Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
Creamy wild garlic dressing is a delicious, vibrant and versatile sauce. There’s lemon for freshness, cultured dairy for creaminess and gut health and fresh wild garlic leaves for flavour. It’s a great spring tonic. This recipe is ideal for drizzling over salads, steamed vegetables or mashing into potatoes.
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My spirits start to soar when the wild garlic season begins. It’s a harbinger of spring and brings the promise of delicious fresh food to liven up our taste buds and boost our immune systems.
Dive Right In
- What Does Wild Garlic Taste Like?
- Are Wild Garlic Flowers Edible?
- Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
- Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing Ingredients
- How to Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
- Other Wild Garlic Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- The Recipe
What Does Wild Garlic Taste Like
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) also known as ramsons, perhaps not surprisingly, tastes of garlic. It’s not, however as strong as actual garlic. It’s slightly sweeter and not quite as pungent either. It grows at a time when true garlic is harder to get hold of, which makes it an ideal substitute in the early spring.
The leaves are soft and require no cooking. You can chop them directly into salads, include a leaf or two in sandwiches, turn them into garlic butter or wild garlic pesto. Or why not make this delicious creamy wild garlic dressing?
You can also cook with it. Add to soups, stews, sauces, breads and savoury muffins.
Bear in mind that wild garlic has quite a strong flavour, so a little goes a long way. Be sure to taste as you go and adjust accordingly.
Are Wild Garlic Flowers Edible?
Yes, wild garlic flowers are edible. They’re pungent, but also quite sweet. The flowers make a great addition to salads. You can also use them as a garnish for savoury meals. They’re particularly good strewn over an omelette and on top of pasta too. But steer clear of cakes and desserts as they have a strong garlicky flavour.
However, if it’s the leaves you want, it’s best to pick them before the flowers start to form. Once wild garlic is in flower, the plant puts its energy into the flowers which results in tougher and less flavoursome leaves.
Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
Creamy wild garlic dressing is just what you need to add a burst of flavour to your spring salads and vegetable dishes. Made with fresh wild garlic leaves, creamy kefir or yoghurt and zippy lemon juice, this recipe is both gut-friendly and delicious.
It’s a simple recipe and only takes minutes to make. You can make it with yoghurt, kefir or even buttermilk. But be aware, it’s a dressing made for drizzling and pouring rather than a thick sauce you can dollop on with a spoon.
It’s quick and easy to make and you can store it in the fridge for up to a week. Just ensure you keep it in a sealed bottle.
I have a glass cruet* I use for salad dressings. It looks pretty on the table and pours well.
Wild Garlic Dressing Ingredients
You only need three simple ingredients to make wild garlic dressing, along with a pinch of salt.
Wild Garlic Leaves
As detailed above, this spring herb is a tasty addition to many spring dishes. But it also stands up well as the star ingredient in this creamy wild garlic dressing.
Wild garlic has various health benefits, including helping to reduce blood pressure. It’s also well known for its antibacterial, antibiotic and possibly, antiviral properties.
Kefir
The creaminess and slight tang of kefir helps to mellow out the intense flavour of wild garlic. Kefir is a fermented dairy product which really helps to keep the gut healthy.
As well as an excellent probiotic, it’s also rich in nutrients, such as protein and calcium. And if this wasn’t enough, it contains various vitamins and minerals including the elusive vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
We make our own kefir, so that’s what we use. But buttermilk or watered down yoghurt work well too.
Lemon
You only need a squeeze or two of lemon juice, but it’s an important addition. It adds freshness and zip and helps to counteract some of that garlic pungency.
How To Make Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
As long as you have a blender or food processor, this creamy wild garlic dressing takes all of five minutes to make.
Step 1. Prepare Wild Garlic
It’s important you give the wild garlic a really good wash in clean water. You’re going to eat this raw and if you’ve foraged the leaves, they’re likely to have some sort of debris on them.
I wash mine in a bowl of water, then rinse them under the tap for good measure.
Once washed, you need to dry the leaves. A salad spinner* is good for this. Otherwise squeeze them well with your hands or use a clean tea towel or paper towel.
Once dry, chop them roughly so they don’t clog up the blades of your food processor or blender.
Step 2. Blitz Ingredients
Place the chopped wild garlic leaves, the kefir and salt in the bowl of a mini food processor or blender. Squeeze in the lemon juice, then blitz.
You can make the dressing as fine as you like. I quite like flecks of green leaf in mine, so I just pulse it a few times in my mini food processor. However, if you want something that’s greener and smoother use a power blender and just keep going until you get what you’re looking for.
If you don’t have a food processor or blender, chop the leaves really finely with a kitchen knife. Place them in a jar with the other ingredients, close the lid and give it a good shake.
Top Tip
If you use yoghurt rather than kefir, you’ll need to water it down a little. Buttermilk is fine just as it is.
How To Use Your Wild Garlic Dressing
This creamy wild garlic dressing works particularly well on a green salad and also drizzled over tomatoes. It’s also good mixed into mashed potato or poured over a baked potato.
Although quite liquid, it works well as a dressing for veggie burgers, fritters and the like. Assuming, that is, that the burgers aren’t destined for burger buns. This is a dressing rather than a thick sauce. You can see I’ve used it with these homemade white bean burgers in the image above.
Other Wild Garlic Recipes You Might Like
- Beetroot muffins with wild garlic
- Creamy butter beans with mushrooms & wild garlic
- Green flatbreads with wild garlic & nettles
- How to preserve wild garlic in oil
- Wild garlic pesto
- Wild garlic tofu patties
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this creamy wild garlic dressing, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for using wild garlic?
I’d very much appreciate it if you could rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, please use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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If you’d like more spring recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing. PIN IT.
Creamy Wild Garlic Dressing
Equipment
- glass cruet bottle (affiliate link) optional
- salad spinner (affiliate link) optional
Ingredients
- 25 g wild garlic leaves
- 250 ml kefir or use buttermilk or natural yoghurt. If using yoghurt you may need to add a tablespoon of water so it pours nicely.
- 1 slice lemon juiced
- 1 pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Wash the wild garlic well and dry it. A clean tea towel, a paper towel or salad spinner all work. Chop it roughly.25 g wild garlic leaves
- Place everything in a blender or mini food processor and blitz to your liking. I quite like a few flecks of green in mine, but you can blend until a brighter green and completely smooth.250 ml kefir, 1 slice lemon, 1 pinch sea salt
- Pour into a bottle or jug and use to dress salads, drizzle over boiled or steamed veg, liven up veggie burgers or mash into potatoes.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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This creamy wild garlic dressing is incredible. it’s super easy to make and tastes incredible with so many salads.
It’s a really good one and somehow more special as the wild garlic season is so short.
I love how creamy this dressing turned out! Definitely adding this one to my dressing rotation!
Love it that you have a dressing rotation Tina. I’m now picturing a fridge full of bottles of dressings.
this garlic dressing turned out so good! loved how simple and quick it was to put together too!
Thank you, it’s a good one for spring and really doesn’t take long at all.
I absolutely love wild garlic. It’s a seasonal treat. Your dressing sounds absolutely divine and I can’t wait to try it xxx
It’s such a simple dressing, but a good one. I’m expecting CT with a big bag of wild garlic any minute now. Can’t wait.
love how simple this garlic dressing is to whip up!
It’s great isn’t it Andrea. If you have good flavoursome ingredients, you don’t need that many of them.