Poppy Seed Dressing (Creamy and Healthy!) Recipe - Rachel Cooks® (2024)

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 incountless 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!).

Asa 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!

Love making homemade dressings? Try:

• Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing with Cumin
• Sweet and Tangy Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
• Fresh Raspberry Vinaigrette
• Reduced Fat Ranch Dressing Recipe
• Cilantro Lime Dressing