Vegan Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

Vegan Caesar Salad with homemade croutons is a staple in my daily life. Among all salads, Caesar salad stands out as a timeless favourite. It’s fresh, delicious, and flavourful, perfect for any season. This vegan Caesar salad recipe is sure to impress you. Pretty, nourishing, vegan, and absolutely delicious, you won’t want to miss it!

This salad features crisp romaine lettuce, sliced cucumber and radish, shredded carrots, shaved parmesan cheese, and homemade crunchy croutons, all tossed in a creamy vegan Caesar dressing. It’s especially great in the summer as a side for barbecues or picnics, an easy make-ahead lunch, or a shareable salad for a brunch party.

The vegan Caesar dressing uses raw cashews, blended until very smooth to create an amazing silky texture. This dressing offers a creamy texture and tangy flavours, just like the classic version.

Filled with so much flavour and texture, this salad hardly feels like a plate of vegetables! It’s a must-have recipe for any salad lover.

Why We love this Vegan Caesar Salad:

• It’s Easy to make: Salads like this veggie caesar salad are the best because they are simple, accessible, and extremely easy to make. All you do is prep the ingredients and toss them together. Dressing can be made few days in advance, and stored in the fridge. You will not need more than 10 minutes to prepare this nutritional bomb.
• Made with a few ingredients: For a classic Caesar salad all you need is romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, croutons, and dressing. I love to add veggies to add extra texture and a little flavour to the base of the salad mix.
• It’s healthy and well balanced: Made with healthy whole plant based ingredients this salad is nourishing and well balanced.
• Vegan Caesar salad dressing: Vegan Caesar salad dressing is seriously a treat. It’s loaded with all the classic caesar flavour and texture — creamy, salty, earthy, and umami. The cashew-nuts add the perfect creaminess and the tahini gives its earthy flavours.

Ingredients for the Vegan Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons:

Classic Caesar salad starts with 4 basic components. Lettuce, parmesan cheese, croutons and Caesar dressing. Caesar salad is a simple dish that can be changed up a variety of ways to suit your taste. This vegan Caesar salad recipe has a few more components, but you can prepare mostly everything ahead in time for easy assemble when you are ready.

• Romaine lettuce – Fresh romaine lettuce is crisp and crunchy with a mild, slightly bitter taste that’s delicious. Cut it into bite-sized pieces that’ll mingle with the other ingredients! Butterhead lettuce also works well with this recipe, or you can use a mix of different types of leafy greens.
• Veggies – Roasted corn kernels, shredded carrots, slices or ribbons of cucumber, sliced radish and sliced red onions.
• Cheese – Vegan Shaved Parmesan cheese adds the same nutty, savoury flavour.
• Homemade croutons – For crunch! Sourdough croutons are so yummy, super crunchy and easy to make – just toss the torn bread with olive oil, minced garlic, sea salt, and mixed herbs. Spread them on a baking sheet, and toast them in a preheated oven until they’re golden brown.
• Caesar dressing – Classic Caesar salad dressing is made with egg yolks, Worcestershire sauce, and anchovies, but today we are making a vegan dressing. This Vegan Caesar Salad dressing uses raw cashews which are soaked and processed with a blender until very smooth, creating an amazing silky texture. I’m also adding in some tahini (which has an almost earthy like flavour) garlic, mustard, capers, lemon juice and some good quality olive oil. You’ll end up with a creamy, rich mixture that tastes every bit as tangy and savoury as the classic version.

Assembling the Salad

I like to toss some crunchy romaine lettuce with the vegan caesar salad dressing, starting with just a little, and adding more as I go, just enough to perfectly coat those leaves. Then, I pile on some veggies, roasted corn kernels, and some sourdough croutons. Sprinkled with fresh chives and generous shaving of vegan parmesan cheese. Drizzled generously with more dressing.

Helpful Tips and Tricks to Make Vegan Caesar Salad:

• This recipe will taste great with just about any green, you can have a combo of lettuce and shredded kale or a mix of leafy greens.
• Freshly grated or shaved Parmesan is the best for this recipe. To get thin slices for the shaved use a potato peeler.
• You can also use store bought croutons.
• I love to make my own dressing for the salads but feel free to use store-bought dressing if that is more convenient.
• If you forgot to soak the cashews in advance here’s a hack – place raw cashews in a container and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes, then drain.
• If you want to make caesar salad ahead of time, I recommend combining everything except for the croutons. The croutons will quickly become soggy. Otherwise, everything else will store well in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. For best results, store the dressing separately too if you can. 
• Leftover tossed salad can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It is best if eating within a day or two because the longer you store it, the more wilted the romaine lettuce will get.

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Vegan Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons

Serves: 4-6 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 20 Minutes 20 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 3 voted )

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Ingredients

For the Salad :

• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped into bite size
• 1 medium carrot, julienned 
• 2 medium corn, boiled and roasted
• 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
• 5 radish, thinly slices
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chives, chopped
• Croutons 

For the Dressing: (Makes 500 ml)

• 1 cup cashews, soaked in water for 2-3 hours
• ½ cup water
• 1 tbsp tahini paste
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar 
• 1 tsp capers
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard 
• 1 -2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ cup olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper

Sourdough Croutons:

• 4-5 slices day old sourdough bread, torn into chunks
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dries mixed herbs
• sea salt flakes
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme

method

Instructions for Dressing:

1. Soak the cashews in enough water for 2-3 hours. Drain and rinse the cashews. Place all the ingredients, except the olive oil into a high-powered blender or food processor and process until very smooth, taking the time to scrape down the sides of your container as needed.
2. Remove the plug from the lid and turn blender on low. Begin pouring the olive oil in a thin stream into the blender. Switch of the blender and scrap the sides. Put the lid back on and blend for another 30 seconds.
3. You can store the prepared dressing in a glass jar or an air tight container in the refrigerator for uptown 7 days. 

Making the Croutons:

1. Preheat the oven at 200ºC. 
2. Toss the torn bread with olive oil, minced garlic, mixed dried herbs and sea salt. 
3. Spread the bread chunks evenly on a baking tray, add the thyme sprigs. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown, tossing once during cook time.

Assembling the Salad :

1. Place your chopped lettuce in a salad bowl or platter, pile the shredded carrots, sliced cucumber, radish and onions and 1/2 cup of the dressing and gently toss the salad. Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese and chives. Drizzle with more dressing and top with croutons. 

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