Vegan Caesar Salad with Coconut Bacon
This Vegan Caesar Salad is perfect for a light, crowd-pleasing dinner or lunch! It’s made with a tangy, creamy dressing, crunchy croutons, and crisp romaine lettuce! It’s bound to be a new favorite in your household.
Ingredients
Croutons
Vegan Caesar Dressing
- 2 tablespoons oil (any oil is fine)
- ¼ cup tahini Or ½ cup raw cashews boiled for 5 minutes
- 3 cloves of garlic minced (roasted also works here, finely diced)
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1-2 tablespoons lime or lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup water
Vegan Caesar Salad:
- 2 heads of crispy romaine lettuce washed, dried and chopped
- ¼ cup vegan Parmesan cheese store-bought or homemade
- ¼ cup vegan coconut bacon store-bought or homemade
Instructions
Croutons:
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Add the bread cubes to a silicone mat on a baking sheet or a baking sheet prepared with parchment paper or foil.
- Drizzle the oil over the cubes, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss gently with hands to coat. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Vegan Caesar Dressing:
- While the croutons are baking, you can make the dressing.
- Add all of the ingredients to a jar and mix - either by shaking the jar or wish a whisk until combined and creamy. If using cashews, blend for about 2 minutes to ensure the cashews are throughly blended down. Blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the blender if necessary.
Vegan Caesar Salad:
- In a large mixing bowl, add the chopped lettuce. Drizzle a good amount of dressing (as much or as little as you’d like) over the lettuce and toss to combine.
- Add in toasted bread, coconut bacon and the vegan parmesan cheese. Toss until combined.
- Serve with extra coconut bacon and vegan parmesan and dressing on the side. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Soak Your Cashews: This is important for easy digestion, and also because you want the dressing to come out nice and creamy. Or boil for 5 minutes! You can easily boil your cashews with just enough water covering them for 5 minutes. Drain, let cool, and proceed! This way you can make the recipe the same day.
- Make the Croutons First: That way you can prepare the homemade caesar dressing while they bake - it's a huge timesaver!
- Customize It: Feel free to make this salad to your own taste. You can use as much or as little dressing on the salad as you want. You can add more coconut bacon or less vegan parmesan (let’s be real - you’ll never add less vegan parmesan cheese!).
- Storage: If you have leftovers, you’re going to want to store them in an airtight container in your fridge for about 3 days. If you want to meal prep this salad, I highly recommend making the lettuce separate, the dressing separate, and the croutons fresh.
Nutrition
Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 369mg | Potassium: 149mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 813IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1mg