June 27, 2011
(last updated June 12, 2024) 
This miso sesame dressing is sweet, salty, and nothing short of outstanding! It’s easy to make and can be used as either a dressing or a sauce.
Oh, this miso sesame dressing!
Miso tahini dressing, I should say.
The dressing is a mixture of white miso, tahini, maple syrup, soy sauce, ginger, and water. It’s simple, yet incredibly delicious. The flavor profile is both salty and sweet, which contributes to its irresistable quality.
I’ve been using this salad as a dressing, dip, and a sauce for well over a decade.
Though I’ve created many other tahini-based dressings since I first created it, I always come back to this creamy mixture.
The dressing is a special one for me because it doesn’t contain vinegar or citrus—in other words, there is no acid source.
Normally, I love tart and tangy flavors, but in this case, the sweet and salty notes stand on their own beautifully.
Miso sesame dressing ingredients
There are some key ingredients called upon in this recipe to create that perfect balance of salty, creamy, and sweet.
Miso
Miso is a paste made from soybeans, water, salt, and a base culture, which is usually rice, barley, or soy.
There are a few types of miso that predominate in the US, where I live and write. These are white miso, which has a more mild flavor profile, and red and brown miso paste, both of which are more salty and savory.
Some miso varieties use beans other than soy as a base. These are good for folks with soy allergies. One example is chickpea miso.
I tend to use white miso more often than red or brown, especially in dressings, as I enjoy its very subtle, sweet flavor overtones. That’s the type of miso that’s called for in this recipe.
Sesame (tahini)
Tahini is a seed butter, or paste, made from ground sesame seeds. Those seeds can be toasted or untoasted; I prefer tahini made with toasted seeds.
Tahini is the source of sesame in this miso sesame dressing. The advantage of using tahini, rather than whole seeds, is that you can simply whisk the dressing together.
It’s possible to blend a dressing such as this one and to use whole sesame seeds in it. But that requires the use of an appliance, and cleaning the blender creates another step!
Maple syrup
More than many of my other salad dressings, this miso sesame dressing is quite sweet and savory. Maple syrup helps to create the sweet part of the flavor profile, and it’s an essential part of the recipe’s character.
Though I’m often asked about reducing sweetener in recipes, I wouldn’t recommend cutting the sweetener here by more than a little bit. I certainly do have dressing recipes that are more savory; this one benefits from the sweet and savory contrast!
If you prefer, you can trade the maple syrup for three large, pitted medjool dates.
Soy sauce
Soy sauce adds even more savoriness and saltiness to the miso sesame dressing.
You can use traditional soy sauce, tamari, nama shoyu, or coconut aminos in the recipe, depending on your preferences.
Ginger
I love the gingery notes of this creamy dressing. I recommend using finely minced or grated, fresh ginger, but you can use ground ginger in a pinch.
Water
Water is, of course, the liquid base for this recipe.
A word about consistency: when you first blend it, the dressing will be a bit loose and liquidy. It really does thicken as it sits in the fridge, so don’t worry if you find it thin at first.
How to make miso sesame dressing
I love dressing recipes that are as simple as blending or whisking, then enjoying!
Blending vs whisking: there’s no right answer when it comes to the recipe. Both methods will be a fine means of making the miso sesame dressing.
However, if you whisk by hand, start with 1/4 cup water. Once you have a creamy mix, continue adding water until the dressing is fully mixed and smooth.
Optional additions
While I’ve really come to love the simplicity of this dressing, there are some optional additions that can make it more complex or appealing, based on your likes and dislikes. Here are some ideas for add-ins:
- Finely minced or grated garlic
- Gochujang paste or sauce (for heat)
- Sriracha sauce (also for heat)
- Chinese five spice powder
- Unseasoned rice vinegar (for acid)
- Finely chopped chives or scallions
- Kelp or dulse granules
How to use miso sesame dressing
I’ve used the dressing on greens, as a traditional salad dressing.
However, I love to drizzle this dressing over cooked barley, rice, or noodles, too. In fact, you can use it as the creamy dressing for a cold noodle salad in the summertime—yum!
I also like to drizzle the miso sesame dressing over roasted vegetables, especially over simple roasted Japanese sweet potato wedges, roasted carrots, roasted (orange) sweet potato varieties, or roasted or steamed green beans.
The dressing is a wonderful adornment to steamed broccolini, too.
And finally, I love to use it as a dip for veggie crudités.
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Meal prep & storage
Once blended, the miso sesame dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
You can also freeze the dressing for up to six weeks.
Outstanding Miso Sesame Dressing
Author –Yields: 10 servings
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup white miso (60g)
- 1/4 cup tahini (60g)
- 3 tablespoons agave or maple syrup (45ml)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 2 teaspoons grated, fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup water (120ml; plus more as needed)
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Add water by the tablespoon as needed to achieve a consistency that you like; you may need up to an additional 1/4 cup / 60ml water.
- Alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients together, starting with 1/4 cup / 60ml water and adding the rest once you have a thick, creamy base.
- The miso sesame dressing can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
While the flavor profile here isn’t especially complex, I’ve never served this dressing to someone who didn’t stop, smile, and exclaim, “yum!”
I hope you’ll feel the same way.
xo
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I realize this recipe was posted years ago, but I just found it and made it today! So yummy! I didn’t realize I was going to have this much leftover dressing, though, and I’m going on vacation in a couple days. Anyone know how long it’ll last in the fridge?
Whoa. Are you sure it’s supposed to be 1.25 cups water? That seemed like a lot to me, so I did 1 cup and it’s still really runny!! And I don’t have anymore miso to make a new batch 🙁
Seriously bummed.
I’m so sorry you had that result, Dee! That’s what had worked for me (dressings also thicken in the fridge). But when I saw your comment, I re-tested it last night and have come up with new proportions. You may not want to try it again, but I hope this works for you!
Gena
It’s DELICIOUS though! And what I left in the fridge did thicken a bit. I bought more miso today, and we’ll just have kale salad a few times this week. All good. Thanks for replying!
Just made this kale salad & we loved it. Thanks for the great dressing recipe!
So glad you like!
I see in you recipes that you are using AGAVE ?? I thought that agave was bad and basically high fructose syrup? What gives?
Greg,
That is an oversimplification. All concentrated, syrupy sweeteners are not health foods and should be used with discrimination, but agave is not “bad,” ipso facto. It depends on how it’s used, how often, what the portion size of a recipe that employs it is, and so on.
Gena
FINALLY! This is the first time I have eaten a kale salad and actually enjoyed it! Thank you so much Gena for your creative genius. Now I can eat more kale joyfully! (Also threw some corn and toasted sesame seeds into it too. Yum!) Toasted sesame seeds seem to make everything better. Thank you again!!
I’m so glad it was such a success!!
Thanks! A friend gave me a bunch of kale yesterday and I made thus for lunch for my somewhat sceptical sister who didn’t like miso… She does now, in this salad! It was divine, think I will be eating a lot of it from now on :))
raw tahini will have phyates, though…roasted won’t…a good brand to try would be, “better than roasted”…
This recipe is DELICIOUS!! What do you serve it with?
BTW: Regarding availability of kale, why don’t you plant some in your garden? I have friends in freezing cold upstate New York and kale pretty much grows year round there – and flourishes in the cold – so i’m sure it will grow in Northern Europe.
I really like this dressing! Yum, thanks for a great recipe I will be repeating!
wonderful dressing! It went over spectacularly with my family tonight!
I was just craving a new dressing, and luckily I remembered I bookmarked this one months ago. And, boy was it worth the wait!
The miso, tahini, tamari, and agave really work well together (ha, funny that all those ingredients also end in vowels!). I also added some garlic and dash of crushed red pepper to give it a bit of a kick, and it turned out to be deeply delicious! Yum, I’ll be revisiting this recipe again soon…that is, as soon as the bottle I just made runs out.
ha!! i read this while eating kale salad think of new dressing ideas. the one i am eating now is a tahini galic and dill. i live for kale salads. xoxoxo
Really really dumb question but it is my first time working with miso. No need to cook/heat/do anything with it before using, right? So treat it like nut butter then place in the fridge after opening?
The miso paste I bought is from a Japanese specialty store near my house and the packaging is in complete Japanese haha. Forgot to ask the store staff for advice so please bear with me 😀
No worries!! Yes, you open it, then keep it in the fridge, and from that point forward you don’t have to mess with it before you use it.
delicious dressing! i can’t wait to use it on my salad at dinner tonight! just to clarify though, do you add all 1.25 cups water or just enough to reach your desired consistency? i just dumped everything in the blender and mine definitely looks more thin and made 3 cups worth of dressing vs 1.6-ish yours made. still delicious, but i was curious as to what your procedure was. thanks & i love your blog! i just got hemp seeds for the first time today to try your hemp hummus and i’m way excited!
I also followed the recipe as written with 1.25 cups of water and I should have known better, because that seems like quite a bit. I alo got a very watery dressing, so I added more tahini which helped somewhat, but now I have boatloads of the dressing.
It came out well enough I suppose, but now I have to consume all this dressing in a week, which will be challenging.
Live and learn!
This is a SUPER belated response to you both, but I wanted to say I’m sorry you got a thin dressing. I’ve modified the recipe to 1 cup water, though most folks did OK with the 1.25 cups…I hope this helps!
This dressing is amazing. I could seriously drink it with a straw it’s so good!
I love when I find simple, delicious sounding recipes that I actually have all the ingredients for in my pantry. Definitely going to make this, although I might use it for steamed veg or something other than kale (me and kale salad just haven’t hit it off yet).
Wow, I am so impressed with your Blog and great Recipes. I am bookmarking your Blog and copying your recipes. I have been looking for interesting dressings for my salads and this one sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Kathy Clark
Skype: kathyclark1945
I made this tonight and it was fantastic! I have a feeling I’ll be making this dressing A LOT.
thanks, gena! I’m trying to steer clear of agave for the time being. would liquid stevia be a good substitute here?
Stevia might leave a funny aftertaste if it’s all you use. Dates? Dates+stevia?
Thanks! I’ll try that out. 🙂
Oh hurrah! Thank you for this, Gena! We have huge, beautiful kale leaves in our garden just begging to be used, and I’ve been sadly uninspired. So this hits the spot! Can’t wait to make it, like, tomorrow! 🙂
I’m jealous!
Wish I could get some to you, Gena. It is SO. GOOD! As is this dressing…absolutely outstanding. I made this dish to serve as part of a friend’s bday celebration a few nights ago, and it got absolutely rave reviews, even from people who haven’t had raw kale salad before! Can’t wait to use the leftover dressing in other ways. Gracias!
I made this dressing this morning – AMAZING! Thanks, much.
Woohoo! Glad you like.
Hi Gena-
I am a long time reader -first time comment. I love your blog and have sent the articles in your ED seris to many friends and family members-has prompted some excellent discussions and helped with understanding where I am coming from as well.I am recovering from anorexia (doing better and nearly weight restored but still fighting the thoughts daily). Blogs like yours help a lot. Here is my question-I do a lot of massaged kale salads-but I struggle with how to add them to meals. Part of my internal fight is always feeling like I am eating “too much” at a serving but then finding myself hungry only 2 hours later so clearly not enough then rather than too much. So back to my question-what do you serve the kale salad with to make it a satiating meal? Any suggestions? I made some squash and white bean burgers the other day-would one of those on top, some kale salad mixed with quinoa be a reasonable meal or too much so you think?
Thx for taking the time to respond and your blog means a lot to me.
You are so kind, Jacqui! Keep on keeping on with your recovery. Time does help.
When I started eating raw I realized quickly that I was doing too much veg — I would get so full of watery veggies that I’d have no room for the beans and grains I like (and need to feel full). I’d do a slightly smaller portion of kale salad and serve it with a sandwich, a whole grain, hummus, a raw sushi roll, a collard wrap with bean dip, etc. Check out my post on Hurry Up Vegan — you can see that my plate is piled high with salad, but also has pasta. On another night, that might be a raw entree.
Thank you for what looks to be like another great salad. I think I’m going to include this is this week’s Friday night dinner menu.
Yum! I made kale salad this week too…with fresh CSA kale 🙂
Bananas! I haven’t had bananas in months! Why oh why won’t they drop in price from $3 each? *sob*
Though that may not be quite what you mean by “food” 😛 As for who would buy sad-looking packaged kale salad? I would, but only because I can never find fresh plain kale here. I can, however, gloriously find all the ingredients for your dressing, so methinks with the addition of chilli and some other veggies for the kale, I’ve got this weekend’s lunch salad sorted 🙂
Love the sound of that combo on a salad, or even noodles. Or kale ribbons. I take breaks from even my favorite foods once in awhile. I think it’s vital to rotate and I think our society has such a narrow amount of veggies and fruits compared to what the wild can provide. So if you take a break, no biggie!
Gosh that dressing sounds right up my street! I often make a really quick dressing with just tahini, miso and water but this sounds like the bomb! I haven’t had a raw kale salad for way too long so I may be recreating this exactly very soon!
Big Fan of the kale salad and not just because its my name!
Outstanding is right! If you served that salad and dressing, I’d grab the serving bowl and ask where yours was.
Hope things are well with you. I’ve been wondering…
OOOOWEEEEE yum yum yum! I too need to revamp my daily kale salad and this will be perfect! Tahini and miso in anything spells a very happy Arielle.
Do you ever find that the kale salad doesn’t absorb the dressing as well when it is not oil based? If I don’t masage my kale with a little oil first it never gets as wilty and delish. Normal? Am I massaging wrong haha?
Thanks Gena!
yeah, some oil does help, but I find that a rich dressing like this will work if I massage the kale really hard.
That sounds so good. I’m wanting to try making some kale chips with my new dehy in the next day or two: that dressing sounds like it would work that way too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much miso (proportionately) in a recipe, but my ND says that together with sauerkraut, miso is the best for re-establishing gut flora, so I’m looking for more ways to get more of it in.
So agree about the hiatus and extra pleasure. I haven’t been able to get my hands on parsnips for weeks and was just thinking how much I’d enjoy some…
I have a major lovejones for miso – and a minor one for tahini. I’ve never tried either with agave and I think this dressing recipe is the perfect opportunity for me to get acquainted with what looks like a winning combination. I’m seriously so excited to make this.
As for foods I haven’t eaten in a while, I’m going to go with tempeh. I saw it prepared like ground beef for a taco recipe on Edible Perspective recently and it was definitely enticing….
This looks so so yum. My M and my baby sister would like their plates clean I think! Such wonderful flavor combinations. I am amazed that you went a whole month without kale!! Did anything fall off? I am glad you have been reunited with a long lost love, and that you have turned M onto some dense nutrients! Keep up the awesome raw conversion work sister! My M eats almost all raw with me now too! It can be done!
After all of your talk the other day about how lovely fat is in salad dressing, this sounds fabulous : )
Looking forward to cooking up a storm this holiday weekend!
This post reminds me that I haven’t had a really great salad in far too long – and when I do make one, it definitely needs homemade dressing. This one looks really tasty 🙂
Gena, you’re the best. I’ve been looking for a miso sesame dressing FOREVER but all the ones I’ve tried have been crap. This is the first one that looks like a winner, and it’s used on a kale salad. Best thing ever? I think so. I’ve got a kinda-meh kale salad in the fridge right now, but once it’s done I’m going to be making this, though I’ll probably sub brown rice syrup for the agave because it’s what I have on hand.
this miso dressing sounds perfect, we have started to eat more miso (inspired by you) and forgot how much we love it
The dressing sounds perfect and the kale salad looks wonderful. I love the picture of it in the wooden bowl. It’s beautiful and looks so inviting!
Back to the dressing…anything with tamari, miso, tahini just screams of Gena. And anything with agave just screams of me 🙂
Gotta try this one!
And foods that I hadnt had in ages, well lately it’s been watermelon b/c few people eat watermelon over the winter but they are in season here and I am loving them. In full force!
It’s so weird…I just posted about making tahini-miso sauce. And to answer your question about what I haven’t eaten in a while…it’s that sauce! I used to make it all the time. Now since rekindling my life for the tahini-miso combination, I’ve been making it again every day. As part of my lunch today, I used some to dip a raw red bell pepper in. For dinner I’ve been pouring it over a baked sweet potato. Heavenly. Your dressing is a little bit more spruced up than the quick-mix variation I throw together on a whim, but I can imagine exactly how it tastes. I love the sesame addition. I can’t wait to make this!
We don’t get agave syruop in Oz what would be a good substitute?
Honey, if you’re not (strict?) vegan. Maybe maple syrup?
Do you have access to liquid coconut sap – it is vegan, and sort of in-between honey and agave in flavor. Or maybe brown rice syrup?
Gena, I turned on my computer tonight looking for a quick and easy pad Thai sauce when I came upon this post (luckily I read your blog before doing anything else so I didn’t waste time looking around!). It seemed like it would work so I threw it over kelp noodles and it was delicious. I look forward to trying it on a kale salad as well! How did you know I would need this recipe tonight? Thanks as always 🙂
i’ve never actually had tamari.does it have wheat? soy sauce makes my mouth break out like crazy in itchy little bumps (guess it’s the wheat!) i had a frozen banana blended with frozen avocado chunks with vanilla for a creamy ice cream. it’s been prob since before lent since i’ve had a nanner!
Tamari is supposed to be the liquid from miso unlike soy sauce, which has wheat, but in many cases, it is just soy sauce and has wheat. You’d have to see it is is listed as gluten free or try to buy wheat free tamari.
I haven’t had eggplant in forever and I can’t wait until they start popping up so I can buy them once our farmer’s market opens. I’m really looking forward to trying out an eggplant “bacon” recipe – my tastebuds and mandoline are dying to try it. 😛
Wow, had to star this post because the dressing looks perfect! Tahini is amazing stuff that I could eat right out of the jar!
I have a firm belief that tahini can make anything taste good 🙂
This looks amazing! Cannot wait to try it — I bet it would also be yummy as a tofu sauce/marinade.
this sounds awesome! can’t wait to try. I LOVE kale and miso-anything.
It’s truly the best when you forget about a food you love and get to sort of rediscover it!
This looks delicious – I love miso + agave – they work so well together. 🙂
Weeee I cannot wait to try this!! I am suuuper impressed by M — the more salads, the better!
I hate to ask this, but is there a possible substitute you would recommend for kale in these kinds of salads? It is a sad thing, but in The Netherlands, I’ve only been able to find kale from September-March. It isn’t available at other times. My green smoothies haven’t been the same for months!
Hey a fellow Dutchie! I’m wondering about it as well!
You could lightly blanch (very lightly) Savoy cabbage (the green crinkly kind) or use Chinese cabbage like bok choy. If that doesn’t work, mache (cornsalad) could work even though it is more tender. Or use chard (silver beet) or spinach.
mmm this looks delish! LOVE kale salad! I find that the most time consuming part of it is washing the kale…