Creamy poppy seed dressing made with yogurt instead of mayonnaise — you’ll love the flavor of this light and easy to make dressing!
My mom made a salad over the holidays with a poppy seed dressing that I just loved. The salad had lettuce, kale, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember. All I can remember was that it was good and it had poppy seed dressing. Oh, and the most delicious little candied sunflower seeds. So good!
Poppy seed dressing has always been one of my favorites so of course I asked her for her poppy seed dressing recipe and then I completely changed it because for some reason I can’t help myself!
I kept her original version on file and might just have to share that one in the future too, but I wanted to share this creamy version, a thicker, richer feeling dressing.
How to Make this Poppy Seed Dressing
The base of the dressing is Greek yogurt, one of my favorite ingredients. I love that you can eat Greek yogurt as is or even use it as a marinade. I use it in countless recipes (proof: check out my Greek yogurt archives) and it always has a spot in my fridge.
For this dressing, yogurt stands in for heavier ingredients such as mayonnaise or sour cream (although don’t get me wrong, those both have a place in my heart too!).
The dressing is a nice blend of tangy and sweet — my mom’s recipe called for granulated sugar but I like honey for a smooth and flavorful way to sweeten this dressing.
It’s a simple and straightforward dressing that goes great on salads with fruit toppings but could easily stand its own on a salad topped with vegetables too. This poppyseed dressing would be fantastic for spinach salad as well. Psst: Come back Monday for a salad recipe that this creamy poppy seed dressing is perfect on!).
As a bonus, it’s likely you already have all the ingredients you need in your pantry and fridge.
Try this dressing on:
- Sweet Kale Salad – like the kind you can buy at Costco!
- Kale Quinoa Salad – with Walnuts and Cranberries
PS: Like my mom, I store my poppy seeds in the fridge so they don’t go rancid. If you are looking for more ways to use poppy seeds, try orange poppy seed cookies, lemon poppyseed pancakes, or lemon poppy seed bread.
PPS: Per my calculations (see disclosures, folks!), you can eat two tablespoons of this creamy poppyseed dressing and only add 33 calories to your beautiful salad!
More Homemade Dressings
- Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing with Cumin
- Sweet and Tangy Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
- Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette
- Reduced Fat Ranch Dressing Recipe
Poppy Seed Dressing (Healthy!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together in a jar, cover and shake well to combine. Use immediately or store covered in fridge.
Notes
- Makes 1/2 cup.
- Shelf life in fridge will vary depending on the date on your Greek yogurt container.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
I’m glad to find your recipe because this is exactly what I was looking for! But I don’t know why it came out very runny…? I doubled checked the amount of each ingredients and shook forever to mix them together. I ended up adding double the amount of Greek yogurt at the end. Did anyone else have the same problem?
It’s a thinner dressing, which I like because it coats everything well. What kind of greek yogurt did you use? Fat free is a little more watery.
Ok that might explain why it was very runny. I used 0% fat Greek yogurt. I could try using a different kind next time I sure loved the taste! Thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad you liked the taste!
I was looking for a sweet sauce for a sandwich and made this with apple cider vinegar instead of white, and had it on my chicken/bacon/lettuce/cheese sandwich–AMAZING!!! So, so good with the sweetness of the honey, and I love that it doesn’t have vegetable or soybean oil and corn syrup like so many store bought dressings do. Thank you!!!!
So glad you liked it! That sandwich sounds like a winner! Thanks for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
Hello. This recipe says it make 1/2 cup for 12 servings of 2 TBSP each serving. This would
Probably make 4 servings of 2 TBSP each. Would you please verify.
Thank you ,
Jan
You’re right, thanks for catching that, Janice! What I think happened was when we converted this recipe to our updated format, 1/2 cup turned into a 12. :) Thanks again for letting us know!
If you are looking for a good poppy seed dressing, keep looking, it isn’t here.
Very disappointed.
Hmm….what didn’t you like about it?
Can you taste and smell the yoghurt in this recipe? My husband absolutely hates yoghurt and will not eat anything that smells or tastes like it!
Yes, I think you probably can, especially if you are looking for it. Maybe try sour cream instead?
Absolutely fantastic!!!, I made this last night as I was out of dressing. Absolutely the best I’ve ever had! Blew my socks off!!. You’re absolutely right no adjustments are needed. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much! I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!
AMAZING!! Seriously so good! I cannot have mayo due to a stomach disorder, and this is just what I needed. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
I added orange zest and a little juice to spruce it up and holy moly it was delicious. Thanks for your recipes.
Oooh, delicious additions! Thanks for sharing and for taking the time to leave a comment!
I only have vanilla greek yogurt on hand. Do you think it would work?
That would drastically change the flavor of this dressing and make it overly sweet…vanilla yogurt won’t work for a salad dressing, sorry!
Was disappoint in the store bought brands so decided to make this one. L love it the only thing missing was the sodium in the nutritional value and for those on the DASH diet it is crucial information.
Hi Cathy! So glad you liked this recipe! We’re slooooowly making our way through all 1,000+ of our recipes and updating them with full nutritional info. Moving this one to the top of the list. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!