Green Goddess Dressing is a smooth, creamy, and bright herb sauce ready in only 10 minutes. Swap out the herbs for your favorite blend, give it a kick with extra jalapeno, or make it completely vegan. Serve it as a dressing, sauce, dip, or spread over salads, tacos, burgers, fries, roasted veggies, and more.
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Green sauce is a common occurrence in my house. It adds a pop and herbaceous flavor to the meal. While we adore avocado dressing and cilantro jalapeno sauce, this green goddess sauce recipe has become a staple in our refrigerator.
What is Green Goddess Dressing?
Green Goddess dressing is a smooth, creamy salad dressing or dip made with a mix of fresh green herbs, avocado, yogurt (or sour cream), jalapeno for a kick, fresh lime juice, garlic, and salt and pepper.
While I love picking up a bottle of Trader Joe's green goddess dressing when in a rush, it tastes much more fragrant and tastier when I make it from scratch.
Plus, it takes good use of all those odds and ends of extra cilantro, parsley, and mint I have in my fridge. Whiz it up in a blender and store it in the fridge until ready to serve. It doesn't get any easier than that! 🙂
It's a Super-versatile sauce - serve it as a sauce, dip, spread, or dressing that can honestly be put on everything. And with one switch of ingredients, you can easily make it vegan!
Customizable it by choosing your favorite mix of herbs, and enjoy this vibrant and refreshing sauce in 10 minutes!
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Ingredients - Notes & Substitutions
The list of ingredients is short and sweet - and I bet most of them are already in your kitchen.
- Water: Start with ¼ cup and work your way up from there. Add 1 Tablespoon at a time, if needed.
- Garlic: For savory punch and flavor, one clove is just the right amount. Feel free to use ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder instead.
- Jalapeno: Manage the spice level by leaving the seeds and ribs intact for a spicy sauce or removing them altogether.
- Plain Greek Yogurt: Classic green goddess salad dressing is made with mayo and sour cream, but we use rich and creamy Greek yogurt instead. Healthy, tangy, and a nice boost of protein. That being said, feel free to use sour cream instead. To make it vegan, use coconut yogurt or cashew cream.
- Avocado: This makes it green and creamy. Use an extra avocado if not using yogurt of any kind. (We're using avocado instead of mayo here since it's a healthy substitute and provides the same creaminess as mayonnaise)
- Fresh Lemon Juice: The juice adds a wonderfully bright flavor. Lime juice would also work.
- Cilantro, Mint, Parsley: This is my absolute favorite combo of fresh herbs. Chives, scallions, tarragon, basil, or dill would all work, too.
- Salt + Pepper: To enhance all the flavors and give it a savory kick.
Note: Anchovies are part of the original Green Goddess recipe (and usually included in store-bought salad dressings), but I kept them out to keep it vegetarian. Capers would be a nice addition or even a splash of vegan Worcestershire sauce or coconut aminos.
Scroll to the recipe card for a detailed list of ingredients and quantities.
How to Make
A goddess-flavored dressing that's ready before you know it. Use a blender or food processor, whichever you have on hand.
Add Ingredients in Order: Add ingredients to the blender jar in this order: Water, garlic, jalapeno, yogurt, lemon juice, herbs, avocado, salt, and pepper.
Blending Tip
Why the order of ingredients matters: To ensure your blender operates efficiently and blends everything smoothly without bruising the herbs or turning them bitter, follow this order for adding ingredients.
Blend: Blend to a smoothie-like consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl and chill until ready to serve.
Serving Suggestions
As the name suggests, the green goddess is classically served as a salad dressing, but you can get creative with this one. Its eye-catching tint of green will make you want to dive in.
- Dressing: Try it on Greek salad, kale chickpea salad, or healthy pasta salad.
- Dip: Make it the star of the show with fresh cut veggies or serve it as a dipping sauce for air fryer falafel, air fryer french fries, potato wedges, sweet potato fries, or carrot fries.
- Sauce: Drizzle it over roasted cauliflower tacos, blackened fish tacos, chana masala tacos, or Mexican rice.
- Spread: Slather it over taco burgers, masala chicken burgers, black bean burgers, or veggie burgers.
How to Store
Leftover green goddess sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. For best results, add 2-3 tablespoons of water, lime juice, or olive oil to prevent the surface from turning brown.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Spice Level: You can make this sauce spicier by keeping the jalapeno seeds and ribs intact before blending.
- Green Goddess Sauce: Add the ingredients to the blender in the order listed. This facilitates easier blending.
- Water: Start with ¼ cup water for the sauce, then add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed.
- Vegan: Replace the Greek yogurt with coconut yogurt, another avocado, or homemade cashew cream.
- Storage: Add 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, lime juice or olive oil over the sauce to prevent it from turning brown. Keep the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I do not recommend freezing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bright, creamy, tangy, and refreshing. It's the perfect complement to crisp greens, roasted vegetables, fish, meat, and more.
According to America's Test Kitchen, Chef Philip Roemer is credited with creating the dressing at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in 1923 to pay tribute to actor George Arliss and his play, "The Green Goddess".
While Panera's sauce is absolutely delicious, its ingredients are slightly different than this recipe. Besides herbs and yogurt, it also contains shallot, pesto, mustard, agave, and vinegar.
Popular Dipping Sauce Recipes
These are all part of the Condiment & Sauce recipes section:
📖 Recipe
Green Goddess Dressing
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Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup water or as needed
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 jalapeno, cut in half deseed for mild spice level
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1 cup cilantro leaves
- ½ cup mint leaves
- ½ cup parsley leaves
- 1 ripe avocado
- ½ teaspoon pink or sea salt adjust to taste after blending
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Add ingredients in the blender jar in this order: Water, garlic, jalapeno, yogurt, lemon juice, herbs, avocado, salt, and pepper.
- Blend to a smoothie-like consistency. Transfer to a serving bowl and chill until ready to serve.
Notes
- Spice Level: You can make this sauce spicier by keeping the jalapeno's seeds and ribs intact before blending.
- Green Goddess Sauce: Add the ingredients to the blender in the order listed. This facilitates easier blending.
- Water: Start with ¼ cup water for the sauce, then add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed.
- Vegan: Replace the Greek yogurt with coconut yogurt or another avocado.
- Storage: Add 2-3 tablespoons of cold water or lime juice over the sauce to prevent it from turning brown. Keep the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. I do not recommend freezing.
Porkchop says
1 have a bullet type blender where you place items in the bowl and then invert onto blade !! So would you add items in opposite order ?
Aneesha says
Yes, that's correct. Enjoy!
Laura says
I so appreciate all of your hard work and I made your recipe for Channa Dal. Its is soooooooo delicious, Thank you so much. But the question I have is have you heard of Catalina dressing@ It was very popular in the 60s or 70s. It was eaten along with a salad and I think chips on top, do you think you could do a recipe for it? Wow, that would be amazing, oh, maybe with carrots? It was like carrot colored I think. Anyway, Thank you soooo much. Take care...
Aneesha says
Thank you for your kind words Laura! I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe. I've never heard of or tried Catalina dressing, I'll go get a bottle soon 🙂