Do you remember Green Goddess Salad Dressing? I sure do, I used to love that bottled green stuff from Seven Seas when I was a kid. My mom used to make a delicious taco salad with it and I even used it to top my baked potato in lieu of sour cream. And it’s a great dipper for raw veggies!
Somewhere along the line, the dressing began to disappear from grocery store shelves and over time, I simply forgot about it. Then a few months ago, when I began recreating all of my favorite salad dressings to be free of: dairy, egg, corn, soy, refined sugar, artificial colors, preservatives, and gluten cross-contamination, my mom’s Green Goddess taco salad came flooding back in my memory as I tried to figure out a way to enjoy Mexican inspired foods again without the use of corn and dairy (talk about feeling like a displaced New Mexican!).
Before I could make the taco salad though, I needed Green Goddess dressing.
According to Wikipedia, Green goddess is a salad dressing, typically containing mayonnaise, sour cream, chervil, chives, anchovy, tarragon, lemon juice, and pepper and is named for it’s green tint.
I found the following ingredient list for Kraft’s Green Goddess Dressing on Amazon:
Soybean Oil, Water, Vinegar, Sugar, Dried Sour Cream (Cream, Cultured Skim Milk, Culture), Salt, Contains less than 2% of Garlic, Xanthan Gum, Natural Flavor, Onion Juice, Spice, Polysorbate 60, Sorbic Acid and Calcium Disodium Edta As Preservatives, Mustard Flour, Yellow 5, Blue 1
The more I look at the ingredient list, the more nauseous I become. Where are the herbs? And the anchovies? I feel like my entire pre-celiac and food allergic gastronomic life was nothing more than a synthetic illusion!
Certainly Green Goddess dressing wasn’t invented by a food manufacturer (can you tell I grew up on processed foods?), so I did a little digging and came across this website that shares the history of Green Goddess as well as a simple recipe that was perfect for tweaking to be allergen-friendly.
If you have a fish allergy or are a vegetarian (and thus cannot use anchovies), I found a thread on Chowhound offering several ideas for vegetarian substitutes. The suggestion to use capers sounds like a great alternative to me.
Another very important note: Heinz Tarragon Vinegar is NOT GLUTEN-FREE! It contains malt vinegar which is made from barley and is not distilled. Luckily, it is very easy to make your own tarragon vinegar and I found a great recipe here.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Mayonnaise (I use Soy-Free Vegenaise or, you can make your own egg and soy-free mayo. If eggs are okay, try making some homemade "real" mayonnaise!)
- 1 - 2 tsp. Anchovy Paste (see notes)
- 1 Green Onion, chopped
- 2 tsp. Fresh Parsley, minced (or use 1 tsp. dried parsley, see notes)
- 2 tsp. Fresh Chives, minced (or use 1 tsp. dried, see notes)
- 1 Tbs. Homemade Tarragon Vinegar
- 1 tsp. Fresh Tarragon, minced (or 1/4 tsp. dried, see notes)
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup Dairy Free Buttermilk (see notes)
Directions
- Whisk all ingredients together in a medium bowl (or use a blender, see notes).
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
To achieve a naturally beautiful green hue to the dressing, use fresh herbs and make the dressing in a blender. The blender will pulverize the fresh herbs, releasing the chlorophyll and turning the dressing green.
The original dressing recipe turned out much thicker than what I prefer for a salad dressing. To thin the dressing, add enough dairy-free buttermilk until you reach the desired consistency.
I've not tried making this dressing with anything other than anchovies, but if you try using capers or another substitute, I would recommend starting with 1 tsp. and taste as you go until you reach the desired taste.
If you don't have a fish allergy and are not vegetarian but are anchovy adverse, I definitely recommend giving anchovies a try. While I was never one to put them on my pizza, a little anchovy paste doesn't have a fishy taste to me, it's just salty. Plus, anchovies are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids and because they are a small fish with a short life span, they are less likely to accumulate dangerous levels of mercury (to learn more, click here).
This dressing also makes a lovely variation to the standard mayo and mustard based potato salad. I’ve also been adding a dollop or two in the “eventually instant mashed potatoes” that I like to keep on hand for a quick and easy weeknight side dish. And of course, the corn-free, dairy-free Green Goddess Taco Salad, which I will share in a future post.
Have you ever had Green Goddess dressing before? If so, I’d love to know if you any special recipes or memories of it! 😀
And welcome to my blog!
Whether you're here looking for advice on how to go gluten free (with delicious kid-approved recipes of course!), or to read some of the latest medical research on celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity...or even to read about one woman's rise from the depths of gluten-free despair to a place of downright enthusiasm, it makes no matter. The point is, you are here now so let's have some fun!
Oh, Holy Cr@P, am I first? No way! Let's see if I am really first when this goes up. Um, um, um…What do I say?
Oh, yeah! I have never heard of this stuff, although I should have, also being a product of 70s/80s processed revolution. While the Kraft version sounds awful (although I am sure it tasted good.) I really like the sound of your version. I think I am going to have to make it sometime to take to Big Sur (FIL'S place with all of the people). I am sure it will be a big hit. Love you recipes, my dear friend. Keep 'em coming.
xoxo,
Tia
Oh Tia, this dressing is so good! I plan incorporating it into my Halloween party food repertoire too, the natural green color is just begging to be called something like swamp scum or witches' brew, LOL!
xoxo,
Heidi