5-minute Hemp Seed Dressing (oil-free)-A Nutrient-Packed Delight! This might be the best dressing you'll ever taste! It's quick, versatile, and loaded with greens for an extra antioxidant boost. Plus, it's oil-free and great for your health-perfect for salads, bowls, or dipping. Once you try it, you'll want to put it on everything!
This Oil-Free Hemp Seed Dressing is made with the heart-healthy fats found in hemp seeds, which enhance nutrient absorption. It pairs perfectly with leafy greens, tofu, beans, or even as a drizzle over soups and stews. The vinegar base helps control blood glucose spikes, while the lemon boosts iron absorption. Miso adds umami without raising blood pressure like regular salt, and the fresh herbs provide an extra dose of antioxidants. It's a flavorful, nutrient-packed way to elevate any dish!
This dressing is perfect with my Dense Bean Salad, which is made of the three legumes that are highest in antioxidants! You might also enjoy my oil-free Creamy Asian Tahini Dressing on this site.
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👩🏼🌾 Ingredients & Health Benefits
- Hemp hearts - Two tablespoons of hemp hearts have about the same amount of protein as two egg whites. Hemp is also a great source of magnesium - 30 g of hemp seeds contains 210 milligrams (mg) of magnesium. For bones, magnesium contributes to bone density by supporting calcium absorption and activating vitamin D. Around 60% of the body's magnesium is stored in bones, making it a critical mineral for maintaining their strength and structure.
- Nutritional yeast adds a rich, savory, cheese-like flavor and helps thicken dressings. If you're looking to boost your B vitamin intake, opt for fortified nutritional yeast, which often includes B12-especially important in plant-based diets.
- Mellow miso adds rich umami depth to any dish without raising blood pressure like traditional salt.
- Dates: Some research indicates that dates can help lower blood glucose levels, reduce cholesterol and triglycerides, and increase beneficial HDL cholesterol. They also appear supportive of a healthy gut microbiome.
See the recipe card for exact quantities and check out the link below for where to purchase specific ingredients.
🌿 Substitutions
- Chives & parsley - use your choice of fresh herbs for the dressing (cilantro, basil, mint, scallion)
- Date syrup - substitute with maple syrup or agave to taste
- Garlic - substitute with 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For more healthy dressing recipes, visit my Healthy Dressings page.
📖 How to Make Hemp Seed Dressing
For the full recipe with quantities, scroll down to the bottom of the post. This is an overview.
- Make the dressing: Transfer the red wine vinegar, hemp hearts, nutritional yeast, mellow miso, garlic, chives, parsley, lemon juice, water, and date syrup to the canister of a blender.
- Blend on high until smooth.
Serve with my Dense Bean Salad for a delicious and healthy meal you can prep in advance.
✔️ Expert Tips
- Use good quality vinegar for the best-tasting hemp seed dressing.
- Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
🙋🏽♀️ Recipe FAQs
A tablespoon of vinegar twice a day lowered fasting blood sugar by 16 points in one week-outperforming leading medications like Glucophage and Avandia. This approach is cheaper, safer, and easier to access, with fewer side effects. However, for those with type 2 diabetes, two tablespoons with lunch and dinner may offer the best results. These findings, independent of any vinegar company funding, highlight why vinegar has been used medicinally for centuries.
Choose a reputable brand without detectable lead, such as Bob's Red Mill, Bragg, Dr. Fuhrman, Red Star, or NOW Foods' nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is a rich source of beta-glucans. Beta-glucans don't directly kill cancer cells but can help our immune system fight them. For example, natural killer cells-immune cells that target tumors-became five times more effective at killing breast cancer cells when treated with beta-glucans. In a small study, women with advanced breast cancer who took a tiny amount of nutritional yeast saw a 50% boost in a type of white blood cell that helps protect us.
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Hemp Seed Dressing (Oil-Free)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 6 tablespoons hemp hearts
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon mellow miso (white miso)
- 1 large clove garlic
- ½ cup chives
- ½ cup fresh parsley leaves
- 1 small lemon juice, or to taste
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon date syrup or maple syrup, or to taste
- Salt or salt substitute, to taste
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EQUIPMENT
- Blender
Instructions
- Transfer the red wine vinegar, hemp hearts, nutritional yeast, mellow miso, garlic, chives, parsley, lemon juice, water, and date syrup to the canister of a blender.
- Blend on high until smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is provided as a courtesy and is only an estimate. Nutritional values may vary depending on factors such as product types and brands used.
Mumpo says
Very tasty 😋
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So glad! Thank you.
Kelly says
I absoulutely love this recipe! The only downside is that I experienced some bloating and stomach discomfort afterward. Could hemp seeds be the cause?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
You might not be used to this amount of hemp seeds. Your body should adjust.
Denise says
Absolutely LOVE this recipe. So good on most any salad. I also love the high protein content as I find it difficult to get enough throughout the day. I appreciate all your recipes!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So happy to hear you are enjoying this dressing. Thank you.
Chelsae says
Is there a substitute for miso?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Yes, tamari or soy sauce.
Wendy-Lee Leeners says
Hello! This looks delicious!
Can you tell me, what is considered a serving? 1 or 2 tablespoons?
Love your content!
Thank you!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Thank you. It is one-fifth of the total amount.
CSF says
Made this with some leftover mint and parsley. Delicious!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Love those additions! Thank you for sharing.
Brigitta says
I have made this dressing several times now. I use it on my sprouts and arugula, avocado, cucumber, tomato, red onion salad I have for breakfast. It is easy to make, tastes delicious, ingredients I always have on hand, lasts a week in the fridge and has super healthy ingredients. Win win win!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So happy to hear this dressing is coming in handy! Thank you.
Denise says
Made this dressing tonight for a main dish salad and it checked all the boxes for herby flavor and creaminess! Looking forward to having it again on my lunch salad. I love that it also contains protein.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So happy you are enjoying the dressing! Thank you.
Liat says
Can I double it and freeze it?
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
I have not tested freezing this dressing. It should be ok.
Brigitta says
I just found you on FB. Thank you for these wonderful looking healthy, nutritious recipes. I just made the hemp seed salad dressing and had it on a sprout and lentil salad for breakfast. Really good and will be on regular rotation at my house. I will also share your site with a few like minded girlfriends. I love that your recipes are no added fat.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So glad you are here. I love the sound of that savory breakfast! Thank you for commenting.
Alif says
I've used roast hemp seeds for this. Delicious character building dressing.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So happy you enjoyed the dressing. Thank you
Tony says
Hi. Great dressing.
How long can you store this in the fridge for.
Thanks
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
Thank you! Up to 4 days.
Val says
This is really delicious! A really tasty dressing. I had it with kale and carrot salad and it was so good. I didn’t have quite enough parsley left in the garden and I used maple syrup as had no date syrup. Next time I will use a whole date as a sweetener. Thank you for such a good recipe.
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
It's one of my faves! So happy you enjoyed it too! Thank you.
Sherylanne says
This dressing packs a punch. I didn’t have chives on hand but it still turned out beautifully. My new staple along with the lentil soup I have made 4 times already.
Thank you for these great recipes. 🙏🏻
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you.
Mandi says
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I made it with the Dense Bean Salad and was so delighted with the result. It's delicious and so nutritious!
I served with an avocado tonight and some sourdough which was nice too.
Will definitely make this a staple and may try with coriander instead of parsley next time with the chives.
Thank you SO much for all the beautiful recipes ... I'm not much of a cook so have been eating processed vegan food but now you've given me the confidence to try out all your recipes. Thank you so much!
Nisha Melvani, RDN says
This makes me so happy to read! So glad you are moving away from processed foods. You will feel very different!