Dragon sauce is a ginger forward creamy sauce that is usually added to buddah bowls – bowls filled with a grain, vegetables, and perhaps tofu chunks that have been baked or fried. But really it’s a perfect sauce for all sorts of things: dipping vegetables, drizzing over roasted vegetables, or just heaping a spoonful on top of plain rice. It reminds me so much of a ginger sauce my husband and I enjoyed at a restaurant called Japanese Village back in the 90s. It was baller, as the kids would say. This one is pretty darn close. And what’s better is that it’s also really quite inexpensive to make.
I originally heard about Dragon Sauce in a number of forums and social media online. There are a few different recipes available for one of the most well known Dragon Sauces, such as the popular Aux Vivres, however almost all of the recipes contained oil – and sometimes quite a bit. This is fine and perhaps tasty, but because I do not consume any oil for health reasons, I couldn’t try them out. I was about to try dropping oil or substituting something else, but I ran across this Dragon Sauce recipe mentioned on a Chowhound forum comment that did not contain the copious amount of oil – however, this recipe did not have specific measurements (heaping soupspoon intermixed with tablespoons and cups… bit open to interpretation!). What I first made was also a bit too sweet for my tastebuds on a salad. So I reduced the maple syrup and enhanced the miso and ginger a bit, made specific measurements, and here is the result.
I have made this recipe in both my Vitamix (high-speed blender), and a food processor. It actually changes the taste a little, because the minced garlic doesn’t entirely blend in and you get a bit of a chunky texture and more pronounced garlic flavor. Both results are good, my husband likes the food processor version a bit better. If you want a sweeter taste, add an additional tablespoon or two of maple syrup (closer to the original recipe I found). Let me know what you think in the comments!
Oil-free Ginger Dragon Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup ginger minced, see notes
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 3 Tbsp garlic minced, see notes
- 3 Tbsp tahini
- 2 Tbsp white miso paste
- 2 Tbsp coconut aminos or tamari, or soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp water
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a food processor or blender, and combine well.
- Store in an air tight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
Changes and substitutions
If you’re using fresh grated ginger/minced garlic as opposed to jarred, you may want to reduce the amount or blend to taste. Strength varies greatly.
If you do not have tahini, you could try using some cashews or white beans instead. I would probably try about 1/4 of a cup or so.
If you do like a sweeter sauce, increase the maple syrup. Try an extra tablespoon, and then go from there as you continue to blend.
If you like the chunky garlic idea mentioned earlier, but want to blend in a vitamix (or your blender removed the chunks), try stirring in a bit extra after you finish blending by hand.
The nutrition label does not indicate how much is one serving
The recipe plugin didn’t offer this to be entered into the label until recently, so it’s not there for many of these older recipes. The number of servings is however available on all recipes. So when looking at how much this produces (about 24 tbsp amount or so), the per-serving is about 2-3 Tbsp.
I normally don’t leave reviews for recipes. But this is hands down the best sauce I think I’ve ever had. I’m almost in tears bc of how good it tastes!! (I know I sound loco) I didn’t have miso paste so I just added more water. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
Fantastic! So glad you liked it!!
PERFECTION! So VERY Delicious! Cray that three ingredients are so great together and make a wonderfully delicious dressing! Thank you SO MUCH!
PERFECTION! So VERY Delicious!
Your nutritional info almost fooled me, this is NOT a lowfat sauce. Raw tahini has 16g of fat per 2 tbsp. Please fix
This makes 12 servings – nutrition info is per serving.
You do not eat the entire recipe. The nutritional value is per serving. It is accurate, and it is low fat.
absolutely my favorite sauce, add some extra water and it also becomes the perfect salad dressing.
I’m so glad you like it! I do the same for salad dressing and agree 🙂
Does the maple syrup add sweetness or does it only balance the flavors? If I don’t want sweetness, would I eliminate the maple syrup or reduce the amount?
It’s mostly to balance the flavors and try to replicate a typical Dragon Sauce. You may want to test the sauce without before adding any and see what you think. Always a very personal thing 🙂 Can always add bit by bit at the very end to taste, or omit entirely.
Delicious!!!
I love the recipe! thank you!
So yum! i love it!
Tasty but a tad salty. I think I will use half the miso next time.
Definitely the way to go, adjusting for taste! Thanks Michele!
This is an excellent sauce! My wife and I were eating dragon bowls up in Montreal and decided to make our own bowls when we got home. This sauce is perfect for the bowls. I added the juice from 1 lime to the recipe and it gave it the citrus flavor we like! Thanks for the great recipe!
Additional lime sounds great! Thanks so much Tom!
Are you sure it has the right amount of ginger? I put in the third of a cup of fresh ginger, but it was so strong. I had to add water to dilute it.
Hi Kam! I made a note of jarred vs minced. Definitely a to-taste situation as they can be quite different depending on which one used. Thanks!
1/3 cup of ginger? That seems like a lot…
Never mind, I saw your response to someone else, I have fresh so I’ll try using less.
Yes. It’s noted under the Changes/Subs info to use less fresh ginger.