Japanese Daikon Salad with Sesame Dressing

This Daikon Salad is a quick and easy recipe with a creamy sesame dressing. If you're looking for a simple and delicious way to enjoy daikon, this recipe is perfect!

This daikon radish recipe is a perfect side dish!

This delicious and simple salad features an excellent match of crunchy and juicy raw daikon with a creamy sesame dressing. The dressing's light sweetness complements the plain daikon radish while allowing its natural flavor to shine through.

This recipe is for you if:
• You love Japanese daikon.
• You want to make a dikon radish salad.
• You want to make Japanese sesame dressing.

Let me walk you through the ingredients and the instructions. If you want to check the recipe, jump to the recipe. Let's get started!

Jump to:

• About This Recipe
• What is Japanese Daikon Radish?
• What does it taste like?
• 📋 Ingredients
• 🔪Instructions
• Variations
• What to Serve With
• 11 Japanese Daikon Radish Recipes
• How To Video
• Thanks For Stopping By!
• 📖 Recipe
• Japanese Daikon Salad with Sesame Dressing
• 💬 Comments

About This Recipe

• Japanese easy daikon salad recipe
• Homemade sesame dressing
• Easy salad recipe

What is Japanese Daikon Radish?

Daikon is a root vegetable commonly used in Japanese cooking. It is also known as white radish, winter radish, and Japanese radish. The word "daikon" translates to "big root" in Japanese, reflecting the long, thick, and heavy size of this vegetable, which can weigh between 1 to 2 kg (2 to 4 lbs).

In Japan, various types of daikon are available, but the Aokubi daikon, distinguished by its green color on the top, is the most common variety.

It has many versatile uses that can be eaten raw (including the outer skin), stir-fried, or added to a soup. You can also eat the leaves (actually, leaves contain more nutrients than white roots!).

Daikon is available all year round at a grocery store, but the season is summer and winter. The Summer daikon tends to be more peppery in taste, whereas winter daikon tends to have a sweeter flavor and juicier texture.

The recipe below will provide you with detailed instructions on how to prepare 11 delicious daikon recipes, how to choose a good daikon and more.

What does it taste like?

Although daikon generally has a milder flavor, its taste and texture can vary depending on which part of the daikon is used. It has a sweet spot near its leaves and a gradually turning peppery and strong flavor towards the bottom of the root.

• Top (near the leaves): Sweet, juicy, and crunchy
• Middle: Sweet, slightly peppery, and soft
• Bottom: Peppery and less juicy

The top of the daikon is perfect for raw consumption, while the bottom is ideal for use in spices or sauces.

📋 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients (amounts are in the recipe card below).

• Daikon - I recommend using the top part of the daikon.

• Sprouts - I pick sprouts as it's easy to mix with shredded daikon, but you can substitute them with other green vegetables such as lettuce, baby leaf, mizuna, and shiso.

• Shredded nori (topping) - Nori seaweed adds a nice flavor, but you can omit it.

• Sesame dressing - Ground sesame seeds, mayonnaise, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil. You can substitute ground sesame seeds with tahini. If you don't like mayonnaise, you can use yogurt instead. You can also use honey instead of sugar. You can use other types of vinegar, such as white vinegar.

🔪Instructions

Let's make the salad! Click here to watch the recipe video.

1. Cut ingredients - Shred daikon (or julienne cut) and remove the root of the sprouts.
2. Mix - Mix daikon and sprouts in a large bowl.
3. Make Sesame dressing - Mix all the dressing ingredients until sugar dissolves in a small glass jar.
4. Serve - Serve on a plate, top with shredded nori, and pour the sesame dressing over.

This looks fresh and delicious! However, if you pour the dressing on the salad and let it sit for a while, the daikon will release its water, so it's best to add the dressing just before serving.

Storage

You can store the salad in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, but be aware that the fridge may cause the salad to dry out over time.

For the best taste and texture, enjoying the salad as soon as possible after preparing it is better.

Variations

There are countless variations of daikon radish salad, and you can customize them to your liking by adding other vegetables or changing the dressing. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Vegetables

• Cucumber
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Lettuce
• Corn
• Shiso leaves

Dressings

• Soy Sauce Dressing - Soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt, sesame oil
• Miso Dressing - Miso paste, honey, olive oil, vinegar
• Ume Dressing - Umeboshi (pickled plum), ponzu, sesame oil
• Spicy Mayo Dressing - Sweet chili sauce, black pepper, mayonnaise, salt
• Creamy Dressing - Mayonnaise, lime juice, sugar, kosher salt

What to Serve With

• Vegetable Yakisoba
• Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet)
• Eggplant Teriyaki
• Napa Cabbage Soup

11 Japanese Daikon Radish Recipes

You can cook Daikon radishes in many ways. Check out this collection of easy Japanese daikon dishes!

How To Video

Watch these videos and learn how to cook daikon.

• How to Cook Daikon with 5 Recipes
• How to Cut Daikon in 6 Ways

Thanks For Stopping By!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog♡. If you've tried this recipe (or any other recipe on the blog), please give it a star rating below!

Also, feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I love hearing from you!

Chef JA Cooks is a Japanese food blog that shares simple and healthy Japanese home cooking recipes, including vegan and vegetarian. From traditional Japanese recipes to modern recipes with step-by-step instructions.

More Daikon Recipes You Might Like

• Daikon Salad
• Pickled Daikon
• Daikon Miso Soup
• Daikon Nimono Recipe (Simmered Daikon)
• Kiriboshi Daikon Salad

📖 Recipe