Creamy Basil Salad Dressing
A buttermilk and basil dressing with Parmesan, garlic and lemon, blended smooth in under a minute. Everything you love about pesto, poured over a salad.
By Hanan · Salt & Hearth
Published August 16, 2026
Full quantities, times and temperatures · How we make this site
Prep
5 min
Cook
0 min
Total
5 min
Serves
8
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This is a buttermilk dressing that tastes like pesto — fresh basil, Parmesan, garlic and lemon, blended into mayonnaise and buttermilk until it is smooth, pale green and pourable. It takes one measuring session and thirty seconds in a blender, which makes it faster than opening most bottled dressings and immeasurably better than any of them. It goes on everything from a plain bowl of leaves to a chopped chicken salad, and it is worth having warm bread on the table to mop up what is left on the plate.
Why you'll love this recipe
- One blender, thirty seconds, no cooking and no chopping beyond a clove of garlic.
- Tastes like basil pesto but pours, so it coats leaves instead of clumping on them.
- Keeps for a week in the fridge, which covers a whole week of lunches.
- Makes enough for eight servings from ingredients most people already have.
- Doubles as a dip for crudités, a sauce for grilled chicken, or a spread for sandwiches.
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
- 2/3 cup good-quality mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped garlic (or 1 large clove, for a stronger hit)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus more to taste
Ingredient notes & substitutions
- Fresh basil:
- Use tender leaves, packed into the measuring cup. Dried basil is not a substitute — it will not break down and the flavor is completely different.
- Buttermilk:
- Brings the tang and thins the mayonnaise to a pourable consistency. No buttermilk? Stir 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice into 1/2 cup of milk and let it sit 5 minutes.
- Mayonnaise:
- Carries the body and the richness, so quality shows. A full-fat mayonnaise gives a noticeably better texture than a light one.
- Parmesan:
- Finely grate it from a block. The shelf-stable powdered kind will not dissolve and leaves the dressing gritty.
- Lemon juice:
- Only a tablespoon, but it lifts everything. Bottled juice works at a pinch; fresh is brighter.
Method
- 1
Put the basil, mayonnaise, buttermilk, Parmesan, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper into a blender or food processor.
- 2
Blend for about 30 seconds, until completely smooth and pale green. You are looking for nothing but tiny flecks of basil — if you can still see leaf-sized pieces, keep blending. Large pieces leave the dressing tasting grassy in patches rather than evenly herby.
- 3
Taste and adjust. More salt if it tastes flat, more lemon if it tastes heavy, more pepper to your liking. Salt and acid are the two levers worth pulling before anything else.
- 4
For a thicker dressing, blend in extra mayonnaise a tablespoon at a time until it coats the back of a spoon the way you want.
- 5
Pour into an airtight jar and refrigerate. It thickens slightly as it chills and the garlic settles in, so it is better after an hour than straight out of the blender.
Tips
- Use fresh basil only. Dried basil will not blend into the dressing and tastes nothing like it here.
- Grate the Parmesan yourself from a block. The pre-grated powder contains anti-caking agents that leave a chalky texture.
- Chop the garlic before it goes in. A whole clove dropped into a blender often survives as a sharp fragment rather than dispersing.
- Shake or stir well before every use — the dressing separates a little as it sits, which is normal.
- Start with 1/2 teaspoon of garlic if you are unsure. You can always blend more in; you cannot take it out.
Variations to try
- Add a handful of fresh parsley or chives alongside the basil for a green-goddess direction.
- Swap half the mayonnaise for plain Greek yogurt for a lighter, tangier dressing.
- Blend in a small anchovy fillet for a Caesar-adjacent depth that nobody will identify.
- Add a pinch of red pepper flakes or a little jalapeño for heat.
- Stir in extra grated Parmesan after blending for a dressing with visible texture.
Storage & make-ahead
Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It thickens as it chills and separates slightly, so shake or stir well before each use. Do not freeze — the mayonnaise and buttermilk both split on thawing and the texture cannot be brought back.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I make this without a blender?
- Not really, if you want it smooth. You can finely chop the basil and whisk everything by hand, but the result is a flecked dressing rather than a creamy pale green one. A small food processor or immersion blender both work.
- Why is my dressing too thin?
- Buttermilk brands vary in thickness. Blend in extra mayonnaise a tablespoon at a time until it coats the back of a spoon.
- How long does it keep?
- Up to a week refrigerated in a sealed jar. The basil dulls in colour after a few days but the flavor holds.
- Can I use dried basil?
- No. Dried basil will not blend in and tastes musty rather than fresh. This recipe depends entirely on fresh leaves.
- What do I serve it with?
- Anything green — mixed leaves, romaine, a chopped salad with tomatoes and red onion. It is also very good over grilled chicken or as a dip for raw vegetables.
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