Korean Salad with Sesame Dressing

This salad is generally eaten with Korean BBQ meat. This recipe is a perfect dressing, better than I've had at most Korean BBQ restaurants and I got rave reviews from my friends on this dressing when I made it for our Korean BBQ dinner at home. Even my Korean mother asked me how to make it. Make double and save the rest in tupperware and you can use it as dressing on regular salads for later.

I doubled the recipe so I can use it as my go-to salad dressing for the next couple weeks. I also added some roasted sesame seed and diced garlic - - a great addition! My lunch tomorrow will be the dressing over soba noodles, sliced leftover chicken breast, shredded carrots, and diced green onions - - can’t wait to try.

This side served in most Korean restaurants - particularly if you are grilling - is one of my favorites. Our 'go to' Korean joint in Seattle - Blue Ginger - makes it spiked with sea salt in addition to the soy sauce which makes it extra tasty. We've made this several times at home, but the Mrs. and I don't agree on level of salt content needed. I'm always trying to sneak an extra bit in when she's not looking ;)

Made the dressing per recipe, but tossed with about 1 1/2 pounds of steamed green beans instead of lettuce. Served with Korean short ribs. Was a big hit at my party!

This was tasty, but not quite what I was hoping for (compared to the salad dressing at our favorite Korean BBQ place). I thought it tasted watered down, so next time I'd use less water or none at all. It also didn't need 1 full tablespoon of red pepper flakes, I used about a teaspoon and the heat was fine. I also added some ginger, and next time I might add garlic as well.

This salad dressing was wonderful! I just used a bagged salad mix instead of the red leaf lettuce and green onions. Also the only things I changed about the dressing were that I omitted the red pepper flakes because I didn't have any and added sesame seeds. It was very tasty!

my absolute favorite dressing. I don't change a thing. Gets even better after a few days of sitting in the fridge, too.

I was desperate to pull a quick meal together using one heart of romaine and frozen, mini pot stickers. That's all I had! I chopped the lettuce and arranged the pot stickers around it. I used this dressing on top. Great on the lettuce and a good dipping sauce for the pot stickers. It was quite good! Very few ingredients, that I just happened to have. I'll make it again.

I thought this tasted familiar to Japanese restaurant salads I've had before. My husband is Korean, and he didn't recognize this dish. His response was "Korean's have salad?!" Fresh salad is uncommon, because Koreans usually have some pickled vegetables (I.e. Kim Chi or other pan chon) at every meal.

OMG my new favorite dressing! thank you so much everyone for rating it so high! Love it!

Very good dressing. If you're not planning on using all the dressing right away, I recommend cutting back on the red pepper flakes a little. I love heat but it gets a little overpowering as the dressing sets in the fridge. Low-sodium soy sauce is a good idea, too. The dressing is great on almost any green salad.

Tastes just like the stuff at the restaurant! Thanks for the great recipe!

I made this side dish to go along with couple of other korean dishes I made last night. It tasted very similar to what my mom used to make for me in Korea when I was younger. I didn't put 5T of water because seemed little unneccesary to me cause it will dilute the flavor of dressing too much not to mention it will result in soggy dish. Even without adding any water I had enough amount of dressing to coat entire chopped red lettuce. Overall, it is a great recipe and easy to prep. Thanks for sharing!

This tasted almost like the kind I've had at the restaurants. Very easy and tasty!

Great salad dressing. The only thing I would change is that I found the dressing a little too salty so I would recommend reducing the amount of soy sauce. Otherwise it was delicious and I won't be buying salad dressing for a while!

This was delicious! Very spicy, so cut back on the pepper if you don't like spicy. (I love it!)

This worked well for tonight. I only made 1/4 of the recipe, enough for 1 meal. I used a 4oz bag of spring mix, low sodium soy sauce, just a lite sprinkle of crushed red pepper, and about a teaspoon or so of minced red onion for the green I didnt have. Additionally I added a quick sprinkle of garlic salt and salt and pepper. Thanks

Added a bit more sugar and omitted the red pepper. Served with mandarin oranges and rice noodles on the salad.

A very simple yet yummy and refreshing salad! This was a big hit.

I served this with the funinthesun's Korean BBQ Short Ribs, it was perfect! I only used about 1 tsp of red pepper flakes, and it was mildly spicy. Our dinner guests were blown away by how good it was. Definitely a keeper! funinthesun: keep the recipes coming, thanks.

Delicious simple dressing! Also vegan friendly!

My husband and I really liked this dressing; we used this on romaine. I did cut the water to only 3 tablespoons and had to use brown sugar (didn't have white on hand). I found it pretty spicy, but probably will keep the amount the same when I make it again. Oh, I did add a little bit of fresh ginger too.

I really enjoyed this salad dressing. I'm in Korea right now and it almost taste like what they serve as a side dish at the restaurants here.

I didn't care for this recipe. Too hot and salty for me.

I made it into a meal by adding roasted chicken and avocado

I served the dressing over rice noodles and added shrimp. My daughters loved it but it is spicy. Yum!!!

Great!

This came out just the way my mom used to make it. This salad goes so well with steak and rice.

really good! Put it over a bbg steak salad with shredded carrots, red onion, orange peppers, sliced almonds, crispy onions and hearts of romaine. Everyone loved it!!

I use recipes as more of a concept guide than following to the letter. This was a great dish. I made a few changes. The first is I didn't have green onions so I cut some chives out of the garden which worked very nicely. I reduced the dish to one serving, used rice wine vinegar, did not use reduced sodium soy sauce. I reduced additionally the oil to a tsp which is my diet allotment for lunch and used sesame seeds to top it Actually the two together would be the lunch allotment. ( adds fiber and other nutrients) The dressing was reduced to one serving. I added bulk and vegetables to the salad. A variation which may be good to top it would be grated ginger, seaweed and edamame. I would recommend changing the vinegar to rice wine. Also red pepper sauce which is more available here than red pepper flakes works adequately for Korean dishes using that ingredient. I also did not use water. The liquid in the vinegar, and hot pepper sauce was adequate for the dressing.

Made this for a twist on salad. When I went to serve, I remembered I also had rice paper, so we made spring rolls. This recipe was perfect for that. As per some of the reviews I decreased the water. Also, I only add half the oil at first as Sesame Oil has a powerful taste. Tasted better the next day.

I highly recommend using rice wine vinegar instead of white vinegar. I double the recipe and added a tbsp each of fresh garlic and ginger. I also used half regular sesame oil and hot sesame oil. I like spicy. This dressing taste a whole lot better the next day. I use it as a salad dressing or a regular dipping sauce for meats. Very delicious.

It’s spicy! I would start with 1tsp pepper flakes and move up from there. I did enjoy it!

Very tasty! I tweaked it slightly by adding an extra teaspoon of sugar and cut back to only 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper and it is very close to the dressing used at our favorite Korean barbecue.

Just made the dressing and it’s delicious. If you’re not a fan of spicy things, I’d say add only a teaspoon of chili flakes. Other than that, it’s perfect.

This was very spicy and husband loved it. Didn't change anything. Be prepared for a really spicy dressing. Yummy!

Extremely simple salad to make and an excellent compliment to an Asian dinner. Made as written except for using reduced-sodium soy sauce and half the oil (i.e., 1 Tbsp). Thanks funinthesun for sharing.

THIS IS ALSO REALLY GOOD OVER BROWN STICKEY RICE AND SOME BANANA PEPPERS ADDED TO THE SALAD MIXTURE:)

This has become our standard house dressing. It is so easy to make and very tasty.

I've made this as just a salad dressing and absolutely love it!! I'll make double the recipe and add the green onion andchopped garlic right into it to let it sit in the fridge. I've thrown it on salads, noodles, used it as a dip for dumplings.... It's great as is it.

I was bored with the dressings I had in the fridge and wanted something zesty so I have this a try. So good! I like spicy so I added some chili garlic sauce, but it'd be great regardless. Thanks for sharing!

Great recipe! I used a very scant tablespoon of the peppers because I thought it might be too hot. Simple and really delicious. I'll be making it again - would you believe tonight?

This dressing is sooo good I keep getting seconds for the salad. I did substitute the white vinegar with rice vinegar and added about 2-3 tsp white vinegar just because i thought 1/4 cup of white vinegar would be too much of a sour kick and added 1 extra tsp sugar. I also used minced regular onions as I didn't have green onions. It turned out just fine (thankfully!). I think you can also add whatever greens into this salad. I used a mix of lettuce, japanese spinach (horinzo) and thinly sliced cucumber. This will be my go to asian dressing!

This was too spicy for us - I would cut the hot pepper flakes way down. Good flavor, though!