|
[1] The salad dressing is also a dip. Here’s the recipe from Martha Stewart.
[2] From grilled steak to salmon, Green Goddess is a delicious dressing for proteins (photo © Heinen’s).
[3] We loved this chicken salad. Green Goddess, as you can imagine, provides much more flavor than mayonnaise. Here’s the recipe (photo © Mary’s Whole Life).
[4] This dressing combines sour cream, mayonnaise, and lots of herbs (photo © Foodie Crush).
[5] This recipe has a base of Greek yogurt (photo © Love & Lemons).
[6] For the recipe: tarragon, flat-leaf parsley, chives, and watercress (photo © The Nibble).
|
|
Updated August 2026
Springtime makes us think of Green Goddess salad dressing, colored pale green from the high proportion of fresh herbs.
Who was the eponymous green goddess? She was a deity, worshipped in her temple in the fictional kingdom of Rukh in the Himalayas. A small plane carrying three Brits crashes there and sets off the story (more about it in the history below).
August 25th is National Green Goddess Day.
Below:
> The history of Green Goddess dressing.
> Green Goddess recipe.
> The golden age of salads.
> America’s top 10 salad dressings then.
> America’s top 10 salad dressings now.
> The rise of ranch dressing.
Elsewhere on The Nibble:
> The history of ranch dressing.
> The history of salad.
> The year’s 18+ dressing and sauce holidays.
> The year’s 40+ salad holidays.
1. THE HISTORY OF GREEN GODDESS DRESSING
Green Goddess dressing was born in 1923 at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco, honoring a hit Broadway play that was performing in San Francisco. The origin story:
The source was “The Green Goddess,” a play written by the prominent British theater critic and Ibsen scholar William Archer.
He related that the entire concept—featuring an exotic Eastern setting, a plane crash, and a vengeance-seeking ruler—came to him fully formed in a dream in late 1919.
Up until that point, Archer was famous for writing serious dramatic criticism and instructional books on how to write plays, but this marked his first and only major creative playwriting success.
The play had its world premiere in 1921 on Broadway, and it was a massive hit. It starred George Arliss, a big star of stage and screen (“The First Gentleman of the Screen”).
A major national tour brought Arliss and the company to San Francisco in 1923.
Arliss loved the role of the sharp-witted, Cambridge-educated Rajah of Rukh so much that he starred in two film versions: a silent film adaptation released in 1923 and a talkie released in 1930, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (see a still from the film below). In 1923, he also took the stage production across the Atlantic to open in London at the St. James’s Theatre.
And now, the dressing.
While performing the play in San Francisco, Arliss stayed at the Palace Hotel. The hotel’s executive chef, Philip Roemer, created the dressing to honor the play and the actor. It, too, became a hit.
Chef Roemer created the dressing to honor Arliss during that local theatrical engagement, celebrating the flesh-and-blood actor staying right there in his hotel rather than a projection on a silver screen.
To honor the actor—and tip his hat to the title of the play—Chef Roemer whipped up a new herb-and-anchovy-laced dressing. The play eventually faded into obscurity, but the dressing became an enduring classic.
The recipe is below, and the original Palace Hotel recipe is here.
The original dressing was a base of mayonnaise blended with anchovies, chives, parsley, scallions, tarragon, and tarragon vinegar.
It’s a variation of a dressing created by a chef in the kitchen of King Louis XIII of France, called sauce au vert (green sauce).
Food historians note that the basic recipe is probably from the Near East and at least 2,000 years old. Roman legionaries brought it to Italy, from where it traveled to France and Germany (source).
Since the ingredients are common across cultures, numerous cuisines developed their own recipes for green sauce, or salsa verde.
As recipes evolved (or originated independently), cooks incorporated avocado, basil, capers, Dijon mustard, garlic, onion, and Worcestershire sauce.
Some combined buttermilk with mayonnaise. Others used a vinaigrette base instead of mayonnaise.
Some recipes, like the one used at Panera Bread, substitute yogurt for mayonnaise and add agave for a touch of sweetness.
In the early 1970s, Seven Seas, a company that made salad dressing (since purchased by Kraft Foods), launched bottled Green Goddess dressing. It raised the awareness of Green Goddess nationwide, and spurred the many variations.
2. RECIPE: GREEN GODDESS DRESSING
This version is very similar to the original recipe. It replaces the original chervil and spinach with watercress, and omits the Worcestershire sauce.
Contemporary recipes trim down the recipe to the base (mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt), herbs, lemon juice, garlic, and seasonings.
You’ll find links to those recipes under the photo captions.
Some people add an avocado to the dressing and call it Green Goddess. Actually, it’s avocado dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 extra-large egg yolk
- 1 cup grapeseed oil
- 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 cup packed watercress, cleaned, tough stems removed
- 2 tablespoons tarragon leaves
- 3 tablespoons minced chives
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon Champagne, white wine, or tarragon vinegar
- Optional: 2 anchovy fillets, 2 teaspoons capers
Preparation
1. PLACE the egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup of the oil, a drop at a time, until the mixture thickens to mayonnaise.
2. PURÉE the parsley, watercress, tarragon, chives, and garlic (plus optional ingredients) in a food processor. Add the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of oil.
3. WHISK 2 teaspoons salt, herb purée, vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into the mayonnaise. Once emulsified, whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup oil in a slow, steady stream. That’s it!
|
[7] A still from the 1930 Warner Brothers “Green Goddess” film. George Arliss, the Rajah of Rukh, is in the tuxedo and silver turban.
3. THE “GOLDEN AGE” OF SALADS
Food historians have referred to that mid-century era as a “golden age” for salads—but not in our modern context of health, wellness, or nutritional enlightenment. Quite the opposite!
What the 1920s through the 1950s actually gave us was the era of the theatrical, heavy, and deeply whimsical salad, the golden age of salads as a status symbol and a chemical canvas rather than a health food:
- The Hotel Dining Rooms Spectacle. Hotel restaurants made a great display of salads, tossing them tableside by a tuxedoed captain, or molded into dramatic, gelatin-based domes packed with mayonnaise, cream cheese, and canned fruit.
- The “Diet” Illusion. Even when mid-century cookbooks tried to frame salads as light or slimming, they were usually drowning in heavy mayonnaise dressings, topped with chopped hard-boiled eggs (good), and accompanied by saltines or cheese straws.
What we might now call “salad culture,” a lifestyle focused on fresh greens, health, and clean eating, was born with the counterculture and back-to-the-land movements of the late 1960s and 1970s. We can thank the hippies for that.
They brought alfalfa sprouts, avocado slices, and raw spinach to the American home table, elevating the iceberg lettuce side salad and jettisoning the decorative, mayonnaise-laden side dishes meant to show off the cook’s sophistication—not to mention the 1950s-era Jell-O salads, where vegetables were encased in sugary gelatin.
[8] A restaurant “salad spectacular” in the 1920s (A.I. Photo).
4. AMERICA’S FAVORITE SALAD DRESSINGS, PAST & PRESENT
We love to look at ranked lists of anything: favorite ice cream flavors, favorite fruits, you-name-it.
Ranking America’s salad dressings requires looking at a massive shift in the national palate over the last century. While mid-century classics favored hotel dining room sophistication and sharp tangs, today’s store shelves are dominated by ultra-creamy, versatile dips and everyday staples.
(Note the national trend to actually drinking ranch dressing as a snack! More about that below.)
Here is a look at how a Top 10 list stacks up: then (roughly the 1920s–1950s golden era of American salad culture) versus now.
The Classic Era: Mid-20th Century
Characterized by white tablecloth hotel recipes, mayonnaise-heavy bases, and distinct regional or European-inspired profiles, America’s favorite included:
- French Dressing. For decades prior to the mid-century commercial boom, a bright, reddish, oil-and-vinegar-based French dressing (distinct from today’s sweet orange Catalina) was the undisputed king of American tables. Why is it called “French?” It was originally named for the classic French-style oil-and-vinegar vinaigrette on which it was based. During the early 20th century, American cooks and manufacturers added tomato, paprika, sugar, and seasonings, turning it into the reddish dressing familiar in mid-century America—while retaining the original name. (We were quite confused when we first encountered the reddish version).
- Roquefort / Blue Cheese Dressing. A staple of the classic American steakhouse, prized for its pungent punch alongside iceberg wedges.
- Thousand Island Dressing. Invented at the turn of the century and popularized globally by ocean liners and hotels, this mayonnaise-and-chili-sauce blend was a household essential.
- Green Goddess Dressing. Born at San Francisco’s Palace Hotel in the 1920s, it reigned supreme as an upscale, herb-packed status symbol of West Coast cuisine.
- Russian Dressing. The go-to spicy-tangy mayonnaise blend before Thousand Island largely edged it out of everyday salad bowls (though it survived proudly on Reuben sandwiches). It isn’t from Russia: see the *footnote.
- Italian Vinaigrette. Emerging commercially in the 1940s through local restaurants and brands like Wish-Bone, it introduced bottled convenience to home kitchens.
- Boiled/Cider Vinegar Slaw Dressings. Simple, tart, sweet, and sugar-heavy dressings used heavily on cabbage and garden greens in rural and working-class homes.
- Mayonnaise & Lemon. Often whipped straight at the table with a touch of mustard or salt as a quick, unbranded dressing for simple tomato or lettuce salads.
- Catalina Dressing / Sweet Tomato Vinaigrette. Gaining traction mid-century as a sweeter, zesty alternative to standard oil and vinegar.
- Plain Oil & Vinegar. The timeless, unpretentious fallback of every home cook, typically brought to the table in cruets. Mix them together with seasonings and you have the classic French vinaigrette.
[9] Thousand Island dressing began as an adaptation of Russian dressing at an inn in the Thousand Islands, New York State. Here’s the recipe and history (photo © Good Eggs).
The 21st Century: Current Favorite
Characterized by the absolute dominance of ranch, today’s dressings multitask as dipping sauces.
- Ranch. The undisputed king of American condiments and dressings, it has a massive market share and doubles as a dip for everything from pizza to chicken wings.
- Italian. Dethroned and now the runner-up, it remains a staple for both standard garden salads and as a quick meat marinade.
- Caesar. Anchored by its savory, garlic, and parmesan profile, it has evolved from a tableside restaurant spectacle into a ubiquitous bottled and bagged-salad favorite.
- Blue Cheese. Blue retains a high-ranking spot primarily driven by its pairing with Buffalo wings and wedge salads.
- Balsamic Vinaigrette. The modern gold standard for a “healthier” or more elevated oil-and-vinegar dressing at home or in casual dining.
- Thousand Island / Honey Mustard. These two are tied. Thousand Island maintains its legacy thanks to fast-food burger sauces and Reuben sandwiches, while Honey Mustard rules for chicken-tender dipping.
- Asian Sesame / Ginger Vinaigrette. Following the decades-long expansion of Asian cuisines in America, this staple brought umami, soy, sesame, and ginger profiles into mainstream American homes.
- Greek / Feta Vinaigrette. Highly popular for its punchy herb, garlic, and brine notes, it’s heavily propelled by the popularity of Mediterranean fast-casual chains.
- Raspberry Vinaigrette. Although its peak cultural zeitgeist was the 1990s and 2000s café scene, it remains a persistent fixture on sweet-and-fruity summer salad menus.
- Green Goddess (Revival). Thanks to social media food trends and a modern appreciation for fresh, herbaceous green sauces, Green Goddess has experienced a major culinary comeback after decades of quiet obscurity.
[10] Buffalo wings help blue cheese dressing stay in the Top 10 (photo © The Nibble).
5. THE RISE OF RANCH DRESSING
Ranch dressing, an update of grandma’s buttermilk dressing, began its takeover in the rankings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a timeline overlaps strongly with Generation X’s adolescence and young adulthood. Yes, Gen X helped make ranch a cultural condiment.
Ranch dressing was invented in the 1950s, but its modern takeover began in the late 1980s and accelerated through the 1990s. Cool Ranch Doritos introduced the flavor to a generation of young snackers, and in 1992 ranch surpassed Italian as America’s best-selling salad dressing.
It became part of the celebrity-rider of Katy Perry, whose 2011 tour rider specified crudités with ranch dip; reports on a later dressing-room list included ranch dip among the food requests. (Perry, born in 1984, is considered a Millennial.)
[11] While bottled ranch dressings rule, we prefer homemade (Pixabay photo).
________________
*Russian dressing was invented in Nashua, New Hampshire in the early 1900s, credited to a grocer named James E. Colburn. The name “Russian dressing” appears in print as early as 1900 and was referenced in a 1910 catering book as a dressing for tomatoes or asparagus. The earliest formal written recipes evolved in the early 1900s.
The 1913 version, a vinaigrette-style recipe called Russian Dressing, appears in cookbook. It’s closer to a sharp vinaigrette flavored with paprika and mustard, rather than the thick, creamy condiment we know today.
The 1914 version, mayonnaise-based, is the first documented mayonnaise-based recipe. It aligned closely with the commercial production started by James E. Colburn in New Hampshire around that time. It often incorporated ingredients like caviar, pimientos, and spices. There isn’t documentation on how it got its name, but historians and food writers have floated a few different theories:
Caviar. Incorporated into some of the early recipes, it was associated with Russian cuisine (although at the time, there was plenty of affordable American sturgeon caviar).
Pickles. The inclusion of pickles, a staple of Russian culinary traditions. The pickle relish in Russian dressing became the “thousand islands” in Thousand Island dressing.
French Haute Cuisine. Sauce Russe (Russian sauce) for seafood is a rich, cold sauce combining three parts mayonnaise with one part sieved caviar and lobster coral, flavored tightly with mustard.
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
|
