Green Goddess Dressing (and Dip)
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Cool, creamy, and flecked with fresh herbs, green goddess dressing is wonderful on salads or served as a dip.
Green goddess dressing is a creamy salad dressing (or dip) typically containing mayonnaise, sour cream, an abundance of fresh herbs, anchovy, garlic, and lemon juice. The dressing was supposedly created by a chef at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the early 1920s to honor the actor George Arliss and his hit play, The Green Goddess. It’s a variation of sauce verte (green sauce), a French mayonnaise-based sauce made with chopped fresh herbs.
Green goddess not only makes a delicious salad dressing and crudité dip, but it’s also is wonderful on seafood, especially slow-roasted salmon or roasted salmon and quinoa bowls, or simple grilled chicken. If you’re using the dressing for a salad, it should be room temperature so that it’s a drizzleable consistency. If you’re serving it as a dip, chill it in the refrigerator for a few hours until thickened.
Table of Contents
“Delicious! I’ve been searching for a perfect green goddess dressing and I found it…This has a great balance of herbs, creamy goodness, and brightness from the lemon. YUM!”
What You’ll Need To Make Green Goddess Dressing
Step-by-Step Instructions
In a food processor, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, parsley, basil, chives, tarragon, anchovy paste, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Process until the sauce is smooth and the herbs are very finely chopped, about 30 seconds.
Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve immediately if you’d like the dressing to be a drizzleable consistency, or chill for a few hours until thickened to use a dip. (To bring the dressing back to a drizzleable consistency after chilling, allow it to sit out at room temperature for about an hour and stir well before using.)
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Green Goddess Dressing (and Dip)
Cool, creamy, and flecked with fresh herbs, green goddess dressing is wonderful on salads or served as a dip.
Ingredients
- ½ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann's or Duke's
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
- 1 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
- ½ cup roughly chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh chives
- 1½ tablespoons roughly chopped fresh tarragon
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste (or two mashed anchovies)
- 1 small clove garlic, roughly chopped
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the sauce is smooth and the herbs are very finely chopped, about 30 seconds. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Serve immediately if you'd like the dressing to be a drizzleable consistency, or chill for a few hours until thickened to use a dip. (To bring the dressing back to a drizzleable consistency after chilling, allow it to sit out at room temperature for about an hour and stir well before using.) The dressing will keep well in a covered container in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (10 servings)
- Serving size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 108
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Sugar: 0 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Cholesterol: 11 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I did not have high hopes for it but it surpassed all my expectations.
I substituted spinach for basil, green onions for the chives and added 1tbsp of dill. Wow, was it ever good. It was one of the best things I ever tasted.
My mom used to buy Green Goddess dressing in a bottle for salads at home before ranch dressing came out. My whole family loved it.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I’m so glad to have a fresh, homemade version to enjoy again.
Love your recipes! I did have fresh tarragon and was looking for a way to use it. I did not have fresh parsley, chives or basil, so I substituted fresh baby spinach, cilantro and mint. Also, I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and one extra clove of garlic. So delicious!
HiJenn,
I am a huge fan of yours. I would like to make this dressing but do not have fresh tarragon. Could I use dried one, or are there other alternatives? Many thanks
Hi Rita, Glad you enjoy the recipes! You can use dried – just cut it back to 1 teaspoon. 🙂
Hello Jenn,
Many years I walked in darkness and did not like anchovies, not because I had tasted them, but because many friends who enjoyed pizza, did not like anchovies. I only repeated what I had heard. One fortunate day, I was able to taste a pissaladiere and absolutely fell in love with anchovies. Later on, I discovered than one of my favorite Spanish restaurants in Florida added Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies, to its proprietary salad dressing. Thank you for this great recipe as I look forward to new anchovy experiences.
Best, Keith
Is that restaurant by chance Columbia?
Ouch, yes, and I thought to be so 1905 clever.
🤣
Hi Jen,
Can you freeze this dressing?
Unfortunately, I don’t think this will freeze well — sorry!
I had some of this lovely dip left over after a party and used it tonight on roasted salmon. It was perfect!
I had fresh flat parsley and green onion on hand and felt like making a salad dressing or a sauce to go over salmon in the air fryer. Well this recipe did NOT disappoint! I didn’t have fresh basil or tarragon, so I subbed in dried and used Greek plain yogurt instead of sour cream. I like the addition of anchovy paste and my garlic clove was large. Blended everything in my mini food-processor et voila, c’est tres bon! I poured it over my salmon AND my spinach salad. This is going to be my go-to Goddess Dressing Dip! Thanks Jenn, for yet another great and tastey recipe! Janet from Toronto, CANADA
Made this without anchovies paste and was still so good! Used it on salmon, chicken and a mozz, basil and tomato sandwich. I’m obsessed, thanks for the recipe.
Wow, absolutely delicious. It makes a lot, so I feel like you could make a half recipe at a time. I made a quinoa bowl with lots of veggies and salmon, and drizzled this on top. Perfect. Now I’m going to refrigerate the rest to use as crudite dip.