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I am always thinking about salads that go with Asian meals, since most of the salad dressings I make have a Western bent to them, from vinaigrettes, to blue cheese dressings, to buttermilk dressings. But I do love a good Asian salad, and in fact spend a not insignificant amount of time trying to replicate dressing I have tried in Japanese restaurants.
For this dressing I wanted to steer away from miso (which I adore, but I’ve played around with that quite a bit), and go for something a bit creamier than the carrot and ginger based dressings I usually make. This one is a bit lighter and thinner than most, but not short on flavor.
If you have Sriracha sauce you can use a little squirt of that instead of the cayenne. Use a neutrally flavored oil, not olive oil, which can have a slightly pronounced flavor and take over a bit. You surely could add a tablespoon of miso if you wanted to, and I’m sure at some point I will.
Best Lettuces for Creamy Sesame Dressing
I picked pretty robust lettuces to stand up to this pretty robust dressing. If you are lucky enough to have access to an array of fresh lettuces to mix and match, at a farmers’ market for instance, lucky, lucky you, enjoy the picking and choosing.
But if you are at a regular old supermarket you might want to head to the packaged blends. Look for mixes that might be called things like “Power Blend”, which often contains lettuces like beet greens, kale, arugula, spinach, chard and other nutritious and substantive greens. Those work really well with this flavorful dressing.
Mixed Green Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing: This smooth and robust dressing gets its flavor from soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and garlic, with a touch of heat.
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Make sure you mince the garlic super fine, so it really blends right into the dressing. And make sure you get toasted sesame oil, which has a deep nutty flavor. And once you toss the greens with the dressing, serve pretty quickly so the salad doesn’t wilt.
What to Serve with Mixed Lettuce Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing:
- Lemon Garlic Air Fryer Chicken Breasts
- Miso Salmon
- 30-Minute Shrimp Scampi
- Vegetarian Black Beans and Rice
Other Side Salad Recipes:
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Fully Loaded Spinach Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese
- Frisee, Radicchio and Escarole Salad with Citrus Dressing
- Green Salad with Pears, Parmesan and Pomegranate Seeds and Puff Pastry Croutons
- Endive Salad with Pear and Creamy Herb Dressing
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Mixed Green Salad with Creamy Sesame Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoons finely minced garlic
- ⅓ cup vegetable , canola or peanut oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- Kosher salt to taste
- Pinch cayenne pepper
- 8 cups mixed assertive lettuces , such as spinach, kale, arugula, and beet greens (look for blends in the market, labeled things like Power Greens Blend)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, blend together the rice vinegar, mayonnaise, soy sauce, garlic, vegetable oil, sesame oil, salt and cayenne.
- Add the lettuces and toss to coat with the dressing and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
