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!
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. 🙂
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.
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).
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Asian Sesame Dressing
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
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:
Nutrition Information:
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.
Can you use only seseme oil and no olive oil. What would be the disadvantage of doing that? What is the purpose of using olive oil?
Hi Michelle, the sesame will overpower if you use it as the full amount so we substitute with olive oil here. N x
Hi Nagi! How do you think this dressing would go with bbqed veggies? I might give it a go this week.
Yum! Great idea Hannah! N x
When you say white vinegar do you mean rice wine vinegar? You called it rice vinegar in another recipe, so I thought maybe rice wine vinegar might be called “rice” or “white” in Australia? The use of what I think of as white vinegar seems odd in a sesame dressing. Please help clarify my understanding before I purchase a 4th vinegar. Thanks!
Hi Laura, just standard white vinegar here – not rice vinegar. N x
White wine vinegar or white distilled vinegar?
I used white distilled and the dressing was somewhat sharp tasting to me. I also added a tsp of honey (on top of the tsp sugar) because it wasn’t quite sweet enough. I like my Asian dressing sweet which probably isn’t authentic but it’s what I like. Next time I think I’ll try the white wine vinegar and maybe it would help sweeten it a little so I won’t have to add the honey or maybe do both. I’ll update adjustments next time.
Didn’t know where else to ask a question here, sorry. Is this the same kind of Asian Sesame Seed dressing like you’d get in a bottle? It’s kind of thick-ish. Not a thin vinegarette.
I’m making beef/broccoli and kung pau chicken, and they call for it. Our area doesn’t have it.
Hi Sapat, I’m not sure what dressing you’re referring to sorry – are you sure its not sesame oil that’s needed in the recipe? N x
Delicious! Particularly liked that they provided a “1-serving” option! Added some ginger to give the dressing a little extra pizzazz.
Nagi, Ihave made this several times, my fav go to dressing. Today made a chicken pasta salad, with your dressing, it was a super hit, even with our 2 1/2 year old, who kept sayingMORE! Have shared with a number of folks!!
I just made this dressing! I loved it as is but my boys wanted a bit of garlic flavour and more sesame flavour so I added a tbsp of tahini. So delicious. This is definitely a keeper 💖
Delicious!
I’ve used just the dressing but quite a few times with different salads and I love it!
Yes it’s sooooo addictive isn’t it Frieda!?! N x
I was surprised. It was pretty good.
This dressing was out of this world. My husband is still licking his lips saying he just wants salads with this dressing for the rest of his life. Thank you!
This is the only homemade dressing that I’ve made that I like. I put it on spinach with almonds, mandarin oranges, and green onions.
Yum! Sounds amazing Jenny! N x
Exactly what I was looking for, simple and lovely, thank you Nagi! It was perfect on our spring salad with cabbage and shrimp. I did add a little freshly grated ginger root, it just seemed right, as I always have it. <3
Yum! Thank you so much Nagi for this recipe! It is really delicious and I am going to pour it over cabbage, lettuce, orange and prawns! Thank you again❤️
Excellent! Much appreciated. Thank you
Perfect and no fuss. Love it lasts for weeks in fridge.
This is a great-tasting dressing, and so easy to whip up!
Amazing dressing. As pretty much everything I tried from your recipes 🙂
I’m excited to try this tonight. We’re getting sushi takeout and I’m steaming some dumplings to go with, but that leaves us light on veggies, so SALAD! Can’t wait.
Tried this for a quick mid week salad and it’s outstanding! No changes needed for my taste, thanks Nagi!