I realized I needed a quick dressing while making a dense bean salad for lunch this week. My fallback recipe for salad dressing is Ina Garten’s simple two-ingredient vinaigrette. I drizzled it over my salad, and while it was pretty good, I felt the chickpeas and edamame pods needed a kick of umami. And that’s when it hit me. I can upgrade the vinaigrette with the umami powerhouse that’s always stocked in my pantry: soy sauce.
My Salad Dressing Upgrade
You’re probably thinking, “But Kat, soy sauce is meant for stir-fried veggies and not a salad!” I would have been on that boat, too, had I not tried it myself.
After making the vinaigrette, I mixed in a tablespoon of soy sauce. I recommend you start with a teaspoon and go from there, adding more to suit your palate. For those of you who love sweet salad dressing, use a sweeter soy sauce. I wouldn’t go as sweet as kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), but you’re welcome to experiment.
I recommend Lee Kum Kee’s sweet soy sauce, as it also has a bit of smoky caramel flavor. It’s my go-to soy sauce when steaming whole fish or braising meats in a clay pot, and it’s perfect as an addition to vinaigrette because it provides a touch of sweetness without having to add honey or sugar.
Having a Vietnamese and Cantonese background, I naturally keep more than just one type of soy sauce at home. My everyday soy sauce is quite special: shirodashi, or white soy sauce, made with oysters, mushrooms, bonito, and kombu extract (all ingredients packed with glutamates, or nature’s MSG). You can tell this is a good soy sauce because everything on the label is written in Japanese, and the name translates to SUPER UMAMI.
This soy sauce makes everything better, including Ina Garten’s vinaigrette, by adding umami notes and enhancing other flavors. I buy my soy sauce from my local Japanese supermarket, but you can find it online for a slight upcharge.
So, the next time you’re about to make a salad, consider whipping up my three-ingredient vinaigrette to drizzle over your greens. A mere splash will level up even the simplest salads, amping up the flavor with an irresistible umami kick.
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My Tips for Making Salad Dressing
- For even more umami, mix a pinch of MSG into the vinaigrette.
- Minced herbs, chives, shallots, garlic, or a mix can add more flavor to your vinaigrette.
- If you enjoy thicker salad dressings, give the vinaigrette a good whisk before adding to your greens. You can even try frothing it up with a milk frother.
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