There is nothing better than a great salad dressing and this oriental dressing for a salad is near perfection! Applebee’s Oriental Salad Dressing is so creamy with a flavor that is indescribable.
Make your own creamy oriental salad dressing at home
I love making homemade salad dressings. But making this Applebee’s Oriental Salad Dressing had me stumped for a long time. It’s perfectly sweet with an almost smoky flavor but coming up with the recipe for this oriental dressing for the salad wasn’t easy so I started experimenting.
I started with a vinaigrette then added some oil. I used regular sesame oil plus a touch of toasted sesame oil. And this recipe was born.
Difference Between Vinaigrette and Dressing
Most salad dressings are made with similar ingredients but there is a slight difference between a vinaigrette and a dressing.
Vinaigrettes are made with a mixture of oil, like olive oil, and something acidic like citrus juice, vinegar, balsamic, apple cider, rice vinegar, white or red wine vinegar, etc. Add some seasonings and dijon mustard and you have created a delicious vinaigrette.
Dressings, on the other hand, are thicker in consistency and usually start with a creamy base like mayonnaise, buttermilk, yogurt, etc. Oil & vinegar are still including in a dressing along with seasonings but it’s much thicker than a vinaigrette.
This salad dressing is a variation on a vinaigrette and dressing. It starts with vinaigrette ingredients but mayonnaise was added for the creaminess.
Stock Your Pantry with these Ingredients
Most salad dressings or vinaigrette recipes use the same ingredients. Here’s a list of ingredients you will need for most dressings and vinaigrettes including this recipe. Most of these ingredients you will already have.
- Olive Oil
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- White Wine Vinegar
- Red Wine Vinegar
- Rice Vinegar
- Sesame Oil (refined and toasted)
- Dijon Mustard
- Mayonnaise
- Buttermilk
- Yogurt
- Sour Cream
- Sugar
- Salt & Pepper
Oriental Salad Dressing Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this dressing:
- Sugar
- Rice vinegar
- Mayonnaise
- Refined sesame oil
- Toasted sesame oil
- Dijon mustard
How to Make Oriental Salad Dressing
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and rice vinegar and mix until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Add the mayonnaise, both sesame oils, and the mustard. Stir until well blended.
Recipe Notes
- Refrigerate the salad dressing in a covered container for up to 1 week.
- Rice vinegar is carried in most grocery stores, be careful not to purchase the seasoned rice wine vinegar, as it is sweetened and makes the dressing way too sweet.
- Refined sesame oil can be found in the regular section of the oils in a grocery store. For the toasted sesame oil, look in the Asian section of your grocery store.
Ready to start cooking? Let us know what you think about this recipe in the comments below.
Love homemade salad dressings? Try these recipes!
- Best Blue Cheese Dressing
- Ginger Salad Dressing
- Hibachi Salad Dressing
- Homemade French Dressing
- Hot Bacon Dressing
- Olive Garden Italian Dressing Recipe
- Pesto Salad Dressing
- Russian Dressing
- Santa Fe Salad Dressing
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Applebee’s Oriental Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons refined sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine sugar and rice vinegar and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. Add the mayonnaise, both sesame oils, and the mustard and stir until well blended.
Video
Notes
- Refrigerate the salad dressing in a covered container for up to 1 week.
- Rice vinegar is carried in most grocery stores, be careful not to purchase the seasoned rice wine vinegar, as it is sweetened and makes the dressing way too sweet.
- The refined sesame oil can be found in the regular section of the oils in a grocery store. For the toasted sesame oil, look in the Asian section of your grocery store.
Craig Tanaka
I substituted Monk Fruit and Honey as the sweetener.
I also added a tablespoon of Halm’s Hawaiian Tri Sauce. If you can get your hands on a bottle, you’ll thank me later.
Camille Marsh
I just made this dressing just as described and i love it, it’s perfect! I eat the oriental grilled chicken salad from Applebees like once a week so I’m excited to be able to make this at home!
Sophie
the best recipe!!
Mike
Per the recipe it makes 8 servings, so serving size is 1/8 the total recipe. So far as the runny consistency, I had made for years with Kraft Fat free mayo and if anything it came out too thick, went to low carb recently and put real mayo in and found it was very runny… Going to use xanthan gum to try to thicken it up… Great ingredient to have around for low carb btw. replaces corn starch and other thickeners, and also is stable for salad dressings with acids unlike almost any other thickener.
Selina
The Applebee’s oriental salad dressing looked wonderful, but I really didn’t appreciate she did. Not say what the measurements were. Really? Why would she leave that very important information??
Boris Polen
Love this dressing, made it three times this month.
Wendy
How do you thicken it? It was Really good! Thanks
Stephanie Manley
You could sprinkle in a little xantham gum maybe 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon.
Sandy Larson
Very good dressing! I also did not have refined sesame oil, so used peanut oil as substitute. Flavor super but dressing doesn’t seem to blend real well. Oil staying around the outer area. I did use light mayo. So maybe that’s my problem. Didn’t want to dirty a blender so will give it some shakes and see. Thanks for sharing!
Laurie Ennis
This dressing is very good and I admit that I had to lick my plate! Since we are on lockdown in Michigan, I used canola oil for the refined sesame oil since I didn’t have any but did have the toasted and used just a tad more of that. It was delicious. It was thinner than the Applebees dressing so I think maybe just add a tablespoon of honey for one TBSP of the sugar? Excellent recipe just the same.
Amy
Can you buy this exact dressing in the stores??
Stephanie
I don’t think you can buy Applebee’s Oriental Salad dressing in the stores.
JC
You cannot, and I’ve looked in a number of stores and online!
Rae
This recipe is spot on! So good! I didn’t have any toasted sesame oil on hand, so tried it without it. It’s amazing. Sorry Applebees.
Karen Davis
Where do you find the refined sesame seed oil. I can not find it in the grocery stores I have been to?
Stephanie
I have purchased this oil at Walmart and Kroger, so it is fairly common.
Jill
I didn’t think this recipe was “spot on” until I used honey in place of the sugar. Then it was like BINGO! that was it!
Laurie O Sullivan
Hi! I LOVE this dressing, its the best EVER.
I wanted to know how much you consider one serving so i can estimate calories. Please let me know what this is considered as I’m trying to keep track of how much I’m consuming, and that sauce makes this salad!
Thank you very much,
Laurie