Easy Green Goddess Dressing

This post was originally published on A Food Lover’s Kitchen.

This Panera copycat Green Goddess Dressing is the perfect way to use up the extra herbs you have in the fridge or garden to make a creamy dreaming dressing for your salad or as a dip.

I remember a green goddess dressing craze 10 or so years ago, when it was on every menu and everyone was talking about it, but that seemed to die back for a number of years, until it showed up on Panera Bread’s menu on the Green Goddess Cobb Salad.

The Panera version of Green Goddess dressing is so delicious, as you might expect, that it’s garnered a bit of a cult following. We make it at home now, thanks to the recipe being posted on the Panera website. We want to share it with you!

» You might also like the Best Honey Mustard Dressing Recipe or Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing.

Green Goddess Dressing Recipe Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make this green goddess salad dressing:

• Mayonnaise – Use a good quality mayonnaise, or make your own, as this will add a nice richness to the dressing.
• Greek yogurt – Classic green goddess dressing is made with mayo and sometimes sour cream, but I skip them both in favor of Greek yogurt. It makes this recipe a tad healthier, and it adds a delicious tangy flavor.
• Fresh basil – The Panera version of this dressing uses basil, but you can toss in whatever other leafy herbs you have in my kitchen! Try using dill, mint, and/or cilantro, and tarragon.
• Basil pesto – You can use a store-bought pesto, or make your own following this recipe.
• White wine vinegar – The zesty vinegar gives an amazing bright flavor to this creamy dip.
• Dijon mustard – It adds extra richness and acid to the sauce.
• Agave syrup – This is the sweetness element of the dressing. Agave is as sweet as honey, but without the strong honey flavor. If you don’t have agave, you can substitute with honey.
• Salt and pepper – They add depth of flavor and tie everything together!

How to Make Green Goddess Dressing

Here’s the best part of this recipe. It’s incredibly easy to make. The only ingredients that need chopping is the basil, and it’ll take about 5 minutes to make your own pesto. Other than that, you just put all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk it together until it’s smooth and creamy.

Cover the dressing and refrigerate it, if you have time. Just 15 minutes will allow the flavors to come together and the dressing will shine.

You can use a food processor or blender if you want. I sometimes use my handheld stick blender. But a whisk works fine too.

What to Use Green Goddess Dressing For?

Salads are the main thing we dress with Green Goddess dressing. At Panera Bread, they put it on a chicken cobb salad. It’s good on any type of garden salad. We also use it to dress potato salad in a unique and tasty way. You can use it as a dip for French Fries, pour it on your baked potato, brush it on chicken wings. There are so many ways to use it!

How Long Will It Keep

This Panera-style Green Goddess Dressing will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator. It might become watery after a few days, but you can just stir it back up.

Keep it in an air tight container in the refrigerator, removing it only to dress the salad and return it right away. Always use a clean spoon to get the dressing out, or drizzle it from the container, to avoid contamination.

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