Green Goddess Dressing Recipe

Last Updated May 15th, 2024 at 11:28 am by Lisa

Green Goddess Dressing bursts with fresh herbs and delightful flavor! Today, I am sharing my Mom's original Green Goddess recipe exactly the way she made it back in the day. It was wildly popular in Southern California in the 1970s, and still is to this day...

For years, this recipe from my Mom rested in my family collection of California Food Recipes with many others. I finally pulled it out, and made it. Wow! Memories flooded back of weeknight dinners at home with my family around the table in the 1970s and '80s.  Oh my gosh, I burst into tears when I licked the spoon and got a taste!

Growing up, I remember a mayo jar tucked neatly on the glass shelf of our fridge, with this gorgeous green dressing inside.

Green Goddess Dressing Recipe

I cherish this recipe card in my Mothers handwriting. It was one of her all-time favorite salad dressing recipes. Be sure to check out all our Salad Recipes on Delicious Table!

Green Goddess Dressing Ingredients

So what is in Green Goddess Dressing? Well, the original recipe has very simple ingredients.

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• ½ cup sour cream
• ⅓ cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives and or green onions
• 3 tablespoons anchovy paste (or swap 3 anchovy fillets)
• 3 tablespoons tarragon wine vinegar (see recipe notes to make it at home or for swaps)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic crushed
• pinch kosher sea salt
• pinch black pepper

1. In a blender or food processor, add mayonnaise, sour cream, finely minced parsley, green onions (and or chives), anchovy paste, tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar), lemon juice, crushed garlic, kosher sea salt, and black pepper.
2. Blend on high speed until smooth about 30 seconds until it reaches a creamy texture. then chill until ready to use in a covered bowl or jar with a lid.

Recipe Notes, Swaps, and Variations

Most modern recipes call for avocado. The original recipe has been turned into a vegan green goddess dressing. But that's not the way it was made in Southern California even though we are known worldwide for our avocados!

In my humble opinion, this is the original recipe from back in the day and is the best Green Goddess Dressing recipe.

Those variations are all up to you, but hey this is so good, why change a California classic?

Vinegars: White wine vinegar is the best tarragon vinegar substitute, Champagne vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or rice vinegar may be used but it won't be the same taste.

Best Substitutes For Tarragon Vinegar: In the last year, I could not find tarragon vinegar at my grocery store. You can make tarragon vinegar at home. Mix 1 cup white wine vinegar and put 1 teaspoon dried tarragon in a tea strainer or a tablespoon of fresh tarragon leaves. Let it steep at room temperature for a few days, and it flavors the vinegar to use in recipes. You can also place fresh tarragon in white wine vinegar, and it will flavor the vinegar!

Flavor Variations: As recipes do, they all evolve over time. There are so many green goddess versions with mint, cilantro, cloves garlic, basil, dill, ripe avocado, cashews, lime juice, and just a few teaspoons of anchovy paste.

Anchovy Paste: Substitute canned anchovies with 2-3 whole anchovies for 3 tablespoons of anchovy paste. Also, you can reduce the amount of anchovy paste if you prefer as it is a strong flavor.

Green Goddess Salad Dressing Recipes became very popular in the 70s and most people might think it was named for its green-tinted color, but there is a great deal of history with this recipe.

It has come in and out of popularity over the decades, both as a homemade salad dressing and sold bottled in grocery stores since the 1920s.

Modern versions often include ingredients like Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise, avocado, egg yolks, Dijon mustard, and tarragon leaves. Recipes do change with time, but the original is so good.

History

Food historians give credit to Executive Chef Philip Roemer of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco California, who invented Green Goddess Salad Dressing in 1923 to honor actor George Arliss, who was staying in the hotel while he starred in a play called “The Green Goddess.”

It is widely believed, that Chef Roemer’s Green Goddess salad dressing was created after sauce verte au pain by a French Chef to Louis XIII. Today, Sauce Verte has a mayonnaise base, with herbs like tarragon, parsley, and sage.

Mom's Original 1970s Recipe For Green Goddess Dressing

I will never be sure how my Mom got this recipe in the 1970s, but it was very popular among her friends. Many of those Ladies were home economists. Mom was an amazing home cook and taught cooking classes as a high school teacher in Southern California.

Our home life was filled with delicious homemade meals, entertaining guests was a weekly event and part of our family life. We were either preparing for dinner parties or cleaning up from one!

Mom had many family friends who were cookbook authors, cooking instructors, appliance demonstration experts, and food stylists. From an early age, food, cooking, and entertaining were a big part of my life.

How Can I Use It?

There are so many ways to use this classic California recipe for salad dressing. Try your recipe for Green Goddess Salad Dressing on a relish tray as a veggie dip, for a fried shrimp sauce, or toss it into hot pasta.

• Drizzle it as a Green Goddess Sauce onto grilled, fried, or roasted shrimp!
• Serve with steamed artichokes.
• Use as a Green Goddess Salad dip.
• Serve as a sauce with oysters.
• Use as a roasted vegetable sauce topping.
• Dollup on grilled or baked chicken.
• Drizzle on a Chilled Iceberg lettuce salad
• Serve veggies with this flavorful dip on a crudité platter with carrots, radishes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli...