Vegan kale Caesar salad with crispy chickpeas and crunchy croutons is so delicious you won’t even think it is vegan! A homemade Caesar dressing made from tahini and a bunch of other surprising ingredients makes for a salad staple.

No, no I’m not going full in on the vegan thing. Not even returning to my vegetarian ways.

I actually saw a picture of this Caesar salad in New York Times Cooking and before I saw it was vegan, I just thought, “Hey, that salad looks gooooood.”

Now I know that not only is my version of the vegan Caesar salad with crispy chickpeas and homemade croutons so good, it is also super healthy!

The homemade Caesar dressing is dairy free and egg free and still packs a whole lot of creamy umami flavor.

The secret to the dressing is a tahini base mixed with lemon juice, the brine from capers, garlic, dijon mustard, and nutritional yeast. 

The caper brine in addition to the nutritional yeast hit all the notes you would look for in a traditional Caesar dressing. 

Trust me.

I learned after a lot of attempts at kale salads that the key to dealing with fresh kale is to give it a good fashioned massage.

Who doesn’t respond well to a little massage, right?

The kale gets tender while you bake up the crispy chickpeas and croutons.

It really isn’t a Caesar salad without the bread.

A twenty minute bake for the chickpeas makes for a super crispy salad topping.

The croutons go on a separate baking sheet and only take ten minutes in the oven.

Toss both the bread in olive oil, salt, and pepper. That’s all they need to get crispy and flavorful.

I like to use flaky Maldon salt for both.

Once the chickpeas and croutons are slightly cooled toss everything together and enjoy!

Mike, my in-house veggie hater and carnivore, ate an entire bowl of the salad without questioning the vegan-ness of this recipe!

Caesar salad is legit the only salad aside from a wedge salad that he will tolerate.

Now I know he likes this vegan kale Caesar salad I will be making it way more often!

Vegan Kale Caesar Salad

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Vegan kale Caesar salad with a creamy tahini based dressing, crispy chickpeas, and crunchy homemade croutons.

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Ingredients

• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 demi-baguette or half a French baguette, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1, 16oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and dried
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• salt and pepper
• 1 head romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• 10oz tuscan kale or regular curly kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
• FOR THE DRESSING:
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 1/2 tsp caper brine
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• juice and zest from 1 lemon
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• about 1/2 cup water, to thin out the dressing

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line two small baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.
2. Make sure to add the drained and rinsed chickpeas to a few kitchen towels and give them a good rub to thoroughly dry before tossing with the EVOO.
3. Add the bread to one pan and the dried chickpeas to the other. add 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil to each pan along with a good pinch of salt and a teeny pinch of pepper. Add the smoked paprika to the chickpeas. Use your hands to toss everything together.
4. Bake the chickpeas for about 20 minutes, tossing about halfway through. Bake the croutons for 10 minutes, tossing about halfway through as well.
5. While the chickpeas and croutons bake, make the dressing. Add all the ingredients minus the water to a food processor. Puree until thick and smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add a few tbsp of water in and puree until smooth. Add a little water at a time until the consistency changes to more of a thick Caesar dressing. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste between each addition of water.
6. Add all the kale to a large bowl along with 1 tbsp of the dressing. Massage until the kale becomes dark and tender, about 4 minutes.
7. Once the croutons and chickpeas are crispy and baked, set off tot he side to slightly cool.
8. Mix the romaine into the kale along with a little more dressing and about 1/2 the chickpeas and croutons. Toss to combine. Reserve the remainder of croutons, chickpeas, and dressing to top the salad with.

Notes

If yo do not have tahini, you can use 1 cup of cashews along with another 1/2 cup of water and puree a bit longer until smooth.

Recommended Products

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