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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Jenn, you goddess, thank you for the BEST green goddess dressing I’ve ever made. So fresh, bright, and savoury.
Wow, that’s a lot of herbs to buy for one recipe, with tons left over. I was thinking I could make a double batch next time so I could use up the herbs. So, Jenn, would this dressing freeze well? Thanks so much.
LOL – unfortunately, mayonnaise-based dressings don’t freeze well. Sorry Linda!
Delicious! I’ve been searching for a perfect Green Goddess dressing and I found it! I have tried several other recipes and frankly, threw a few out. This has a great balance of herbs, creamy goodness and brightness from the lemon. YUM! I serve this with veggies for dipping and also on salads. Prep takes a bit of time to wash and chop the herbs, but it is so worth it. Thank you so much Jenn!!
Love it! I only had fresh parsley and no dried chives. I used dried basil and tarragon and it stil turned out awesome! Thank you for another super keeper recipe, Jenn.
Amazing flavour!!! I do have a question following on a comment from a previous poster. If you subbed greek yogurt, would you sub it for the mayo, for the sour cream, or for both?
Glad you like it. If you want to use Greek yogurt, I’d use it in place of the sour cream. 🙂
Should I use Italian parsley or regular curly parsley? We have tried many of your recipes and all have been wonderful! Thanks in advance, Jamie
Hi Jamie, Either will work but I use Italian. 🙂
Best Green Goddess dressing/dip I’ve tasted! This has the perfect blend of herbs! I added a little more garlic, but that was the only change. We only use Dukes mayo and it gives this such a smooth creamy base. I’ll definitely be making this again!!
This is so good on salads, as well as a dip with crudités!
I copy a favorite salad from a local restaurant: Bibb lettuce, Roma tomatoes, cucumber, radish,Gorgonzola crumbles, and candied pecans, topped with this delicious Green Goddess dressing.
Hi Jenn,
This dressing is simply delicious. We love it on everything, it is our current favourite topping for quinoa patties, but we keep a jar made at all times this summer. My little herb garden can barely keep up!
Thanks for all your great recipes. Big hugs from Vancouver Island. 😊💕
Hi Jen
Is the parsley measurement 1 cup before it is chopped or after? – Same question with the Basil. Thanks for another great recipe – having this with the salmon bowl tonight.
Hi Corinne, I’d chop them first. Hope you enjoy!
This is super easy to make and so good with crudite. I’m a big fan of tarragon, so I’ll be making this often.