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.
Just tried your recipe and wanted to let you know it was great! I love it when traditional recipes are made “non traditional” and they taste as good as (or better) than the original!
This looks very tasty. Cant wait to prepare one for my family. Thank you. Best
Gah!!! I am sooo excited to make this tonight! So far, every single one of your recipes that I have tried (over 20), have been wildly successful!
Looks great!
Hi Angela! Made this last night for my mom’s birthday celebration and it was a hit!! Another touchdown recipe from your site ;) Thanks so much!!
Can we take a minute for the fact that I made this and then ate the whole batch! Sorry not sorry, this recipe was phenomenal. I have been looking for a good Cesar salad recipe for years! Oh and the roasted chick peas? Genius.
In the last five days, I’ve made this salad twice! I brought it over to a friend’s house, and I also just made it for my husband and I to eat at home. I haven’t had a Caesar salad since I’ve been vegan (~11 months), so it was absolutely wonderful. I didn’t eat a lot of Caesar salad before, but my mom made a kickass one, and I think it tastes very similarly. I left out the raw garlic, and I still think the recipe is fairly garlicy, so do watch out for that if you don’t like garlic. I don’t normally comment on blog posts, but I loved this one so much that I just had to. I have a goal to try everything from the OSG cookbook (I’ve probably made 25-30 recipes so far), but I decided to try this one instead of the Caesar salad in the cookbook since Angela raved about it so much. I’ll still have to try the cookbook one to compare.
I just discovered your website and forget Julie and Julia, I want to spend next year cooking all of your recipes!
I’ve been searching for the perfect vegan caesar dressing and this is it! I’ve made it twice now and the people I’ve served it to have gone nuts over it. Thank you!
This was delicious! Amazing how you recreating the Caesar taste and creaminess in a much healthier and more flavorful dish!
I will try this recipe for Christmas.. thanks
Echoing the other commenters by saying this salad was AMAZING and the dressing tastes SO MUCH like class Caesar. Can’t wait to make this over and over :)
Made this tonight for dinner! So delicious that I ended up eating more than I planned on! The chickpeas add great crunch and satiation. I made a little extra of the dressing and plan on making a caesar wrap for lunch tomorrow :)
I made this tonight and it was a hit! It felt much more indulgent than my usual garlic/lemon juice/olive oil dressing. I was a bit hesitant about adding the kale as I only ever eat it cooked, but it added a nice level of bitterness to the salad and I’m sure many more vitamins! I didn’t have any hemp seeds to I used pepitas. It gave the parmesan a greenish texture but tasted great! Thanks so much Angela!
This looks delish!!
Ooooh yum! I definitely will be making this. I’m pretty much obsessed with chickpeas!
AMAZING! I’ve made this THREE times now. I added a little more mustard and garlic because I like it strong! Thanks Angela!
I’ve been looking for a good dairy-free alternative to ceasar salad! Can’t wait to try!
Made it twice. Love it!!
Thanks for this recipe. Made this salad for lunch this weekend and both me and my husband loved it! I will definitely make it many more times!
Is there a way to substitute something else for the cashews? Nut allergies in the family. Almonds are OK, but cashews, walnuts and peanuts are out.
Any suggestions on making this oil free?
My husband and I (both omnivores) really enjoyed this salad – I forgot to soak the cashews overnight so swapped them for tahini last minute. How would it have gone if I had used un-soaked cashews?
Just made this. Absolutely delicious.
After becoming vegan the hardest thing for me to still see people eat and not steal abite or two when they weren’t looking was ceasar salad. I’ve tried many raw recipies but somehow they came up short . This however Angela is SO delicious!!! Love the chickpea croutons as well! Thank you for sharing so much with others…you truly are an inspiration!!
I can eat so many roasted chickpeas. This salad looks simply divine =)
Which book includes this vegan caesar?
Thank you!
Hi Sharon, It’s currently not published in any cookbook yet – just here on the blog! Thanks.
I made this for Christmas lunch with lots of meat eaters and it went quickly. Really delicious, will add to my summer salad rotation
This salad was soooooo good!!! My two little ones couldn’t get enough – they are only 2 & 5! And there were no leftovers. This was a huge salad and I loved that the dressing was the perfect amount – not too much, not too little.
Doubled this recipe for a holiday potluck. Had leftovers which carried well, even when coated. I guess Kale can deal with the dressing without getting ultra soggy. Anyways, this was absolutely delicious and fun to make! The dressing was incredible.
Thanks!
This was a hit at Christmas dinner! Thank you so much for creating and sharing this recipe! I did adapt the “parm” to my usual walnut/garlic/lemon zest/nutritional yeast version, since I had those ingredients handy – but the dressing I followed exactly and everyone from my caper-hating husband to my omnivore in-laws loved it!
I made this as a New Year’s Eve treat for myself (along with the favorite chili recipe [which was also fantastic]) and this was by far – not a second of doubt in my review – the best caesar salad I’ve ever tasted. Forget all the recipes with chicken/shrimp and dressing rich in milk products and anchovies. This is the real deal.
I’ve already tried a couple of the recipes off this site which turned out quite nicely, but this recipe converted to me ! I love this chef and wish her and her family (+baby) all the best in the world this next year!
that makes me so happy! Thank you for your feedback!
Made it yesterday and it got a thumbs up from my whole family and even from my boyfriend! It was a really delicious salad! Thank you for the amazing recipe!!
This salad variation is so nice, I’ll have to try it on my father the next time he come to visit :)
This salad was a starter of our christmas dinner – it’s just divine. The roasted chickpeas are delicious and I have used them as a snack and for another salad a well.
I’ve just recently found this blog – thank you for your great work.
Greetings from Vienna, Austria, Sibylle
I love this recipe and it really is crowd pleasing! I made this last night with dinner and everyone liked it. Even the most stubborn meat-loving person at the table said it was good. I did find that the chickpeas could have been crunchier. Maybe they could have sat in the warm oven a bit longer…? Thanks for putting this recipe together!
My boyfriend make this recipe for me one day for dinner… Now he have to make me this salad 2x/week absolutlely !!! Amazing amazing…A thousand time better than any caesar salad I have ever tasted.
Thank you !!!
I live in germany and the only kale available is just usuall kale . How can I substitude the
Lacinato kale ??
Great blog !!!
I live in Berlin and have been able to find Lacinato Kale “Schwarzkohl” in Denn’s Biomarkt recently, but I think the salad would be just as good without it.
How long will this dressing last in the fridge?
WOW! I just made this for lunch and it tastes better than any caesar I have had! Since going vegan, I have been unable to find a healthy dressing that comes close to this. I was afraid to use the Worcestershire but provides that distinct flavor that is missing in other substitutes. Yet another recipe of yours that I will keep!
Does anyone know a good substitute for the worcestershire sauce? I can’t seem to find one at any local stores. Thanks x
I couldn’t find any locally either so I used Braggs Aminos. I can’t compare it to the original since I’ve not made it with the Worcestershire, but it was delicious with the substitute. Good luck!
My pick for 2014 too! I have to say I almost never make a recipe twice but this one is the exception! It’s so good that my boyfriend requested we start a list of to-make-twice-recipes :) Love the nutritional addition of the seeds and nuts in the “parmesan”. I misreaded and used sunflower seeds instead of sesame and it tasted super great. Will try with coconut bacon because i’m sure this salad will be eat for the third time soon. Thanks Angela for your always helpful blog :) I’m from Québec and it’s nice to read a vegan canadian blog !
You say you add kale for a “nutritional boost” but romaine lettuce is just as nutritious as kale- can you elaborate on how you find kale to be more “nutritious”?
This is literally my FAVORITE thing to eat! I will have this at least once a week. Even my non-vegan husband loves it. The dressing is great on a lot of other dishes, too. :) Keep up the amazing work!
Made this three times over the holidays. DELICIOUS. Always a huge hit. I like it much better than the “classic” salad. The kale makes it so much more delicious and the dressing is so good I could drink it.
I had this recipe filed in my brain as “to make” for several weeks. Then it was featured in your Most Popular Health Recipes of 2014 post, which gave me the extra shove to just make it already. I followed your recipe with one exception – I used Braggs Aminos in place of the vegan Worcestershire (none at my local market). I did add the optional Nutritional Yeast to the parmesan blend. The flavors and textures of this creation blend BEAUTIFULLY! I’ve roasted chickpeas a dozen times but never at so high a temperature so I was a little skeptical. But that high temp transforms those little buggers into light, airy little nuggets of crunchy joy – making them really taste like croutons. It was weird and awesome at the same time! Thank you for sharing so much with us, this recipe included. Even my 10 year old traditional-Caesar-salad-loving-boy was loving the “anchovy” tang! He didn’t believe there weren’t any in the dressing. Your cookbook has been my bedside read since Christmas (thanks, mom) and I thank you for doing what you do!
Just made this salad! So delicious! Thank you, Angela!
I made this recipe and brought it for Thanksgiving dinner-it was delicious! Your website is my go-to for great vegan meals. I received your book for a Christmas gift and noticed a similar chakra caesar salad recipe. Just wondering which dressing recipe you prefer…I haven’t made the one in the book yet. Thanks for all the great recipes and congrats on your sweet baby girl!
Hi Tiffany,
this one is my new fav. :) hope you enjoy!
Alison, how do I adapt the Vegan Sour Cream recipe to translate into the dressing. Made the sour cream yesterday with ingredients mentioned above (was fab with the chilli and have a cup of sour cream left and no chilli – it was THAT good ) but wondering should I add more water and then other ingredients to Caesar it up?
I try not to stop my children from eating veggies, but I had to tell my 6 year old to stop stealing the lettuce and dipping her fingers in the dressing. She also loves the chickpea croutons. Such an awesome salad, and right now I think my favorite. I will be making this many many more times. Thank you!