Japanese Onion Dressing

Japanese Onion Dressing combines the natural sweetness of onions with the savory flavor of soy sauce. It's delicious on salads and versatile enough to complement a wide variety of dishes.

Japanese Onion Dressing is a type of salad dressing made by combining finely chopped or grated onions with soy sauce, vinegar, oil, and other ingredients. Typically, the onion is lightly sautéed to mellow its sharpness before being mixed with the other ingredients. What makes this dressing special is the delicious combination of the onion’s natural sweetness and the savory depth of soy sauce.

Its mild yet distinctive flavor makes it a great choice not only as a dressing for fresh vegetables but also as a sauce for grilled or sautéed meat and fish. It's also a delicious way to enjoy the nutritional benefits of onions. Its well-balanced flavor makes it easy to incorporate into everyday meals, so give this refreshing dressing a try and enjoy it with a variety of dishes.

The key to making this dressing really delicious is bringing out the onion's natural sweetness. To achieve this, there is one simple step you won't want to skip: sautéing the onion.

After finely chopping or grating the onion, sauté it in a pot or pan. This mellows the onion's sharpness and brings out its natural sweetness. The shorter you cook it, the more of its sharpness and texture the onion will retain; the longer you cook it, the softer the texture becomes and the sweeter and richer the flavor gets.

How long you cook the onion is ultimately a matter of personal preference, but as a general rule, 3 to 5 minutes over medium heat is plenty. This will bring out the onion's natural sweetness while still retaining some of its texture. If you are using a mild onion variety, you can also use it raw, but even then, sautéing is recommended, as it helps bring out its sweetness even more.

This simple step also helps the onion blend more smoothly into the dressing along with the soy sauce, vinegar, and oil.

There is a particular type of onion I recommend for making this dressing: yellow onions.

While yellow onions can have a pronounced bite when eaten raw, cooking them brings out their natural sweetness, making them ideal for Japanese onion dressing. They produce a mellow, well-balanced dressing that still allows the onion's distinctive flavor to shine through.

If you use sweet onions, cooking them will bring out their sweetness even more, but the result will be noticeably sweeter, with less of the distinctive onion flavor. For this dressing, I highly recommend using yellow onions.

One of the distinctive features of Japanese onion dressing is that its texture can vary depending on whether you finely chop or grate the onion.

If you finely chop the onion, the small pieces remain in the dressing, giving it a more noticeable texture. On the other hand, grating the onion creates a smoother texture while still allowing you to enjoy its flavor.

The choice between the two methods doesn’t make much difference in flavor, but it does make a significant difference in texture, which can change the overall impression of the dressing. The photos on this page show the dressing made with finely chopped onion. Feel free to choose whichever method you prefer.

Ingredients

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Instructions

🕒 Total: 40 mins mins

Step 1
Finely chop (or grate) the onion.

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Step 2
Put the onion in a pan and sauté over medium-low heat for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it becomes translucent and its pungent aroma mellows. (There is no need to cook it until browned.)

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Step 3
Transfer the onion to a bowl and mix it with extra virgin olive oil, sugar, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld as it chills.

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How to store

The dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.