Crisp greens, a 5 minute dressing, and smoky sun-dried tomato bits all prepared while your homemade croutons bake to the perfect crunch! This is a loaded vegan caesar salad recipe from scratch that’s sure to impress! It’s:
Slathered in Creamy Dressing
Covered in Crunchy Croutons
Sprinkled with Smoky “Meaty” Sun-Dried Tomato Bits
And Ready in 30 Minutes Or Less
Why Make Vegan Caesar Salad From Scratch
You may be thinking this seems like a lot of work. Even though it takes only 30 minutes to compile everything… why not just buy a pre-made salad?
Well, it’s super tasty AND you get some savings too!
- Our estimated total cost for this recipe is: CAD $9.59…
- vs. approximately: CAD $12.99 – $15.99 for a store-bought pre-made, party size Caesar.
Recipe Cost For This Vegan Caesar Salad
- 1 large bunch, Romaine Lettuce: $3.99
- No Blender Quick Caesar Dressing: $2.85
- Crunchy Homemade Croutons: $2.22
- ½ Cup Smoky Sun-Dried Tomato Bits: $0.53
Vegan Caesar Dressing From Scratch
This dressing is made:
In One Bowl
With No Fancy Equipment
And 5 Minutes Of Your Time
The secret to getting a creamy dressing without needing a blender? Hummus.
Using our homemade 5 minute creamy hummus will help you save nearly $1.60 more for this thrifty dressing!
Hummus makes up the creamy base, and the classic taste you expect from your caesar, comes from all the flavourful add-ins. If you’re like me, you’ll love the taste and convenience of this dressing but you will likely still be able to detect a bit of a “hummus-y” texture.
As a super tasty alternative, try our Zingy Caesar Dressing. It’s still quick, but made with the use of your blender and gets its silky creaminess from soaked cashews. You would think a dressing made from cashews with their heftier price tag would be considerably more but:
- Our Zingy Caesar Dressing costs us: $3.04 vs
- Our No Blender Quick Dressing at: $2.85 (using ½ cup or 120g of our homemade hummus will bring this price down to $1.26).
The Croutons
Take a look at our post for our Easy Homemade Croutons for more info on these crunchy wonders! These are best made with bread that is slightly past its prime. So buying your bread from the “day old” section will result in more savings once again!
We price these croutons at $2.22 with a regular priced baguette. But we always end up making them for $1.53 with a $1 baguette.
Simply cut up your baguette, toss the pieces with olive oil and some seasonings, and bake for 12-20 minutes until your desired crunchiness is achieved!
The Vegan Bacon Bits
You love bacon bits… but why not switch things up a bit and get the same salty, smoky, chewy topping from sun-dried tomatoes!
I was quite surprised at the thriftiness of this little invention.
100g bacon bits costs between: CAD $5.49 – $6.49
and 100g of our sun-dried tomato bits costs us: CAD $3.52!
The ½ cup used for this recipe costs just $0.53 and you can reserve the rest of the bag (or jar) for another tasty recipe like our Spinach & Sun-Dried Tomato Breakfast Pie! Now that sounds like a plan to me.
So you have everything you need to whip up this vegan caesar salad recipe from scratch! Let us know in the comments below how you enjoy it and what you pair it with!
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Your Best Vegan Caesar Salad From Scratch
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 large party size salad 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Creamy dressing, crunchy croutons, & smoky sun-dried tomato bits for your best vegan caesar salad recipe to make from scratch!
Ingredients
- 1 bunch romaine lettuce*
Croutons:
- 1 day old baguette*
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp oregano
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp salt and pepper
No Blender Quick Caesar Dressing:
- ½ cup hummus
- 3 ½ tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp capers, chopped with brine
- 1–2 tablespoon soy milk
- ¼ tsp wasabi (or sub dijon or mustard powder)
- ¼ – ½ teaspoon garlic powder (if your hummus isn’t garlicky)
- ¼ tsp salt & black pepper
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- optional: ¾ teaspoon miso paste (for added depth of flavour and saltiness)
Smoky Sun-Dried Tomato Bits:
- ¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- ½ tsp tamari or soy sauce
- ¼ tsp liquid smoke
*Fresh ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
For the croutons:
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cut your bread into cubes.
- Transfer the chopped bread to a large bowl and drizzle with the oil, 1 tablespoon at a time, quickly tossing the croutons with your hands so the oil doesn’t seep into only a few pieces.
- Sprinkle the bread with the spices and toss again.
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet and bake for 12-20 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, take a look at them and drizzle with more oil if they are looking a little dry for your liking. This will encourage them to brown more for the last few minutes in the oven. Continue to bake for 2-10 minutes more to achieve your desired crunchiness.
- You can make these ahead of time and store in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks!
For the dressing:
- Add all the ingredients to a small dish and stir to combine. If using miso paste, it’s best to start with the miso and milk, whisk or stir until the miso is dissolved. Then add in the remaining ingredients.
- Taste and adjust the flavour to your liking. More lemon juice if desired, wasabi or mustard for zing. Milk to thin it. Salt, garlic, nutritional yeast, or miso for depth of flavour.
- Pour over your salad and toss to coat just before serving. Or make ahead and store in the fridge for up to one week.
For the sun-dried tomato bits:
- Slice and chop your sun-dried tomatoes.
- Transfer to a small bowl. Drizzle with tamari and liquid smoke. Stir to coat and enjoy.
- These are also easy to season ahead of time and store in the fridge until you are ready to use them!
Notes
*Total Approximate Cost: CAD $9.59 (Lettuce $3,99, Dressing $2.85, Croutons $2.22, Sun-Dried Tomato Bits $0.53). Vs. roughly $12.99 – $15.99 to purchase a pre-made party size salad.
*As an alternative, try our Zingy Caesar Dressing. Quickly made in the blender, cashews make this dressing rich and creamy.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Various
- Cuisine: Italian
Maria
This Caesar salad is wonderful. I have made it several times. The croutons are simple to make and delicious. The sun dried tomatoes are genius. Believe it or not, the dressing is ready in literally 5 minutes. The only thing I’ve changed is that I cut down on the lemon juice in the dressing. I find that 3 1/2 tbsp makes it too lemony for my taste.
Kathryn Alexandre
I’m glad you’ve found the dressing to be quick and easy to adapt to your preference! Thank you so much for letting me know you’ve enjoyed this salad and thank you for the wonderful star rating.