would work here. If you try something, let me know!
There is a Thai herb called Galangal. It’s widely available in larger stores (or online) nowadays. It’s such a sweet and subtle flavor that resembles mustard slightly but isn’t as overwhelming because it’s a different plant species. Might want to give that a try!
Galangal is more of a ginger substitute. Not exactly the same, but both are roots.
Can we use cold pressed sesame oil instead of toasted sesame oil? I didn’t find toasted sesame oil
You could try it. Let me know what you think!
So delicious. This is an outstanding salad dressing practically for all salads. Versatile, too, as it could be a marinade and sauce for grilled chicken or fish. I had to substitute lemon for lime juice and had to cut back on the pepper for my throat’s sake. Even so, it’s still another CookandKate triumph.
Hooray! Thank you, Linda. Delighted to hear that you appreciate this salad dressing.
I made this tonight and added edamame beans and marinated tofu to it for a protein boost. Absolutely delicious. The peanut sauce is fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing.
Kate
I love your recipes. Thank you so much.
One request, please.
I am allergic to lemon. I would so love some healthy summer dressing recipes / salads that do not require lemon.
My sisters would love it as well.
Thank so much
Very best regards,
Lynn
This Italian vinaigrette is my go-to dressing that doesn’t have lemon. You can also substitute a vinegar of your choice in a dressing that calls for lemon if you want to experiment. The important part is the oil to acid ratio.
I used this recipe and loved it after I made a couple of personal choice additions. I made it according to your recipe, but added Strawberry Rose’ vinegar and sugar. In the future I could use just 1/2 to 1 tablespoon lime juice, but I wouldn’t omit it completely because it would change the flavor profile too much. I added a couple of teaspoons of sugar (I was out of agave syrup) because it is a personal preference to tone down the sharpness of the lime juice. It turned out to be a great vinaigrette! I avoided vinaigrette for years because I hadn’t found one I liked. I use your recipes often , Kate, and enjoy you and Cookie so much. Thank you.