This Vegan Caesar Salad with Crispy Chickpeas is definitely a firm favourite in my house! I mean this salad is full of the good stuff. Smoked tofu that's been grilled, crunchy chickpea croutons, all backed up with the soft bite that comes with a good cos lettuce, and of course that tangy, garlicky creamy Caesar dressing!
Before we go any further, you need to know that the homemade vegan caesar dressing is amazing! Creamy from tahini, loads and loads of garlic. The tang of capers.. a hit of lemon..Whew. It's quite probably one of my fave dressings. Ever. It also happens to be naturally oil free.
If you're into hearty and delicious salads, check out this Antipasto Pasta Salad or my other current favourite which also has a great tahini based dressing: ,Kale Salad with Tahini Dressing. Or if you're wanting to try out a different type of sesame dressing this Goma Dressing - Japanese Salad Dressing is absolutely delicious drizzled on all kinds of veggies.
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🥗Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make this vegan caesar salad recipe. Full quantities are listed on the (printable) recipe card.
For the Salad
- Cos Lettuce: Fresh and crispy cos lettuce or crisp romaine lettuce cut up into large chunks, perfect for scooping up the garlicky caesar dressing
- Nutritional Yeast: This replaces the sprinkle of parmesan cheese traditional caesar salad would have, you can swap this for vegan parmesan cheese if you like.
- Smoked Tofu: I like to serve my vegan caesar salad with pan fried slices of smoked tofu. See the Substitutions and Variations section for other ideas!
For the Dressing
- Tahini: This is made from crushed sesame seeds, and when mixed with the other dressing ingredients becomes super creamy and so delicious.
- Capers: To replace the traditional anchovies. To recreate their briny flavor, I also use some of the super tangy caper brine in the dressing.
- Garlic Cloves: The whole point of caesar salad is the bright sharpness of the garlic!
- Lemon Juice: This softens the blow from the garlic and adds bright tangy flavor.
- Maple Syrup: To balance out the salty tones of the capers.
- Flakey Sea Salt: Taste the dressing before adding this.
For the Crispy Chickpea Croutons
- Cooked Chickpeas: Canned or home cooked is fine.
- Garlic Powder: For the garlicky crouton taste!
- Smoked Paprika: for a lovely toasty smokey flavor.
- Good Quality Olive Oil: to get the chickpeas really crunchy.
See recipe card for quantities.
👩🍳Instructions
Here's how to make this vegan version of Caesar Salad!
1 & 2: Add all the ingredients for the creamy vegan caesar dressing in a small blender and whizz until creamy. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice to suit.
3 & 4: Make the crispy crunchy croutons by patting dry the cooked chickpeas. Mix their seasonings then put in an airfryer at 180c/360f for 20 mins until crispy. Alternatively oven bake.
5. Slice and pan fry the smoked tofu until crisp on the outside. (You can substitute vegan chicken pieces or any other protein that tickles your fancy too)
6. Assemble the salad by adding the chopped lettuce to a large bowl. Add on the chickpea croutons, a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast, the tofu and then dress with plenty of the creamy dressing!
Serve with extra dressing on the side for pouring over or dunking lettuce leaves into.
Hint: Pat the chickpeas dry before roasting them in a single layer to guarantee a crispy result.
🌶️Substitutions & Variations
Here are some delicious ideas to switch up this recipe so you never have a boring salad!
- Other Greens- massage kale with some lemon juice for a vegan kale caesar salad. Alternatively chicory or little gem lettuce also work well.
- Other Croutons -rub slices of sourdough bread with a garlic clove, chop into cubes and bake or air fry for delicious homemade croutons.
- Plain Tofu - if you can't find or don't have smoked tofu, marinate tofu in a combination of smoked paprika & soy sauce then pan fry (this recipe for the tofu in this Tofu Bacon BLT Sandwich works brilliantly)
- Make this into a Vegan Chicken Caesar Salad by pan frying or baking some vegan chk'n strips and replacing the smoked tofu.
🔪Equipment
You'll need a frying pan or griddle pan to grill the tofu, a good sharp knife and a high-speed blender to make the dressing. If you choose to oven bake the chickpeas, you'll also need a baking sheet, and of course a large mixing bowl or salad bowls to serve.
🫙Storage
Once assembled, you need to eat this salad within a few hours. However you can store the chickpea croutons in an airtight container for up to a week, and the vegan caesar salad dressing in a jar or airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Top tip
Make all the salad components and store sepeartely as meal prep, and have on hand ready for an easy side salad or quick lunch.
❓FAQ
Caesar salad dressing usually isn't vegan as it contains raw egg yolks and anchovies.
More Great Salads!
Looking for more salads? Try these..
Great for Picnics:
Delicious picnic ideas to serve alongside this vegan Caesar salad recipe :
📖 Recipe
Vegan Caesar Salad with Crispy Chickpea Croutons
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 3 tablespoon tahini
- 3 tablespoon capers (finely minced/smashed)
- 1 tablespoon Caper brine (the liquid that the capers comes in!)
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice, (or to taste) (juice of around ½ lemon)
- ½ teaspoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (4-5 cloves)
- warm water to thin as needed
For the Croutons
- 375 g (2 2/7 cups) cooked chickpeas (drained (about 1 x 15 oz can) )
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- pinch salt
For the Salad
- 500 g (17 ⅔ oz) Cos Lettuce ((About 1 head) Washed, dried & torn to bite size pieces)
- 200 g (7 oz) smoked tofu (sliced into 1cm slices)
- 4 tablespoon chives and parsley- chopped (optional, but pretty and tasty)
- 2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
Instructions
For the Chickpea Croutons
- Preheat the oven to 180℃/Gas mark 4/375℉
- Drain the chickpeas, pat dry and tip onto a baking tray/ or onto the air fry basket375 g cooked chickpeas, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon olive oil, pinch salt
- Drizzle over the oil, paprika and garlic powder. Add a little salt. Mix them all around well so all the chickpeas are covered in the oil & seasoning.
- TO OVEN BAKE: Bake for 20 mins, then stir and put back in the oven. Bake for a further 15 mins or until crispy. Depending on the day & your oven you might need to bake longer. Keep stirring until the chickpeas are crispy but avoid burning them.
- TO AIR FRY: Air Fry at 180℃/360℉ for 15-20 minutes or until all the chickpeas are crisp
For the Salad Dressing
- In a jar with a lid, mix together all the ingredients and shake well.3 tablespoon tahini, 3 tablespoon capers, 1 tablespoon Caper brine, 2 tablespoon lemon juice, (or to taste), ½ teaspoon maple syrup, 3 tablespoon fresh minced garlic, warm water to thin as needed
- Alternatively, skip mincing the garlic and chopping the capers and add all the ingredients to a small blender. Blend until creamy.
- Add a little water and mix- add more if needed so the dressing is creamy, yet pourable.
- Taste the dressing. Add more salt, lemon juice or maple syrup to balance the flavours as needed
For the Salad
- Brush a griddle or fry pan with a tiny bit of oil. Griddle or fry the tofu on each side200 g smoked tofu
- Tear the lettuce. Then on a nice plate arrange the lettuce & tofu. Sprinkle with herbs. Drizzle over the dressing and toss some chickpea 'croutons' over.500 g Cos Lettuce, 4 tablespoon chives and parsley- chopped
- Serve with extra dressing on the side.2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
mlz says
i appreciate your recipes, a lot. BUT, you say you've been good about conversion, however you're inconsistent - eg, no F for oven temp; 500g lettuce, why no ounces ['1 head' does not tell us enough]; 200g smoked tofu in 1cm slices = '1pkg', what size pkg? I believe you either you do it or you don't but inconsistent is really just a tease and a lot more work. i'd love to make the recipe if you had only done what you promised - be well converted!!
Louise-Claire Cayzer says
Thank you for your feedback. This is one of my oldest recipes and it hadn't had the full modern update with all the conversions yet. I've just popped the conversions in for you, so you should be able to make this easily now.