My dad is coming to visit this week. This means two very important things are on my “what to make dad” menu. 1) Chili, always and 2) Caesar salad. Those are essential food groups for the guy. Anything else is icing on the cake. Plus, I always welcome the opportunity to use my huge bamboo salad bowl that we received as a wedding gift from our friends. When this bowl comes out, it’s something special!
Even though Caesar salad isn’t traditional holiday fare, I totally think you can serve it as part of a holiday menu. I love an unexpected twist on the table personally. Do you have any non-traditional dishes that are go-to’s for your family? My mother-in-law used to always serve Caesar salad as part of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and I swear it was one of the things that went the fastest, next to her famous croquettes. And my dad, well…let’s just say his famous Caesar salad and chili make an appearance at every Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve gathering.
I’ve made a couple vegan Caesar salad recipes over the years (one of which is in my cookbook), but I think this version is my best rendition yet. Recipes are always works in progress for me and I find each time I make it, I’m always trying new things. In addition to a new dressing, I also added roasted chickpea croutons and a nut and seed based parmesan cheese. I used a blend of traditional romaine lettuce with non-traditional Lacinato kale (destemmed of course). This way you have the classic flavour of romaine with the nutritional boost of the kale, without scaring anyone away (ahem, dad). I love the two tone greens in the bowl too. It’s a great make ahead salad because you can prep everything the day before (except for the roasted chickpeas) and then just mix it up the day of your event!
The first time I made this dressing, I actually used double the quantities you’ll see in the recipe below. However, I found that it made way too much (I had half leftover after mixing the salad), so I cut the dressing ingredients in half and it still worked out fine in the blender. I’m just mentioning this in case you are wondering about making a larger batch for a crowd – this dressing doubles beautifully!
I had a lot of fun with the photoshoot for this recipe, so I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.
And in case I’m not back again this week, I’d like to wish my American readers a lovely Thanksgiving! Thank you for coming here each week and eagerly trying out so many of the recipes I share. If you’re looking for my favourite Thanksgiving recipes, you can find them here. Also check out my 3 Course Step-by-Step Vegan and Gluten-Free Holiday Menu.
Crowd-Pleasing Vegan Caesar Salad
Yield
6 small bowls
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is a delicious, creamy vegan Caesar salad that will wow any crowd! Everyone who’s tried it goes absolutely nuts over it, and it’s my most popular salad recipe on the blog. To take it over the top, I garnish the salad with a generous amount of crunchy Roasted Chickpea Croutons and a delectable Nut and Seed Parmesan Cheese for the ultimate vegan Caesar salad. The dressing recipe easily doubles for a larger group and it’ll keep in the fridge in a sealed container for a few days so you can make it in advance. Dressing adapted from My Vega.
Ingredients
For the Roasted Chickpea Croutons:
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cups cooked), drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
For the Caesar Dressing (makes 3/4-1 cup):
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) water
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon (7.5 mL) Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 small garlic clove (you can add another if you like it super potent)
- 1/2 tablespoon (7.5 mL) vegan Worcestershire sauce (I use Wizard's gluten-free brand)
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt and pepper, or to taste
For the Nut and Seed Parmesan Cheese:
- 1/3 cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons hulled hemp seeds
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- fine grain sea salt, to taste
For the lettuce:
- 1 small/medium bunch lacinato kale, destemmed (5 cups chopped)
- 2 small heads romaine lettuce (10 cups chopped)
Directions
- Soak cashews in a bowl of water overnight, or for at least a few hours. Drain and rinse.
- Roast chickpea croutons: Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Drain and rinse chickpeas. Place chickpeas in a tea towel and rub dry (it's okay if some skins fall off). Place onto large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle on oil and roll around to coat. Sprinkle on the garlic powder, salt, and optional cayenne. Toss to coat. Roast for 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C), then gently roll the chickpeas around in the baking sheet. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden. They will firm up as they cool.
- Prepare the dressing: Add the cashews and all other dressing ingredients (except salt) into a high-speed blender, and blend on high until the dressing is super smooth. You can add a splash of water if necessary to get it blending. Add salt to taste and adjust other seasonings, if desired. Set aside.
- Prepare the Parmesan cheese: Add cashews and garlic into a mini food processor and process until finely chopped. Now add in the rest of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture is combined. Salt to taste.
- Prepare the lettuce: Destem the kale and then finely chop the leaves. Wash and dry in a salad spinner. Place into extra large bowl. Chop up the romaine into bite-sized pieces. Rinse and then spin dry. Place into bowl along with kale. You should have roughly 5 cups chopped kale and 10 cups chopped romaine.
- Assemble: Add dressing onto lettuce and toss until fully coated. Season with a pinch of salt and mix again. Now sprinkle on the roasted chickpeas and the Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
Tip:
- Be sure to check the label to ensure your Worcestershire Sauce is gluten-free (if necessary) as not many are. I use Wizard`s Gluten-Free Organic Worcestershire Sauce.
- The dressing thickens when chilled, so be sure to leave it at room temperature to soften before using.
Made the salad dressing and loved it! Used 2 cloves of garlic.
So glad you enjoyed it, Peggy!
Made this exactly like the recipe listed and it was SOOOO delicious. I’ve made chickpea croutons one other time and they were totally grainy, but this time I left them in the warm oven to cool and they were incredible. This was my first time using soaked cashews in a recipe and the dressing was so delicious! Such a great recipe. My husband loved it as well.
I’m glad it turned out so well for you, Lyndsay!! (Even the chickpea croutons this time around!)
This looks delicious! I’m having people over for dinner Sunday and will definitely try it. It looks like it’s probably not big enough to be a stand alone entree though. What would you recommend as gluten free an accompaniment or entree to go with it?
Hey Christina, I think this may be getting to you too late (so sorry!), but there are so many great possibilities that I’m sure what ever you ended up doing was fantastic. For future brainstorming, soup and salad is always a classic pairing, and some gluten-free/gluten-free-option soups that I think would make particularly great accompaniments to the Vegan Caesar Salad include my Summer Harvest Tortilla Soup (The Oh She Glows Cookbook p. 135), 10-Spice Vegetable Soup, and Cream of Tomato Soup (p. 141). My Favourite Vegan Chili would also work well. Another “lighter” pairing option I’d recommend is my Crispy Smashed Potatoes with Avocado Garlic Aioli. For entrees, you could again go the classic route and serve the salad as a pasta accompaniment (for a killer tomato sauce recipe, I highly recommend my Fail-Proof Marinara Sauce, p. 175 from Oh She Glows Every Day) topped with my Cashew or Pepita Vegan Parmesan (p. 267).
This is the best dressing I’ve ever had. I think I may have it everyday for the rest of my life. Even my 2 year old devours her salad! I don’t even need the vegan parm and have yet to make the “croutons.” We can’t have citrus so used 1 tsp of white vinegar. I also tried it with half the oil and was amazing!!!! LOVE this!!!!
This dressing is AMAZING! I am trying to eat more veggies so last night I googled salad dressings and recipes. For some reason I’m really craving a chaser salad (probably bc I’m a salad novice and I want to ease into this new salad spree) I’m so glad I made this!
I forgot to buy a lemon and added an extra garlic clove bc I ran out of garlic powder.
I was literally scraping out the blender and licking it clean. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it, Abby!
Tried this last night with my mom, and we thought it was spectacular! I don’t know how you managed to create a dressing that was vegan and tasted better than the real thing. The only thing I might leave out in the future is the chickpea croutons, as I thought the salad was good enough without them. Thanks for an awesome recipe that will definitely be made again.
Thanks for the great comment, Eva! I’m so happy you and your mom enjoyed the salad. We absolutely love it around here, too–so it’s always great to see it win over more fans! :)
Hi! Can you sub the Worcestershire sauce for anything? Thanks!
Hi Selena, A couple of readers have used Braggs Aminos as a substitute, and really enjoyed the results! Others have successfully swapped in soy sauce, white miso, and balsamic. If you decide to experiment, please let us know how it goes. :)
Hello. My question is do you soak all the cashews for this recipe?! Including the cashews for the parm?
I’m allergic to cashew … could I use walnut, almond , or sunflower seed ?
what do you think?
thanks
This was so good! I think it’s better the next day after it’s been chilled.
BEST DRESSING! Even my non-vegan friends prefer this recipe and ask for it all the time. Best part is, a pre-dressed salad can sit in the fridge over night with next to no wilting! You nailed this recipe, I make it often. Thank you for all your recipes! Truly Wonderful.
Thanks so much for the great comment, Joelle!! I’m glad you enjoy this recipe so much–and your non-vegan friends, too. :)
I’m making this for Thanksgiving, looks great!I was thinking of adding some roasted Brussel sprouts and doing just kale and no romaine since I find romaine bland, do you think that would work?
hi!
i am very excited to make this for the 1st time as i am bringing it to a dinner party at our friends house and they are vegan.
can i make the whole thing ahead of time? if not…what are your recommendations for prepping ahead of time?
Hi Kristen, I’m not sure when your dinner party was—apologies if this is coming too late! Although I find this salad is best served immediately once it’s all put together, it’s a great make-ahead salad because you can prep everything separately the day before (except for the roasted chickpeas) and then just mix it up the day of your event.
How important is the nutritional yeast in the dressing? Is there something else I can sub, or can I leave it out? I follow the Medical Medium vegan diet, and he says nutritional yeast is pure MSG, so I don’t consume it.
Hey Shannon, The nutritional yeast is used in the vegan parmesan cheese topping, and not the dressing itself. As the “parmesan” is really optional, you can definitely just leave it off your salad to avoid the nutritional yeast. :) Hope that helps!
Yay! Thanks!! I can’t wait to make it. Your recipes are staples at our dinner table!
When you say the dressing easily doubles for a large salad, do you mean that the recipe here makes double the amount already? Or you would have to double the ingredients for a big salad?
Hi Diane, I mean that you can easily double the dressing recipe by doubling the ingredients for a bigger salad. :) As written, the dressing recipe is perfect for 5-6 small bowls. I hope that clarifies things!
This was great! Tough to find vegan Worcestershire but if you live near a sprouts, they had it! As a vegetarian it’s tough to find a caesar salad, this one hit the spot. It is best for a large group to make all at once since you can’t really assemble too far in advance. I’ll make again!
I made this last night for Christmas Eve dinner for my (totally non-vegan) family, and it was a huge hit! I hadn’t realized how much I missed caesar salads since going vegan a couple of years ago, and this compleeeetely hit the spot for me, too. THANK YOU!
Aw, I’m so happy to hear it hit the spot, Leah!! (For you, AND everyone else!) Hope you’ve been having a happy holiday season. :)
Hi Angela – I made your Chakra Caesar Salad with Nutty Herb Croutons from your first book as the starter for dinner tonight. The croutons were amazing! Something strange happened with the dressing. It was really, really think – more like a paste or a very thick dip. I added more lemon juice and olive oil and even water (which the recipe didn’t call for, but I was desperate!). This was my first time making this dressing. Any ideas as to what happened?
My son, Nathan made this for our Christmas dinner. It was outstanding.
Oh, I’m so pleased to hear that, Bettylynn. Happy holidays to you!
This is seriously crazy delicious. I can take or leave the chickpeas (maybe just throw them in plain) but I could slather this dressing on just about anything!
Hi Angela,
Made this last night … everyone loved it! One question: the roasted chickpeas were plenty crunchy when I took them out of the oven. Once cooled, I put them in a glass dish with a snap-on lid .. left them on the counter. All this the day before I served it.
Next day, they were soft .. almost rubbery, or chewy. I expected them to stay crunchy. Did I do something wrong?
Hi Angela!
I am so excited to make this recipe. I had a couple gal-pals rave about it, so now I have to try it. I have a question for you though before I make it tomorrow night for my boyfriend.
Is the 1/4 cup of water that you indicate for the dressing intended to be put in the blender, or is that the amount of water to soak the cashews in?
Thank you so much!
-Sam
SO delicious! Yet another OSG hit(-: A crowd-pleaser for a dinner party last night.
I am obsessed with this salad! I’ve eaten it 6 times in the past week. I will go as far as to say that not only is it the best Caesar Salad I’ve ever had, it’s the best salad I’ve ever had. I’ll be making this over and over again! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Karlyn! I’m so, so happy you love this recipe, especially as it’s one of our absolute faves, too. :)
Hi Angela,
Okay, so I have both your books and cook out of them all the time. Your recipes are amazing. This caesar dressing, though… It was a bit tasteless. I had to at least double (sometimes triple) each of the flavouring ingredients to get some bite out of it!
Did I maybe use the wrong capers? I bought Non-Pareil, not knowing the difference, and perhaps they’re milder in flavour.
Anyway, thanks for all the other amazing recipes you post.
Hello there :)
I loved this recipe and can’t get enough of it. Just wondering if it can be frozen?
Thanks!
Hey Lydia, As a whole dish, this is best served immediately, but I think some readers may have tried freezing the dressing on its own with some success (though I haven’t tried it myself). I’d suggesting reading back through some of the comments to check for tips & tricks on that!
I had two carnivores coming for dinner – one LIVES on dairy :) I could not figure out what to make for a side…this was AMAZING! They loved it, would never have none if I didn’t tell them. Thank you…this will be a go to for me!!
Delicious! Even my cheese loving non-vegan husband thought this was better than traditional caesar salad. It was filling enough for a meal when we added some nice slices of garlic toast on the side :)
Wow! This salad is crazy good. Even my omni picky family agrees. My 12 yo and I were fighting over the left over dressing.
I am SO happy that I found this recipe! I thought I would have to search for weeks to try and find a delicious caeser dressing recipe. I absolutely love this dressing. I’ve been using this recipe for a few months now and am finally printing it out so I stop googling it every time I need it! I omit the chickpea croutons and the capers as well. Congratulations on creating this because it is perfect! :) :)
Thank you for the kind words, Kathryn! I’m thrilled you found this recipe and love it so much.
I am so looking forward to trying this recipe!! do you have any nutritional information for each of the parts (dressing, nut/seed cheese and the croutons?) thanks so much
Hey Jessica, You can the find nutritional information for my Crowd-Pleasing Caesar Salad (without the “cheese”, I believe) in this pdf of the nutritional info from my new Oh She Glows Every Day cookbook: http://cdn.ohsheglows.com/docs/OhSheGlows_Every_Day_Nutrition_Info.pdf. I hope this helps, and that you enjoy the recipe when you get around to making it :)
Hi guys anyone know the calorie count of this dish? Just curious
Hey Casey, You can the find nutritional information in this pdf, made up for the recipe as it appears in my new Oh She Glows Every Day cookbook: http://cdn.ohsheglows.com/docs/OhSheGlows_Every_Day_Nutrition_Info.pdf. It should be comparable to the recipe as it appears on the blog (though I believe it may not include the “cheese”). Hope this helps!
I go to comment/review sections to see if people have actually tried a recipe or a product to see if it’s worth making or buying. But 99.9% time I get ppl saying, “oh that looks great and I can’t wait to try it”, or “I’m so excited to try this”, or “thank you for posting this blog” which is worthless to say the least….it’s really frustrating. Perhaps there is should be a separate section for ppl who actually tried and bought a product/recipe and another for ppl who are just “excited” about making them.
I couldn’t agree more! Check out Minimalist Baker. After her (vegan!) recipes the comment section has 3 options – All comments; I made this; Questions – and only the folks who have made it can rate it.
My favorite recipe is her Coconut Oil Blueberry Scones (I omit the rosemary)
https://minimalistbaker.com/coconut-oil-blueberry-scones-with-rosemary/
I could not agree more. That is my second biggest pet peeve about food blogs. My first is how you have to scroll down through a bajillion photos of the food from every angle and paragraph after paragraph of unnecessary text and cutsy stories about this and that before you can even look at the recipe. Give us the recipe first, then put all the photos and text you want later.
I made this today for Easter lunch and just tried it and it is VERY good. All the components are great. Dressing is delicious and love the crunchy chickpeas! I only changed one thing, instead of Worchester sauce (didn’t have) I used soy sauce. Still came out great. I’m excited to take it to lunch and know everyone will love it as much as I do!
Thank you for the great recipe!!
Thanks for sharing, Janine! It’s great to hear the soy sauce worked out so well as a swap. Hope you had a happy Easter!
I would eat this every day if I could! This is my favorite salad of all time, I’ve probably made it 10 times this past year. Thank you!
I am seriously not a salad person. I avoid eating salads as much as possible but when my mom asked me to make a salad for my brother’s graduation, I thought I would give this a go. Honestly, now when I think of salad, I think of this salad because it is SO GOOD. It looks difficult from the amount of steps and ingredients but it turned out to be really simple if I made the parm and chickpeas in advance (they are great additions to other recipes as well). Whenever I think about cooking for other people, this is always on my potential menu because it puts other salads to shame, even non-vegan ones.
It’s so great to hear this salad won you over, Jessica! Thanks for taking the time to leave such a glowing review. Brought a smile to my face for sure :)
Made this today. The dressing as delicious. Top notch. The chickpeas I wasn’t crazy about. They never got fully crunchy for me (just slightly crunchy on the outside) even thought I followed the directions exactly. The cheese was a total bust because I accidentally soaked the cashews for the cheese, not realizing only the cashews for the dressing were supposed to be soaked. So the cheese turned out pretty gross, but that was my bad. I’m gonna try to “dehydrate” the cheese on the lowest setting my oven will go to dry it out, then maybe I can salvage it.
Totally worth making just for the dressing alone. Really great.
Can you make the parm ahead of time & leave in the fridge? How long will it last in the fridge? Thanks! :)
You absolutely can, Bailey! The parm should keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. The only thing you might notice is that the garlic flavour may fade with time, so you could always add that fresh if you wanted (I would just use a microplane grater and grate it finely into the mix and stir to combine.)
Can you make the dressing without cashews? My son has a cashew allergy :(, any suggestions for a substitution?
Hey Jen, I haven’t tried it (or at least I can’t recall trying it, haha), but raw soaked sunflower seeds might work. I would try using 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons since they pack into the measuring cup a bit more densely. I’m just not sure how the flavour would turn out since they aren’t as sweet and tend to be more detectable in dressings. Please let me know how it goes if you try it out!
I just posted a comment below about this… I made the sauce using raw unsoaked sunflower seeds and it was delicious. My kids love it both with cashews and without. Next time I’ll try making the parmesan with sunflower seeds.
The best caesar salad. Followed the dressing recipe perfectly, except the capers, and it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve literally made this recipe on repeat for the past two weeks. YUM! Chickpea croutons delicious as well, but I didn’t try the parm cheese – instead I just sprinkled nutritional yeast on top.
I love, love, love this dressing! There is a vegetarian restaurant chain in Ottawa that I enjoy and I’m convinced that they are influenced by you, and not only because a copy of your book is artfully displayed on a shelf. :-) I love their “caper vinaigrette” that they put on a salad that looks suspiciously like this one, minus the chickpeas. Your recipe surpasses theirs! I love to make fresh dressings at home and all of your recipes that I have tried have been delicious. Love the cookbook, too!
Hey Christie, That’s too funny..I’ve actually heard this from readers before (in other restaurants, all over). I don’t blame them, really (lol). Thanks so much for your kind words, and for supporting my cookbook!
I make the dressing all the time, at least a few time a month. I love it so much. I use it as a dip for vegetables, put it on sandwiches, and use it as my salad dressing. My only gripe is that since I eat it so often, I have to make it so often. Not that it takes long to make, I’m just lazy. :) I usually double the recipe and have often quadrupled it. Do you think this would freeze well if I would make it in larger batches?
Hey Amber, I believe other readers have tried freezing the dressing with success. If you give it a go, please let me know how it works out for you! You can always test it out by freezing a little bit in a silicone ice cube tray first. :)
This looks amazing! Any suggestions for eliminating the oil? My husband and I have recently switched to a plant based diet and we cannot have any oils. Can’t wait to try this
Hey Sam, You might be able to experiment with using more cashews and some water in place of the oil, but I haven’t tried this out myself. If you try anything please let us know how it goes!
Hi, I’ve made this a bunch of times, but because I’m on the low FODMAPs diet right now, I made the sauce with sunflower seeds instead of cashews and it was almost as delicious as with cashews. Highly recommended!
This has become my favourite dressing and dip. I do, however, put in 1/3 of a cup of Nutritional yeast and it sends it right over the edge in flavour. Thanks for the recipe!
Can you freeze any leftover dressing ?
Hey Brandi, I’m sorry I haven’t tried freezing this before! If you do attempt it, I might suggest trying to freeze a small amount in a freezer-safe bag, and then thawing it to see how it is before freezing a big portion. Please let me know if you try it!
OMG! I have been missing Ceasar Salad and Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. Thought I could not have these foods.
Thank you!
I tried this recipe for the first time at our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. The family loved it! This will become a regular in our new vegan lifestyle!
Dear Angela,
I made this today and served it for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so, so delicious and everyone loved it – vegan and omnivore alike! This dressing and salad are definitely going on my regular rotation! Thanks for the great recipe.
Hey Christine, Good call serving this as a Thanksgiving side dish! I find it always goes fast at a dinner party. Happy belated Thanksgiving!
made this tonight and was pleasantly surprised at how much it tasted like true caesar salad. Thank you!
We enjoyed it over the weekend too! I found myself saying the same thing (sometimes I forget if it’s been a while). So happy you enjoyed it!