Creamy Date Dijon Dressing - Smooth, tangy, and slightly sweet from the addition of dates, this is a great vegan alternative to honey mustard dressing.
Dates as a sweetener
I've been working on this recipe forever and a day.
It all started after reading Eat to Live (an awesome book no matter what type of diet you eat).
Joel Fuhrman has a delicious dressing in the book that employs dates as the sweetener, so I knew right away I wanted to try to put my own spin on it, but I never seemed to be able to get the right ratio of sweet and tangy.
After putting it in my 'Needs Work' pile, I tried again recently, and I finally feel like it's perfect.
Finger-lickin' good!
Honey mustard dressing ranks in the top 10 among America's favorite salad dressings, and it's easy to taste why.
It's the perfect compliment to anything from lettuce greens to sandwiches and chicken fingers.
I love drizzling this over a huge bed of lettuces and vegetables, and my husband loves spreading it on his chicken sandwiches. My daughter will even eat raw cabbage and cauliflower if they're mixed with this!
Creamy Date Dijon Dressing (Vegan, Paleo)
Ingredients
- 4 Medjool dates
- ½ c. Dijon mustard
- 2 T. apple cider vineger or lemon juice I prefer ACV
- ⅛ t. sea salt
- ¼ t. black pepper
- ½ t. garlic powder (or one fresh clove)
- ¼ c. olive oil
- 6-8 T. water depending on how thin you like it
Instructions
- Process the dates until they are broken down and become a ball of date paste.
- Add in the Dijon, vinegar or lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder or clove.
- Process until combined.
- While the processor is going, drizzle in the olive oil.
- Add in six tablespoons of water and process until combined.
- Taste and add in extra water if desired (I like it at six tablespoons).
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Notes:
This dressing is good enough to eat by itself! If you like super sweet dressings, you may want to add in another date or two. For me, it has the perfect balance.
This is my favorite Dijon mustard. NO sketchy ingredients!
Some of the items I use to make this recipe include:
Elisa
Hi, can I simply put this into a blender? Or would it be too water? I'm asking as I'm not sure what you mean by "process the dates"? I'm guessing you mean to use food processor? I don't have one, unfortunately.
Lauren
Hi Elisa,
A blender should be fine. If you don't process dates, there can oftentimes be large chunks, so pureeing them first ensures a smoother dressing. 🙂
Elisa
This is so yummy! Comes in handy to use up the extra dates I've in the fridge. It also gives the dressing the perfect sweetness I like. I usually use honey but don't really like how its taste can be over-empowering. Thank you, Lauren! Gonna be SO excited for this week's salad!
Cecile
How many tablespoons in a serving? Thank you.
Lauren
I've estimated about two.
Brittany
Incredibly good. I made this and served it with salad and BBQ chicken and sweet potato fries. We used the dressing for the salad and also dipped the chicken and the fries in it. 😀 thank you Lauren for being so awesome.
Lauren
So glad you liked it, Brittany - thanks for the review! 🙂
Patrice Olszewski
I just made this dressing and I love it!!! Being that we are all staying at home during this pandemic, it has given me a chance to try some great recipes and yours is one of them. I"ll be bookmarking this one!! Thank you!
Lauren
Glad to hear you liked this one, Patrice! Thanks for the comment!
Myranda
THIS RECIPE IS EVERYTHING! I am on the Daniel Fast and this recipe has made every salad worth eating! I don't get tired of salads because of this dressing. This will definitely be a staple in my fridge even past the Daniel Fast! THANK YOU!!!!!!
Lauren
Oh, yay! I'm so glad, thanks for the review!
Angela W Broyles
I made this dressing to pour over chicken drumsticks in my slow-cooker. Turned out amazing!! Love, love the flavor- not too sweet and it has the versatility to add other flavors to it- how about some fresh thyme?!
Corinne
This is one of my fav dressings! Thank you!
VERONICA JONES SHEEHAN
Hi Lauren! I know this is a bit late after you've posted this delicious sounding dressing, but what might you replace the oil with? I'm thinking perhaps a silky tofu.... or veg broth instead of the water at the end to thin it?
Lauren
Hi Veronica,
I'm not certain, but the tofu sounds like a good idea! A small piece of avocado might also work and add a similar viscosity. 🙂
VERONICA JONES SHEE7HAN
Awesome ty for the quick reply and suggestion. I'll let you know how it turns out!
Priscylla
I made this for our family's Sunday dinner and everyone was literally licking their plate. Will be making this much more in the future, thank you!
Betty Rawker
This looks insanely delicious!!
I can't wait to try it!!
xox
Lauren
Thank you! 🙂
Mary Carey
Creamy Date Dressing is very good. It will be my favorite dressing.
Kathleen
Yes! Create a yummy "ranch" dressing 🙂
Sherry
Just made my second batch of this. It is da bomb!
Lauren
Lol, thanks Sherry! I'm so happy you like it!! 🙂
Gabby @ the veggie nook
looks great! can never have too many dressing recipes on hand, especially one that includes my favourite dressing ingredient- mustard!
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Looks delicious!
Heather
looking forward to giving this a taste test. My fav is a poppy seed dressing, but I can't seem to figure out which of my books it came from.
marquis @realrawkitchen
Oh my goodness this looks so yummy and EASY! That's so important to me, that I can whip a dressing together quickly haha
I've played with mustard dressings before and I agree that making them sweet is best .. though I hadn't found a dressing that balanced the spicy flavors of mustard quite yet. Thanks for this! I'll be giving it a try 🙂
Karen
I can't wait to try this! Honey mustard is one of my favorites, but this sounds much better. I'm also looking forward to your ranch dressing recipe!
Lauren
Thank you Karen! I hope enjoy this if you try it! 🙂