The best dressing EVER! Honestly, this nutritional yeast salad dressing is so creamy, tangy, rich and lip-smackingly good you'll be eating it straight out of the jar. It only needs a handful of ingredients and a few minutes to make too!
Love nutritional yeast? Make sure you try my nutritional yeast tofu and nutritional yeast tempeh!
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Okay, wow. I am absolutely obsessed with this nutritional yeast dressing. It's like liquid gold! Rich, creamy, deep, tangy, garlicky, a little salty from the soy sauce, savoury and full of umami thanks to the nutritional yeast.
This recipe came about because I love the store-bought nutritional yeast-based salad dressings like Yeshi and Little Creek, but with the current price of groceries and the rate I go through dressing, spending nearly $10 per bottle just isn't sustainable anymore. So I set out to make my own version and I'm so pleased with how it turned out!
This punchy nooch dressing is a great alternative to traditional vinaigrette, but don't just use it on your leafy greens. It's also really great on rice, noodles, grain bowls, tofu, tempeh, and as a dip for veggies. Truly multi-purpose!
Mel x
🤍 WHY YOU'LL LOVE THIS NOOCH DRESSING
- It's made with nutritional yeast! I mean, what vegan doesn't love nooch?
- Made in a couple of minutes with pantry staples.
- Punchy and packed with flavour.
- So versatile! Great on salads, as well as rice and grain bowls, noodles, tofu, veggies, sandwiches, etc.
- The flavour gets better and better while it sits in the fridge.
- Way cheaper to make than it is to buy similar nutritional yeast dressings.
Ingredients
Here is what you need at a glance, along with some important ingredient notes & substitution ideas:
- Nutritional yeast - No subs here as it's the main ingredient! Don't use brewer's yeast or baker's yeast instead. They are not the same.
- Apple cider vinegar - My preference for this dressing because it's quite mellow. You could use white wine vinegar instead. I don't recommend using any other vinegar.
- Oil - You can use extra virgin olive oil, regular olive oil or avocado oil. To make the dressing a little more budget-friendly, you could use vegetable oil, grape seed oil, or sunflower oil, or a 50/50 mix of any of those and olive oil.
- Soy sauce - Tamari, gluten-free soy sauce, and low-sodium soy sauce can be used instead. Coconut aminos would probably be ok too, although your dressing will end up much sweeter.
- Garlic - You can use fresh garlic or garlic powder (not garlic salt!). I've made it both ways, and there isn't a huge difference, but fresh does make it slightly punchier. Something to bear in mind though, is that if you use fresh garlic, your dressing won't keep as long as it will if you use garlic powder.
- Black pepper - Just pepper. We don't need salt because of the soy sauce.
- Rosemary - Fresh or dried. There is only a tiny bit of this, and the rosemary flavour isn't obvious. It does add a certain something something though, and is in keeping with the ingredients in similar store-bought dressings. You can safely omit it if you don't have any or fresh or dried dill makes a wonderful alternative.
Let's Make Nooch Dressing!
Can't wait to make it? The full printable recipe is below, but first, let me walk you through the steps to set you up for success in your kitchen. I recommend watching my recipe video if you're more of a visual learner.
(Note that for the purpose of better and easier to visualize step-by-step photos and video, I doubled the recipe).
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender jar. You can use a tall'ish container and an immersion blender if you don't have a blender.
- Blend until completely smooth and well emulsified.
- And a video in case you're more of visual learner!
Recipe FAQs
You have a couple of options. You can replace the oil with aquafaba. Same amount. Its starchy texture works to help the dressing cling to salad leaves in a similar way to oil. Or, replace the oil with 3 tablespoons of tahini and 3 to 4 tablespoons of water. It will give the dressing a slightly different but very delicious flavour. You can also try replacing the oil with unsweetened applesauce, a trick I use in my oil-free strawberry vinaigrette. I'd go for 3 tablespoons of applesauce and 3 tablespoons of water.
You can use an immersion blender instead of a blender. Unfortunately, you won't be able to make this dressing if you don't have a blender or an immersion blender. It needs to be blended to emulsify.
Recipe
Nutritional Yeast Salad Dressing
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- ½ cup (8 tablespoons) nutritional yeast
- ¼ cup (60 ml) apple cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) olive or avocado oil (for oil-free see the FAQ's ⬆️)
- 1 large clove garlic , or 1 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- OPTIONAL ⅛ teaspoon or a small pinch rosemary (dried or fresh)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add everything to a blender and blend on high until thick, smooth, creamy, and well emulsified. Or use a high sided jar/container and an immersion blender.
- Transfer to a sealed jar/container and store in the fridge.
NOTES
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Julia says
Just tried this with salad, very tasty. Going to try with noodles and rice later. So easy to make
In2insight says
This is so simple it’s so good. Great balance of flavors.
I did end up using Aquafaba and it was just a wee bit runny so next time I’m gonna try it with the wonderful suggestion of tahini.
Thanks for sharing!
in2insight says
Back to share that the tahini option is AMAZING.
Geryl says
What are the details for using tahini in this recipe?
Melanie McDonald says
The details are in the FAQ's under the question "how can I make this dressing oil-free". Copying and pasting the answer for you here now:
You have a couple of options. You can replace the oil with aquafaba. Same amount. Its starchy texture works to help the dressing cling to salad leaves in a similar way to oil. Or, replace the oil with 3 tablespoons of tahini and 3 to 4 tablespoons of water. It will give the dressing a slightly different but very delicious flavour.
John G says
Easy to follow and so good!
A+
Melanie McDonald says
Ah, glad you enjoyed it John, and thank you so much for the review. I haven't even shared this one anywhere yet as it's so new. Your review will really help!