Green Goddess Dressing is Herbed Mayo, Change My Mind
I’ll be honest, I prefer to use Green Goddess Dressing mixed into pasta salad or as an herbed mayo in BLTs. I’m not really a mayonnaise person, so mayonnaise-based dips and salads are almost always a no-go for me. This one though, this one is delish!
To combat the mayonnaise texture in most Green Goddess Dressings, I’ve added a bit of sour cream and lemon juice to this recipe. It gently loosens up the consistency and makes it really nice in every application. The added umami from the garlic and anchovy pack a rich flavor. And, the zing of the lemon and all of the herbs add a satisfying vibrancy.
This is recipe super easy and comes together very quickly. Perfect for those of us who like to work smart, not hard.
Get the Recipe: Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 anchovy
- 1 clove of garlic
- ⅓ cup fresh green onions, chopped into 1in (2.5cm) pieces
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, chopped into 1in (2.5cm) pieces
- ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped into 1in (2.5cm) pieces
- 1 cup fresh basil, chopped into 1in (2.5cm) pieces
Equipment
- Measuring spoons
- measuring Cups
- 1 chef knife
- 1 cutting board
- kitchen scale (optional)
- food processor or blender
Instructions
- Add everything but the herbs in to a food processor or blender. Then, rough chop the herbs into 1in (2.5cm) sections, so they don’t get wrapped around the blade. Next, toss those chopped herbs into the food processor as well.
- Blend until you can see the dressing turn green and the herbs become whipped into very small pieces. That's it. It's that easy.
Notes
- As far as I’m concerned the last 5 ingredients in this recipe (garlic and herbs) can be measured with your heart. I have done more and less of each of those ingredients and it still turns out delicious every time.
- Feel free to leave out herbs you don’t like and add in others, like parsley, tarragon, spinach, or chives. Have fun with it! Just remember, try to keep your experiments complimentary to whatever else you are eating.
- Green Goddess Dressing is good for up to a week, if stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator.
- I do not recommend freezing Green Goddess Dressing. The cells in mayo, sour cream, and fresh herbs will all expand when frozen and produce a brown watery concoction when de-frosted. (bleh!)
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
There’s always salad adjacent dishes, like a vegetable platter. However, I actually prefer mayo-based dressings, like Green Goddess, with carbs. This dressing is delicious drizzled over roasted potatoes, smeared on sandwich bread, and tossed into a pasta salad.
First, always use basil as the main herb and substitute in other herbs. I highly recommend switching out and experimenting with a number of different herbs. Some great substitutions/additions are parsley, tarragon, spinach, arugula, and chives.
Green Goddess Dressing is essentially the vegetable stock of dressings. If you have an herb garden and need to put the herbs to good use or you have leftover herbs you don’t know what to do with, this recipe is your best friend. Green Goddess Dressing is very forgiving, so don’t take it all too seriously and have some fun!
Oooo yeah, sorry about that. If you don’t like the taste of cilantro, a great substitute in this dressing is flat leaf/Italian parsley or arugula. Parsley has an earthy, vegetal flavor and arugula brings a nice green peppery flavor.
Fun facts: The chemical compound aldehyde decenal, which is naturally present in cilantro, is what makes it taste like soap to some people. Even more interesting, it’s widely recorded that olfactory receptor genes detect the aldehydes in cilantro at a much much higher rate than taste receptors. So, cilantro’s aroma is why you don’t like it, not its actual taste. Mind blowing, right?!
I’m required to say that if you substitute out the mayonnaise, this dressing won’t taste the same or have the same texture. However, you can do a few things that will give you a delicious dressing equivalent sans mayo.
1. Use avocado and vinegar. The dressing can still have a lovely creaminess by substituting avocado. Keep in mind, you will lose some of the tang by omitting the mayonnaise, so I suggest adding vinegar for its specific zing. You can also increase the amount the lemon juice. These acids will keep the avocado from browning too fast win-win!
Quick Note: Make sure to use all of the avocado Green Goddess Dressing the same day. It will not last longer than that.
2. I’ve seen a number of recipes that use tahini instead of mayonnaise. Tahini will produce a thicker, creamier, and earthier dressing. If you substitute with tahini, increase the amount of herbs the dressing. Also, add salt to taste.
The great thing about Green Goddess Dressing is you cannot really over mix it. If you are using a food processor, just keep adding a single ingredient, in small quantities, at a time and taste as you go until you have something you like.
If the idea of anchovies make you squirm there are a few other options for the umami punch in Green Goddess Dressing. My favorite substitutes are oyster sauce or fish sauce. You can also use Worcestershire sauce, which has anchovies as a main ingredient. (Whoops! Let that secret out of the bag)
