Game-changing recipe right here! This creamy vegan Caesar salad dressing takes 5 minutes to make and is a super easy recipe for plant-based beginners or seasoned vegans. A crowd-pleasing tahini dressing for salad with a gluten free chickpea crouton. Crispy spiced chickpeas just work so much better in this recipe, in my option, making this caesar a super clean and healthy salad recipe.
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My husband is such a caesar salad lover, especially with fresh lemon slices that he drowns his salad in. But as a plant-based mama, we could no longer enjoy the flavours of the creamy caesar dressing at home. Plus I’ll share a little truth with you all.
Back in my younger days, I use to work at an Italian restaurant. I loved working there and the perks of eating a gourmet dinner every time I worked a dinner shift. I learned so much about food, cooking and people in those 7 years. But I also learned the truth about how croutons are made. I had NO idea how much butter and oil the bread needed to soak up. Just thinking about crouton prep makes my stomach turn!
Crispy chickpeas croutons for a gluten free recipe
As someone who is sensitive to oil, this was one of the things I had to cut out of my diet so bye-bye oil-soaked bread! But when I decided to veganize this restaurant dish I knew I needed a crispy aspect to go with this vegan caesar salad dressing recipe.
And to be honest not only does these chickpeas croutons make this a gluten free recipe, but it ups the protein of this caesar salad making it way more of a well-balanced meal! The crispy flavours go so well with the flavours of this vegan Ceasar salad dressing. Spiced with paprika and cumin and caramelized with maple syrup, these chickpeas bring the right amount of sweet and flavour to this salad.
And BONUS is that you can make these chickpeas for anything. I often use them in Buddha bowls or as a soup topping or in a creamy pasta dish (like this easy vegan alfredo veggie loaded pasta
A healthy tahini dressing for salad
Not only is this a healthy plant-based recipe, but the tahini lemon dressing only takes 5-minutes to make. Plus, the entire recipe is made is a 30-minute meal! A perfect easy plant based lunch and it also keeps well so go ahead and save this as an easy work lunch option or family outing meal.
I actually love brining this salad out with us on our family outings because it transports well. Lets be honest many times the kiddos beg us enough to get them a ‘treat’ or special food when we are out. So taking this healthy and clean salad as our lunch ensures they eat a healthy meal so they can go ahead and enjoy a treat afterwards. Life is about balance after all and a treat once in a while is no bog thing!
How to make a creamy vegan Caesar salad dressing
Anyways back to making this creamy tahini dressing for salad. So I only started blending the dressing ingredients recently. Not sure why I didn’t do that before but it makes such a creamy dressing if you blend it. especially when using capers and tahini, not bending the dressing makes it kinda chunky (which is fine if you want to taste the capers or have that texture).
So just pop all the ingredients into a small blender (I use my magic bullet) and blend until smooth. I gets a frothy and creamy. You can save the dressing to pour over the salad when you are ready to eat or dress it right away. The crispy chickpea croutons can also be saved separately. If I am not eating the salad right away I will wait to assemble it because I LOVE crispy romaine lettuce.
The dressed salad will last a few days in the fridge but the lettuce will start to wilt after the second day.
For more healthy chickpea recipes check these out:
- Shaved brussel sprout salad with spiced cranberries, squash and walnut
- Chickpea pepita-pesto
- One-pot veggie soup with crispy chickpeas
- Creamy Alfredo veggie-loaded pasta
Anyhoo, thanks for reading and I hope you love this recipe! If you make this recipe please like and comment below, that would mean a lot to me! I would love to see your creation over on Instagram so please tag me (@at.my.table) so I can like and share!
Until then, tchau
Creamy Vegan Caesar Salad with Crispy Chickpeas
Ingredients
Crispy Chickpeas
- 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas or 1 can
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil or olive oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
Vegan Caesar Dressing
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/3 cup sesame tahini
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tbsp capers chopped
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp salt
Salad ingredients
- 2 heads romaine lettuce washed and chopped
- 10 radishes sliced
- 3 stalks green onions washed and sliced
Instructions
- To make the chickpeas: Into a bowl, add the chickpeas, soy sauce, maple syrup, oil, and lemon. Mix to combine. Then pour into a warm pan (medium high heat). Cook the chickpeas for 5 minutes then add in the paprika and cumin. Continue to cook until all the liquid has absorbed and the chickpeas are crispy (about 15 minutes)
- Meanwhile, add all the ceasar salad dressing ingredients to a small blender. Blend for 1 minute or less if you want the capers to be chunky. I like to have it fully blended so it is nice and creamy.
- To a large salad bowl add the chopped lettuce, sliced radishes and green onions.
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