Key Ingredients
- Rice Vinegar: Balance dressing with tangy rice vinegar or swap it out with white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar.
- Lemons: Use fresh juice from two lemons. Select lemons with a vibrant color that are heavy for their size. Bring them to room temperature and roll them between your palm and the counter to make it easier to juice.
- White Miso Paste: Use white miso paste, a fermented soybean paste, adds richness and umami while also acting as an emulsifier to keep the vinaigrette from separating.
- Garlic: Enhance the flavor with three fresh garlic cloves, but measure with your heart.
- Spices: Season with dried oregano, kosher salt, and coarse black pepper.
- Nutritional Yeast: Made from molasses, nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast, and a complete protein that helps keep you full—perfect for an everyday salad dressing.
- Olive Oil: Extra-virgin olive oil is the rich, flavorful base for the miso vinaigrette.
Additions and Substitutions
- Sweeten the dressing. Add honey, pure maple syrup, or agave nectar to sweeten the miso salad dressing.
- Make it cheesy. Replace nutritional yeast with grated Parmesan cheese.
- Experiment with mix-ins. Include fresh ginger, green onions, shallots, or sesame seeds.
Tools You’ll Need
Use an immersion blender, food processor, or high-speed blender to make creamy miso vinaigrette. While you can whisk it by hand, I highly recommend using an immersion blender when making salad dressings or sauces that require emulsification, because I always have the best results.
Use the tall cup provided with the immersion blender (or one of these meal prep containers) to ensure the blender works properly and to avoid a big mess. Transfer the leftover vinaigrette to an airtight container or Mason jar.
How to Make Miso Vinaigrette
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Peel, cut, and mince the garlic. Transfer it to a tall cup or high-speed blender.
Step 2: Add the lemon juice, white miso paste, rice vinegar, dried oregano, kosher salt, black pepper, and nutritional yeast. Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to combine.
Step 3: Pour the oil into the cup or blender in a slow, steady stream, a little at a time, while combining the ingredients.
Expert Tips
- Add vinegar or olive oil, a little at a time, until the dressing has a pourable consistency.
- I recommend blending the ingredients, tasting, and adjusting the dried oregano, salt, and pepper until you find the perfect flavor.
Tips for Emulsification
What is Emulsification?
Emulsification is a fancy cooking term for combining ingredients that do not naturally mix, such as oil and vinegar, and making them stay together with an emulsifier.
What is an Emulsifier?
An emulsifier acts like a bridge between two opposing ingredients, holding them together in a smooth, stable mixture. The best emulsifiers contain water and oil-friendly properties to help the ingredients combine. The most common emulsifiers include egg yolks, mustard, mayonnaise, soybeans, honey, and xanthan gum.
How to Create a Stable Emulsification
If you want to learn how to make homemade vinaigrette, dressing, hollandaise sauce, aioli, or mayonnaise, then learning how to create a stable emulsification is key. Plus, it’s easier than you think!
- Choose an Emulsifier: Select an emulsifying ingredient based on what you are making.
- Combine the Ingredients: Mix the water-based ingredients, such as vinegar or lemon juice with an emulsifier.
- Slowly Add Oil: Add a few drops, then pour the oil gradually in a slow, steady stream while whisking or blending the ingredients. The gradual addition helps to achieve a stable emulsion (so the two liquids combine instead of separate).
- Adjust the Consistency: If the mixture gets too thick, add more water-based liquid to thin it out while continuing to mix.
If you enjoy this miso vinaigrette recipe, pair it with one of these salad recipes!
Serving Suggestions
Skip the store-bought salad dressings and use my simple miso vinaigrette recipe to dress basic green salads, chopped cabbage salad, or crispy kale salad. Spoon the dressing over grain bowls, grilled sweet potatoes, and your favorite roasted vegetables for additional flavor
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Store the leftover dressing in the container for one week. The dressing will thicken in the refrigerator because of the oil. That’s okay! Remove the vinaigrette from the fridge 30 minutes before you serve. Then, shake the container or give it a good stir.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different types of miso paste?
Shiro Miso (White Miso): White miso offers a mild and slightly sweet umami flavor, making it a perfect choice for dressing.
Aka Miso (Red Miso): Red miso ferments for longer, resulting in a deeper flavor. While you can use it in a dressing if that is what you have, I recommend trying Awase miso (mixed miso)- a combination of white and red miso for a more balanced flavor.
Genmai Miso (Brown Rice Miso): Brown rice miso is a great option for dressings with a more nutty flavor profile.
Where can I find nutritional yeast?
You can find nutritional yeast, or “nooch” as it’s often referred to, in health food stores, but it’s available in mainstream grocery stores.
What are the three most important elements of a salad dressing?
Every good salad dressing has three main components – oil, acid, and something sweet or rich to bring it all together. I use olive oil as the base and rely on freshly squeezed lemon juice and rice vinegar for acidity.
Nutritional yeast and miso provide a richness and act as emulsifiers to complete the homemade salad dressing.
More Homemade Salad Dressings:
Miso Vinaigrette
- Airtight Container or Small Bowl
- Immersion Blender or Whisk
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- lemon juice, 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons white miso paste
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Peel, cut, and mince the garlic. Transfer it to a blender cup or high-speed blender.
- Add the lemon juice, white miso paste, rice vinegar, dried oregano, kosher salt, black pepper, and nutritional yeast. Use an immersion blender, food processor, or blender to combine.
- Pour the oil into the cup or blender in a slow, steady stream, a little at a time, while combining the ingredients.
- Add vinegar or olive oil, a little at a time, until the dressing has a pourable consistency.
- I recommend blending the ingredients, tasting, and adjusting the dried oregano, salt, and pepper until you find the perfect flavor.
Natalie
Friday 18th of August 2023
I’m Always looking for a good homemade salad dressing recipe! This sounds delicious and so simple. Can’t wait to try it!
Tressa Jamil
Friday 18th of August 2023
There was a period of time where I ate this dressing with our vegetable chopped salad everyday for a month straight.