This green goddess dressing recipe is bright and tangy, cool and creamy, and packed with fresh herbs, with a little zip from some lemon and garlic. It’s delicious on salads, spooned over grilled fish, or eaten with crudités.
Homemade salad dressings and vinaigrettes are always things you’ll find in my fridge. My favorite Dijon vinaigrette and lemon dressing go with anything, so I always have a jar of one or the other and when my garden is popping with an abundance of fresh herbs, I can’t get enough of this green goddess dressing.
In This Post
Green goddess dressing was popular in the 70s, primarily on the West Coast, and the recipe that made it famous comes from San Francisco’s Palace Hotel, in 1923 (you can find the original recipe here). The cool and creamy dressing is similar to Caesar dressing, but with an herbaceous punch and a little zip from some lemon juice and garlic. It’s totally delicious served with crudités or dressing a simple green salad or even better, a green goddess pasta salad.
What’s in This Green Goddess Dressing
You only need a few simple ingredients to make this green goddess dressing:
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream (or Greek yogurt)
- Fresh herbs: I use parsley, basil, and chives, but you could use a green onion in place of the chives, and mint, dill, and/or tarragon.
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Garlic
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
How to Make Green Goddess Dressing
Like most dressings, this one comes together super fast in a food processor or blender. Just add all of your ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy—that’s it!
What Does Green Goddess Dressing Taste Like
Green goddess dressing is bright (thanks to lemon juice), herbaceous (thanks to lots of fresh herbs), and creamy (thanks to mayo and sour cream). Garlic gives it a little zip. Think of it as a cousin to Ranch and Caesar dressings.
Does Green Goddess Dressing Contain Avocado
While some green goddess dressings have avocado (and I love avocado), I prefer to leave it out in my recipe. That’s because it won’t keep as long in the fridge (the avocado will start to get funky).
Substitutions or Additions You Could Try
- Many green goddess dressings contain anchovies or anchovy paste. Occasionally I add them, but usually I don’t. They do add a great umami flavor, so add 1 or 2 filets or some paste if you like.
- Feel free to change up the combo of herbs you use. I definitely recommend using parsley and basil, but you could also add some fresh tarragon, or try basil and mint.
- If you want a tangier, slightly healthier dressing, you can use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
- Add half an avocado (keep in mind this will make the dressing thicker, so you may need to adjust by adding more lemon juice or a bit of water).
How to Use Green Goddess Dressing
- I love using this dressing over simple spring and summer salads with chopped romaine and butter lettuces, some sliced avocado, cucumber, and tomato (sometimes with a little blue cheese, feta, or Boursin).
- Use as a flavor base for this green goddess pasta salad
- Drizzle over grilled fish
- Enjoy as a dip for crudités
How Long Does Green Goddess Dressing Last
This dressing should keep for about a few days in the fridge.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating on this recipe below and leave a comment, take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.
Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ½ cup fresh parsley
- ⅓ cup fresh basil
- 3 tablespoons chives , chopped
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic , optional
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
More Salad Dressing Recipes to Try
- Greek Salad Dressing
- Dijon Vinaigrette
- Blue Cheese Dressing
- Sesame Dressing
- Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing
We send good emails. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and have each post plus exclusive content only for our subscribers delivered straight to your e-mail box.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more FoodieCrush inspiration.
As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There may be affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.
I was totally addicted to this dressing years ago. Lost my original recipe; so happy to find this one! Is it possible to overdose on this stuff? YUM! Thank you!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Kimberly!