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Home Side Salads

Asian Sesame Dressing

By Nagi Maehashi
242 Comments
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Published7 Dec '16 Updated18 Jun '25
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This Asian Sesame Dressing is one of my all time most-used salad dressings, because it keeps for weeks and it’s so easy to make – just soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, vinegar and sugar.

Use this Asian dressing for leafy green salads, Asian slaws, noodle salads and chopped salads. It’s also a terrific dressing to make steamed vegetables so much tastier. Finish with a sprinkle of fresh sesame seeds and sliced greens onions!

Asian Sesame Dressing - made with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and sugar. Lasts for 3 weeks, an essential pantry standby! recipetineats.com

Instant Asian Sesame Dressing

This Asian Sesame Dressing is one of eight ready-to-use salad dressing recipes that I shared in this post: Ready To Use Salad Dressings. I’ve been wanting to share a bunch of long shelf life salad dressings for ages and was so glad to finally have an excuse to!

This Asian Sesame Dressing is fantastic. It was originally off the back of a packet that I’ve adapted slightly to my taste. The reason it’s one of my most used dressings is because it literally takes 30 seconds to make – grab a few bottles, eye ball the measurements, shake and you’re done.

No need to mince garlic, grate ginger of chop fresh herbs. This Sesame Dressing is simple and it’s perfect just as it is. However, you can of course doll it up as you wish! It’s a fantastic base recipe. 🙂

Asian Sesame Dressing - made with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and sugar. Lasts for 3 weeks, an essential pantry standby! recipetineats.com

I literally use this dressing for all things Asian and Asian-esque. But one of my favourite ways to use this dressing is with shredded cabbage and carrots. So an Asian slaw, if you will. 🙂 Especially if you grab a bag of pre shredded cabbage, as I did for these photos (I used a Crunchy Slaw pre cut mix from David Jones, I ❤️the DJ’s Food Hall!!).

The other thing I use it for is sashimi salads. Leafy greens, cherry tomatoes and some store bought fresh sashimi, topped with crunchy fried shallots and this dressing. It’s a 1 minute dinner assembly!

Because this Asian Sesame Dressing doesn’t use any fresh ingredients that go off, it has a very long shelf life. I keep it for 3 weeks. I like to keep it in the fridge, just to be safe (and also because I keep my soy sauce refrigerated, and this has soy sauce in it).

SUCH a fantastic standby dressing! Nagi xx

PS Pictured below is an Asian Slaw made using the David Jones Crunchy Slaw mix (green and red cabbage, carrots), a sprinkle of store bought fried shallots, tossed with this Asian Sesame Dressing.

Asian Sesame Dressing - made with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and sugar. Lasts for 3 weeks, an essential pantry standby! recipetineats.com

PPS In the recipe below, I’ve shared a big batch (1 cup) to make and keep, and single batch too (i.e. enough for one side salad for 3-4 people).

Asian Sesame Dressing - made with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and sugar. Lasts for 3 weeks, an essential pantry standby! recipetineats.com

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Asian Sesame Dressing - made with soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar and sugar. Lasts for 3 weeks, an essential pantry standby! recipetineats.com

Asian Sesame Dressing

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 3 minutes mins
Total: 3 minutes mins
Salad
Asian
4.96 from 69 votes
Servings1 cup
Tap or hover to scale
Print
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A fantastic standby dressing to have on hand because it keeps for 3 weeks! Use this Asian dressing for leafy green salads, Asian slaws, noodle salads and chopped salads. It’s also a terrific dressing to make steamed vegetables so much tastier. Finish with a sprinkle of fresh sesame seeds and sliced greens onions!

Ingredients

Big batch to keep (makes 1 cup)

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar (adjust to taste for sharpness)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp sugar (any type) or 1 1/2 tbsp honey

Single serving batch

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp white vinegar
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (Note 1)
  • 1 tsp sugar (any type) or 1 1/2 tsp honey
Prevent screen from sleeping

Instructions

  • Place ingredients in a jar and shake well until sugar is dissolved. Adjust saltiness with salt and sweetness with sugar to taste.
  • Keep for up to 3 weeks, in the fridge (to be safe). Bring to room temp and shake well before use.
  • Single serving batch is enough for 3 – 4 cups of shredded cabbage / leafy greens i.e. a side salad for 4 people.
  • Big batch – my rule of thumb for how much dressing to use is generally 1 tbsp of dressing per 1 packed cup of shredded vegetables and 2 tsp per handful of leafy greens.

Recipe Notes:

1. I realise that olive oil is not Asian but actually, many modern Asian restaurant recipes use olive oil in sauces and cooking. I think olive oil is lovely in this dressing. You can even use extra virgin olive oil so you can taste it slightly more. Or otherwise, use any neutral flavoured oil such as grapeseed, vegetable or canola oil.
2. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings for the Single Batch (dressing only, not salad). 
asian-sesame-dressing-nutrition

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 17gCalories: 52cal (3%)Carbohydrates: 1.4gProtein: 0.2gFat: 5.8g (9%)Saturated Fat: 0.8g (5%)Sodium: 226mg (10%)Potassium: 13mgSugar: 1.1g (1%)Iron: 0.2mg (1%)
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

 

Don’t miss all the other Ready To Use Dressings I shared! These all last for 2+ weeks, most for 3 weeks.Find them all here.

Easy Salad Dressing Recipes - Long Shelf Life, Ready To Use recipetineats.com

Previous Post
Poppyseed Salad Dressing
Next Post
Honey Mustard Dressing

Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!

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242 Comments

  1. Rachel says

    January 11, 2023 at 1:57 pm

    Hi Nagi, when you use white vinegar is it just plain old white in the big containers from the supermarket? Is there a difference?

    Reply
  2. Mizz P says

    January 7, 2023 at 12:39 pm

    5 stars
    Very tasty and so few ingredients! Just made it and will put it over a kale, buckwheat noodle, carrot, cabbage salad. Will add some cherry tomatoes for color!

    Reply
  3. Sue says

    December 17, 2022 at 8:58 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you for the single serve batch Nagi. It really came in handy tonight and made it so much easier than working it out for myself. 😊

    Reply
  4. Shauna says

    December 12, 2022 at 7:21 pm

    Hi Nagi, what could I substitute for soy as my daughter has a soy allergy. Thankyou

    Reply
    • Nadine A says

      March 17, 2023 at 9:02 am

      5 stars
      You can use coconut aminos as a replacement for soy.

      Reply
  5. Wiliiam says

    December 12, 2022 at 4:02 pm

    Love this dressing. Have shared with others. On repeat in my house. Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Wayne says

    October 30, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    Just made this and YUM! I used honey and half white vinegar, half chinkiang vinegar. Delicious!

    Reply
  7. Jim says

    August 28, 2022 at 7:55 am

    5 stars
    Very good. Just what I was looking for.

    Reply
  8. Victoria says

    August 19, 2022 at 6:57 pm

    5 stars
    Another great dressing from Nagi, love to pair it with cole slaw, avo and chicken – makes a great salad
    I sometimes add everything toasted sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning for an extra crunch

    Reply
  9. Lupita says

    August 1, 2022 at 6:33 am

    5 stars
    Great recipe thank you

    Reply
  10. Lauren says

    May 23, 2022 at 8:47 am

    5 stars
    Insanely delicious – no edits required..! Put on a chopped salad with some crispy tofu and voila!

    Reply
  11. rsp says

    May 15, 2022 at 8:01 am

    grownups in my family don’t like their vegetable salads with any hint of sweet. I leave out the sugar/honey, and it’s a perfect savory dressing. A great and easy change from the French-ish vinaigrette that we us. Thanks once more for a great recipe!

    Reply
  12. Marie says

    May 5, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    5 stars
    I always make a batch of this dressing using peanut oil instead of olive oil as the olive oil solidifies in the fridge. Also add some dried garlic. This is my go to dressing for pretty much all kinds of salads and steamed veggies. Delicious!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      May 5, 2022 at 12:55 pm

      That’s a great tip Marie! N x

      Reply
  13. Elly says

    February 13, 2022 at 7:19 pm

    Can I use regular sesame oil instead of toasted sesame oil?

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      February 14, 2022 at 12:16 pm

      Yes you can Elly if that’s what you have on hand! N x

      Reply
  14. Tammy says

    January 31, 2022 at 12:26 am

    5 stars
    Can’t wait to try this Asian dressing on my breakfast tatsoi salad

    Reply
  15. Terry-Anne Pritchard says

    January 6, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    5 stars
    An awesome , tasty go to dressing.
    Our family uses this recipe all the the time.

    Reply
  16. Barbara says

    December 26, 2021 at 8:08 am

    5 stars
    Very yummy, made it for a salad that a crab cake would go on top.

    Reply
  17. Ann says

    December 18, 2021 at 3:19 pm

    5 stars
    Very tasty addition to my salmon sushi bowls, along with the delicious crispy chilli in oil and Kewpie.
    Love the small batch recipe and those ingredients are always on hand.

    Reply
  18. Sunny says

    December 2, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    Hi Nagi…thanks for your recipes.All turn out to be great.Looming forward to making salads with this recipe now.Will it work well with a warm salad?

    Reply
  19. ChariBee says

    November 6, 2021 at 10:31 am

    Thank you. It’s my first time to find your recipe. I shall try this and all your other dressings as well. I am always throwing away my store bought dressings coz I don’t use them a lot but now with your Recipes I don’t have to buy. And I will be able to make single serve batch to enjoy.

    Thanks!

    Reply
  20. Leeanne Rutherford says

    October 10, 2021 at 5:28 pm

    Hi Nagi
    Really love all your recipes
    Always end up with your version of anything I look for
    Thank you so much 👍😁❤️

    Reply
    • Ann says

      December 18, 2021 at 3:20 pm

      So do i, I look to see if Nagi’s already done it to save me looking any further!

      Reply
    • Nagi says

      October 11, 2021 at 2:53 pm

      Thanks! 🙏 N x

      Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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