Super creamy, tasty and versatile Vegan Avocado Dressing made in a blender or food processor in minutes. Make it thick like mayonnaise or thin like vinaigrette, depending on your needs. Use it as a dressing for salad leaves, as a dip, spread in sandwiches, and dolloped on foods like bowl meals, tacos burritos and potato wedges.
This creamy Vegan Avocado Dressing is a simple 6 ingredient kind of deal and is perfect for using up the odd overripe avocado you have lying around.
If you've made my Cucumber Avocado Salad then you will have first-hand experience of this dressing because it's the one used in that recipe. It's super quick and easy to make and incredibly versatile!
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Ingredients & equipment
To make this vegan avocado dressing you will need a food processor or blender and these simple ingredients:
- Avocado - It must be soft and ripe. Slightly overripe is fine but underripe won't blend well. It's what makes the base of this dressing super creamy.
- Lemon or lime juice - For some citrusy tang and flavour. It also helps stop the avocado from turning brown.
- White wine vinegar - A classic ingredient in salad dressings because of its acidity which balances out the flavours, adds some tang, protects the lovely green colour, and also loosens the dressing up a bit.
- Garlic - Adds a punch of flavour!
- Sriracha or hot sauce - I love a touch of spice in this recipe. Feel free to omit it if you don't though.
- Olive oil - Preferably extra virgin. Adds flavour, richness and gloss. Omit to make the recipe oil-free.
- Water - Add as needed to thin the dressing out.
- Salt & pepper - Essential for flavour.
How to make Vegan Avocado Dressing
For detailed measurements and instructions, see the printable recipe card.
Make this vegan avocado dressing in 2 easy steps:
- Add everything to a food processor or a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy.
- At this stage, it will be really thick, like a mayonnaise-type texture, but you can thin it down with some more water, vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out to a more vinaigrette-style consistency if you want to.
Storage
This dairy-free avocado dressing is at its best when consumed on the day it is made but leftovers can be stored in a jar or other airtight container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days. It will lose its green colour over time due to oxidation of the avocado but still tastes absolutely fine.
How to serve
Use this avocado salad dressing recipe for anything you would typically dress (or dollop) with a creamy dressing. It has the power to elevate so many meals! Some ideas include:
- for dressing leafy salads or Cucumber Avocado Salad
- as a mayo sub in sandwiches
- dolloped on veggie burgers like my White Bean Artichoke Burgers or Vegan Black Bean Burgers
- spread in burritos or dolloped on tacos
- with roasted vegetables
- use to make slaw or smashed chickpea salad
- with taco fries or bowl meals
- with baked tofu, cauliflower wings, falafel or bbq tofu
- as a dip for chopped veggies, chips, fries or potato wedges.
Possible variations
For me, the beauty of this Avocado Dressing is that all you need is a ripe avocado and a few pantry ingredients and you are good to go. If you want to kick it up a notch though, you could:
- Add fresh herbs. Cilantro would work really well either chopped and stirred through or blended up with the dressing.
- Add some fresh chopped chili or chili flakes
- Use lime juice instead of lemon juice to make a delicious avocado lime dressing
- Use more or less garlic
- Omit the sriracha
- Make it creamier by using creamy unsweetened vegan milk or canned coocnut milk instead of water
FAQS
Made as written it does have a subtly spicy kick. If you don’t love spicy food, it’s probably best omit or reduce the sriracha/hot sauce.
Omit the oil and use a little more water instead.
Put your avocado in a brown paper bag with a ripe banana. Ripe bananas contain ethylene, which triggers ripening. The paper bag traps the ethylene gas that’s produced by the banana and speeds up the ripening process of the avocado. If you don't have a banana, try placing your avocado on a sunny window sill because the warmer temperature will help to ripen it faster.
Need more salad inspo?
- Oil-Free Strawberry Vinaigrette - (strawberries in a salad dressing? Sounds weird but honestly it's so good!)
- Vegan Salads & Tips For Making Them Great - (All the salad info you need plus some really great recipes)
- Vegan Broccoli Salad - (One of my all-time favourite salad recipes!)
- Kidney Bean Salad - (Super easy to make and packed with protein!)
📖 Recipe
Vegan Avocado Dressing
Author:Ingredients
- 1 large avocado , must be soft & ripe
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice , or lime
- 2 tablespoons water , plus more to thin as needed
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil , for oil-free just use more water instead
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1 teaspoon sriracha , or other chili sauce (omit if you prefer)
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop the flesh out into a food processor or blender.
- Add the lemon/lime juice, water, olive oil, garlic, sriracha and vinegar. Blend until smooth.
- Adjust the thickness to your liking by adding a little more water before blending again for a second or 2 to combine.
- Check the seasoning. Add a little more salt and pepper to taste if necessary, and an extra squeeze of lemon or lime if you think it needs it.
- Decant into a jar or other container.
NOTES
NUTRITION
Nutritional information is provided for convenience & as a courtesy. The data is a computer generated estimate so should be used as a guide only.
JoAnne says
Absolutely DELCIOUS dressing. Thank you for sharing your food wisdom.
Di-Di | The Foxy Flexitarian says
Oh my! Thank you so much for this recipe Melanie. Tried the creamy version because Avo's are now in season in our part of the world. Will try the vinaigrette soon.
Melanie McDonald says
You're welcome. Perfect timing!
Donna Fox says
I tried the lime avocado sauce, it’s definitely a good tasting dressing, this as alot of potential on other dishes. Thanks!!
Alysha Derenzo says
I made this tonight and absolutely loved it! We doubled the recipe so we have extra for a couple days. It’s great as a dip for carrots! I followed the recipe and measurements aside from two minor substitutions - flax seed oil in place of olive oil and cayenne pepper in place of sriracha to reduce sodium content and skipped adding salt but it was still excellent. I used my Vitamix so it was quick and easy and came out extra creamy.
jodi says
Was excellent on our salad this evening! Thank you so much!