Vegan Green Goddess Dressing with Avocado

This vegan green goddess dressing with avocado will knock your socks off! It’s rich and creamy and super easy to make. Depending on how fast you chop, you’ll have this yummy vegan salad dressing on the table in less than ten minutes. Pour this flavorful dressing on your favorite salad like this colorful rainbow salad, or use it as a sandwich spread or a creamy vegan dip. Made with avocado, green onions, garlic, fresh herbs, and a little lemon. This creamy vegan salad dressing is sure to please!

I’ve been trying to eat a little healthier – less processed and with more whole foods lately and had made a yummy whole food plant-based oven-grilled tofu wrap with zucchini, avocado, and chimichurri dressing one too many times last week. I needed a fresh new take on a beloved dish and remembered a green goddess dip from Trader Joe’s that happened to be vegan and knew it would make the perfect flavorful herby dressing to accompany this healthy vegan wrap.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the trip to Trader Joe’s so here is a super close Trader Joe’s copycat dressing for Vegan Green Goddess Dressing!

This highly flavorful herby vegan dressing is perfect to accompany foods like salad and veggies that need a little boost of flavor! Its main ingredient is avocado but it's very herby and more seasoned than the milder (but still delicious) avocado crema sauce which is more suited for more flavorful foods.

What is green goddess dressing and is it vegan?

Traditional green goddess dressing takes its name from its distinct green color and no, is definitely not vegan. It is traditionally made with a variety of herbs (hence the green color), along with mayo, sour cream, and anchovies – so no, not vegan.

Green goddess dressing is rumored to have been around since the roaring twenties and was (allegedly) named after a popular play at the time called…you guessed it: The Green Goddess. Whether or not any of that is true, you might be interested to read more about green goddess dressing on its Wikipedia page.

Veganizing green goddess dressing

Avocado is so creamy by itself that it wasn’t necessary to use vegan versions of mayo and sour cream. Just leave out the anchovies – because there is plenty of flavor without them! Now you have a delicious creamy plant-based dressing to enjoy with veggies, on sandwiches, or salads.

Ingredients needed to make your own vegan green goddess dressing

• avocado – I use a large avocado for this dressing. Even though it only calls for one, I usually buy two because you never really know with an avocado until you open it up:(
• parsley – Use fresh parsley. It doesn’t matter if you use flat-leaf or curly-leaf parsley.
• basil – Please use fresh basil. Since you’ll have quite a bit leftover basil leaves, so consider making a yummy vegan pesto too!
• fresh chives 
• onion – Use white or yellow onion. You will only need a small amount. You can chop and freeze the rest for when you need it later.
• green onion – You will be slicing and using both the green and the white parts.
• garlic – Chop up a fresh clove of garlic or use jarred chopped or minced garlic.
• apple cider vinegar – Gives a tangy slightly sweet undertone.
• olive oil – I use robust flavored extra virgin olive oil.
• water
•  lemon juice – Normally I would say that it’s okay to use bottled lemon juice but you need a little lemon zest too so just buy a lemon.
• lemon zest – Here is a handy lemon zester.
• salt and black pepper
• You will also need a fairly powerful blender to blend everything up nice and creamy!

How to make the most creamy and flavorful vegan green goddess dressing

The exact ingredients with measurements can be found in the recipe card below along with more concise abbreviated instructions. Read on for more details, tips, and tricks so that you will feel confident making this recipe.

First steps: Chop the vegetables

This dressing is so ridiculously easy! If you can chop vegetables and use a blender, you can make your own vegan green goddess dressing!

You might wonder why we need to chop anything if we are just throwing things in a blender! Honestly, this will make more smooth dressing more quickly to roughly chop the hard veggies first. The avocado needs only to be removed from the skin (and pit). The herbs only need to be removed from the stems and roughly chopped.

Zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice. It’s best to use a lemon zester or citrus peeler, but if your grater has a fine/small side to it, you can use that too.

It’s easier if you zest the lemon before you squeeze out the juice. If you don’t then it will be harder to get a firm grip on an empty lemon half while you are trying to zest it.

Chop both the green and the white parts of the green onions. There is always a little controversy about which part is best to use. In general, I like to use the white bulb part for sauteing and the green stem part for garnishing. For this recipe, use both parts.

Remove any slimy layers from the green onion bulbs, and wilted brown stem pieces. Cut off the end piece with the roots. Then go ahead and cut all the way down to the ends of the stem.

Roughly chop the basil, parsley, and chives. You don’t need to finely mince the garlic. A good chop will be enough. You can also use jarred minced or chopped garlic. For this recipe, it works just fine.

You will only need one tablespoon of chopped onion to make this vegan dressing. You may wonder if it’s even necessary to use the while (or yellow onion) since we are also using green onions. Even this little bit contributes to a flavorful dressing so don’t skip the onion!

You can always dice up the extra onion and freeze it for later for when you make creamy butternut squash with red pepper soup or veggie lentil soup. That way you can just pull the chopped onion out of the freezer when you need it!

Cut the avocado in half, remove the seed, and scoop out the creamy insides. No need to chop the avocado! You only need one avocado for this vegan dressing but I always buy two – just in case…because you never know with an avocado until you cut it open!

Now look at this beautiful perfect avocado! I guess I’ll be having avocado toast for breakfast with the other one.

Final step: blending the green goddess dressing

Put everything in a blender and blend for about 30 seconds if you are using a high-speed blender or a minute or two with a standard blender. It’s really that easy! You might need to scrape down the sides and reblend for a few seconds if you have ingredients that did not quite puree enough, but that will be your only challenge.

Mix until everything is nice and creamy and fully emulsified. This dressing is nice and thick and appropriate to use as a dip for crackers or vegetables. Or you can use this green goddess dressing to spread on your favorite vegan sandwich or wrap. It goes particularly well with a basic tofu wrap or veggie sandwich because it is so highly flavorful and won’t clash with any other highly flavorful ingredients (like found on a vegan grinder sandwich).

If you want to use the green goddess dressing as a salad dressing, then thin it down with enough water to easily pour. Start with two tablespoons and work up to a one-quarter cup of extra water.

How to store leftovers

This dressing is super yummy and tasty right out of the blender! But the good news it that you can make it ahead of time if needed. Tightly cover and refrigerate to save for later. In fact, you can store leftovers for up to three days as long as you keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. You might need to refresh it with a little water if you are going to be using it as a salad dressing because it will thicken when refrigerated.