Made with avocado, fresh herbs, tahini, and lemon juice, this vegan and Whole30 Green Goddess Dressing will add a creamy herbaceous zip to your favorite salads. It makes for a fabulous zesty dip for your veggies, too!
Table of Contents
- What is Green Goddess Salad Dressing?
- A dairy free, nut free, Whole30, gluten-free, and vegan version!
- How to use Green Goddess Dressing?
- Tips on how to make the best homemade dressing
- Ingredients
- How to make green goddess dressing
- How long can you store homemade Green Goddess Dressing?
- More healthy salad dressing recipes
- Green Goddess Dressing Recipe
What is Green Goddess Salad Dressing?
Green Goddess salad dressing originated in 1923 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco in honor of George Arliss, an actor who starred in a play called “The Green Goddess”—but that wasn’t the end of it. In the intervening century, there have been TONS of variations on this classic American salad dressing. All Green Goddess dressings are typically green in color and have an herb-forward, tangy, and creamy flavor—and most include a blend of herbs (typically parsley, tarragon, dill, cilantro, and green onion/chives), mayonnaise, sour cream or Greek yogurt, lemon juice, anchovies (or Worcestershire sauce), and seasonings.
A dairy free, nut free, Whole30, gluten-free, and vegan version!
I created a plant-based Green Goddess dressing recipe for our Ready or Not! cookbook (a.k.a. Green Beast Dressing on page 48) because I wanted a Whole30 version that I can serve to all of my dairy-free pals. Because I use tahini for creaminess and didn’t include anchovies or fish sauce, my version also happens to be vegan and nut free as well!
How to use Green Goddess Dressing?
- Salad dressing: The most obvious use is as a zippy dressing for salads (e.g. Green Goddess Cobb Salad), vegetables, or zoodle/pasta salads.
- Dipping sauce: Serve it as a dipping sauce for crudités, sweet potato fries, for grilled vegetables, or seafood.
- Sandwich spread: Use it as a spread for sandwiches, burgers, or wraps. (If you’re paleo, it can be used on lettuce wraps or grain-free tortilla wraps.)
- Sauce for cooked dishes: It can also be used as a sauce for cooked dishes such as air fryer whole chicken, baked fish, or crispy potatoes.
- Topping for bowls: Use it as a topping for grain (or cauliflower rice) or vegetable bowls for added flavor and creaminess.
Tips on how to make the best homemade dressing
- Use fresh herbs! Avoid wilted and brown herbs and feel free to vary the combination of fresh herbs to fit what’s fresh at the market!
- A high powered blender makes the smoothest dressing! I use my trusty 10-year old Vitamix to make a silky smooth dressing. A food processor will also work, but the resulting texture will be chunkier.
- Taste the dressing and adjust as needed! As always, use my recipes as a guide, but use your own tastebuds to refine the seasoning to fit your preferences!
Ingredients
- Hass avocado: Pick a good one and make sure it’s ripe, but not overly so!
- Italian parsley
- Fresh basil
- Chives
- Garlic
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Water
- Fresh lemon juice
- Tahini: If you’re allergic to sesame seeds, you can substitute 2 tablespoons of soaked cashews.
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
How to make green goddess dressing
Toss all of the ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor.
Purée the ingredients on high speed or until silky smooth and the dressing is a vibrant bright green. Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning as needed. If the dressing is too thick for your liking you can thin it out with a little more water.
Pour the salad dressing into a glass mason jar and spoon it on all the things!
How long can you store homemade Green Goddess Dressing?
This dressing can stored in a sealed airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the dressing for up to 4 months. Thaw the dressing overnight in the fridge and stir vigorously before using.
More healthy salad dressing recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022)
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ medium avocado pitted and peeled
- ½ cup Italian parsley leaves
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves
- ¼ cup chopped chives
- 1 small garlic clove
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup water plus more if needed
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Toss all of the ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor. Puree on high until smooth.
- Taste the dressing and adjust the seasoning as needed. If the dressing is too thick for your liking you can think it out with a little more water.
- Serve on your favorite salad!
Video
Notes
- Each serving is 2 tablespoons of dressing.
- This dressing can stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze the dressing for up to four months. Thaw the dressing overnight in the fridge and stir vigorously before using.
- Use it to make a Panera Copycat Green Goddess Salad!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The lemon juice needs a proper measurement. 1/4 of a whole lemon? 1/4 a tsp? 1/4 a cup? Thanks!
It’s 1/4 cup! Thank you for catching that omission—it’s been corrected in the recipe card.
Amazing 👌🏻❤️
My favorite recipe discovery on my latest whole 30! I made it for nomnoms version of Cobb salad, but loved it so much I’ve poured it on just about everything! Steak, chicken, seafood, veggies as well as the salad. 👌🏽👌🏽 Will definitely be a staple going forward even if I’m not being strictly paleo
I love this dressing! I use it instead of mayo in tuna salad (ever since I had to break up with eggs.) Yum!
I made this dressing to go on the Panera Cobb Salad and it was delicious!
Very nice flavor (off the finger, haha), but a little bitter. Tried to rectify that by adding a little shoyu and more oil. What would you recommend to counteract the slight bitterness? Thank you!
Not sure why it was bitter. Was the tahini rancid?