Pour this raw, vegan, and gluten-free Garlic Sunflower Seed Dressing over bowls or salads, use it in wraps or tacos, or make it into a dip for veggie sticks or crackers! It's versatile and easy to make.
As a non-salad-eating person, this vegan blog seriously lacks salad dressings. But when I have lots of weird leftovers, I tend to make a bowl or wrap and this is the perfect time to drench everything in a delicious dressing.
This Garlic Sunflower Seed Dressing is not only vegan but also gluten-free and raw. It’s super easy to make and the perfect garlic-y addition to any salad, bowl, taco, wrap, or you can make it thicker by adding less water and use it as a dip for veggie sticks or crackers. I'm a sucker for versatile recipes!
Sunflower seeds are such a great alternative to cashews (because they are cheaper and considered a superfood because of their health-promoting effect). And it's always good to switch things around every now and then and eat a wider range of foods.
How to make this Garlic Sunflower Seed Dressing
The Ingredients
You'll only need 6 ingredients:
- sunflower seeds (hulled)
- water
- lemon juice
- garlic clove
- salt
- maple syrup
The ingredients are pretty basic, you probably have all the ingredients for this dressing at home already!
The basic steps
I love my small blender for making sauces. It's one of the best investments ever because it wasn't expensive and it's especially great if you don't want to make a massive amount of sauce/dressing.
Serve it with...
- Vegan Taco Salad Bowl with Walnut Meat
- Pulled Jackfruit Wrap
- Baked Samosas filled with potatoes and spinach (vegan)
Love it? Rate it!
I hope you enjoy this Garlic Sunflower Seed Dressing as much as I do! Let me know if you give it a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Garlic Sunflower Seed Dressing
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup sunflower seeds (raw, hulled)
- ⅔ cup water + more for soaking
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- 1 garlic clove peeled
- ¾ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Soak the sunflower seeds in water for about 1-2 hours. Then rinse and drain.
- Add the soaked sunflower seeds, garlic, salt, maple syrup, lemon juice, and fresh water into a blender.
- Blend until completely smooth. Now you can adjust the consistency. You might want to add more water for a thinner dressing or leave it as it is for a dip.
Rebecca Strength and Sunshine says
This would have gone beautifully with the wraps I made today! The perfect dip for them :O
Bianca says
Definitely! It's so good and I love when recipes are multi-functional and work as an dip & dressing :)
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
Ahh hight speed blenders, how I love you! It's incredible that we can make such beautifully creamy dressings out of such a healthy simple handful of things. And my favorite part about healthy delicious dressings like this is you can pour them on generously :) This summer weather has me craving all the salads all the time so I'm pinning this for when I inevitably get really bored with my current avocado "dressing". It sounds so tangy and bright!
Wenchypoo says
Anybody know how long this can store in the fridge before it goes bad? n The Paleo egg/oil recipe is only good for 3 days, since there are no kind of preservatives in it to give shelf life. Is it the same for this stuff, or does the Vit. E in the sunflower seeds make up for it?
I ask because I'm currently doing a low histamine diet, and olive oil, vinegar, and lemon juice are off my to-eat list (but i have a vinegar/lemon juice sub that i can use). There are no condiments allowed on this diet (because they all contain vinegar), but my histie bread is so dry...I'm hoping this is the answer!
Connie says
Using my high speed blender, I added a bunch of parsley. Then wondered maybe cumin, more garlic, more salt. Either way it's fresh and delicious.
Tyler says
Honestly, this dressing was extremely bland.
Suzi says
So my vegan chef hubs and i made this tonight. Need to replace Vegenaise we've been buying in large quart jars forever. Not the healthiest or worst stuff. One of the only processed food we consume daily. Addicted.
First of all, when it's out of stock in grocery store, we're out of luck. Second, price has recently gone from $8 to $12 per jar. That's crazy at the rate we use it.
Been a staple in our fridge forever. Basis of our daily salad dressings, so while i've tried to find good recipes to make a decent sub for years, i never had any real luck. Till tonight!!
We started with this exact recipe minus raw garlic clove for our first try. I added too much water in blender, so it's a little bit runnier than we need. It'll be fine tomorrow on our fresh salad! Next time, less water. Easy.
Ended up putting in juice of one medium-sized juicy lemon. Yum!! Maybe that's another 1.5T fresh squeezed lemon juice added to recipe. Total: 3.5T
Added a LOT more (RealSalt) ... so maybe a total of 2.5t of salt.
Added some (Sari Foods) nooch for more body and oomph... maybe 1T or so?
Added maybe 1 - 1.5t garlic powder (since no fresh garlic) and maybe 1t onion powder.
Added 2t ACV for more tang.
Added maybe 1T EVOO for smoothness.
Added 1-1.5t dried Italian seasoning herbs.
Mind you, we're trying to reproduce the salad dressing and its base we use every day, which has always been mostly Vegenaise. It's pretty tasty right now! Tomorrow, on our yummy fresh salad, we'll have it with breakfast to try it out!
Thank you so very much, Bianca! You might not be a salad person. Tonight, you have made these two salad lovers very happy with your excellent recipe!! We'll be playing with the herbs and spices, tang (maybe throw a little sauerkraut in), and proportions. This basic recipe saves us money, calories and replaces a processed staple with something much healthier and just as rich and creamy. Wow.
We're bringing a big fresh salad to our family Thanksgiving feast next week. And this dressing (some version of it) will be featured, too. Sorry this is so long. You've given us such a wonderful gift with this genius recipe. Grazie!!
Bianca says
Wow, thank you so much for the detailed feedback, Suzi! So glad you find the recipe useful! You could also try using a combination of cashews and sunflower seeds, this will give it a richer and smoother texture.
Haley says
@Bianca, have you tried this with pumpkin seeds?!
Bianca says
I haven't tried this with pumpkin seeds. I think it would work BUT pumpkin seeds have a more intense taste. So that's a thing to keep in mind. It's also possible that the dressing sauce will not turn out as smooth or creamy.
Marilyn Larden says
Hi Bianca, how long will this keep?
Glenna says
If I use sunflower seed butter instead of ground fresh, what would be the amount to use?
Have a Great Day,
Glenna