This Vegan Chickpea Caesar Salad Recipe makes a refreshing dish with a crunch! Make it easy with a creamy dressing and roasted chickpeas.
Warmer days are finally ahead and this means we’ll be ditching stews and heavy winter foods for lighter meals, such as this Vegan Chickpea Caesar Salad!
This salad has it all – the freshness of the crispy lettuce; the crunch from roasted chickpeas and toasted bread croutons, the creaminess from the avocado and the dressing. What’s not to like?
Serve this Vegan Caesar Salad as a light lunch meal or as a side to your dinner. Either way, it’s delicious (and healthy!).
So let’s take a look at the ingredient list!
Salad Dressing Ingredients
The dressing is not traditional, as to make it so it would need animal-based products, such as anchovies and egg yolk. But it doesn’t mean it is any less delicious! We ditched the animal products for a healthier and lighter version of the dressing.
To make the vegan caesar salad dressing you will need:
- hummus, this will add a natural plant-based creaminess
- dijon mustard, for a bit of a kick to the dressing
- lemon peel & lemon juice, for acidity and a fresh aftertaste
- garlic, we recommend using roasted cloves for the best taste. If you like me don’t particularly like the overwhelming taste of raw garlic, roasting it will change the taste to a mild garlic hint. You can roast the garlic cloves along with your chickpeas
- olive oil, or can use a neutral plant oil, such as canola oil or sunflower seed oil as a replacement
- maple syrup, for sweetness, you can replace it with agave syrup
- Soy sauce. This is optional but will add some extra flavor to the dressing.
- salt and pepper
Vegan Caesar Salad Ingredients
To make this caesar salad you will need:
- chickpeas. We recommend using canned chickpeas for a quick meal, but dry chickpeas that you soak overnight and cook will work splendidly as well. Dry the chickpeas with a towel before seasoning and roasting, so you remove excess water and skin.
- olive oil
- lettuce. You can use any kind of lettuce you have available, but crunchy types such as romaine will work best.
- avocado, this will add extra creaminess, fat, and nutrients to the salad, making you feel full and satiated.
- vegan parmesan cheese, or other hard types of vegan cheese that you can grate or slice on the salad. We like to also use mature chickpea cheese.
- stale bread. For croutons, stale bread works best and it’s an excellent way to use it up and reduce waste
- garlic powder
- parsley
- salt, and pepper
How to make this Vegan Chickpea Caesar Salad
Making this Vegan Caesar Salad is pretty simple and straightforward. You’ll just need to:
- roast the chickpeas
- toast the bread
- make the dressing
- assemble the salad
To roast your chickpeas, first dry them off well with a kitchen towel, to remove excess moisture. If you want, you can also remove the peel as you do so. Season your chickpeas, drizzle with oil, and mix to combine and let the seasoning and oil cover the chickpeas uniformly. Then, bake them in a preheated oven at 200°C / 390°F for about 25-30 minutes, stirring them once midway through the baking. Once baked, let them cool off as this will help them get crispy and crunchy.
While you’re baking your chickpeas, through in a couple of cloves of garlic as well and have roasted garlic ready for the dressing – just peel it once roasted and mash with a fork.
To make the bread croutons, dice the stale bread, drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning, then toast it in a large pan until golden brown in color and crispy.
To make the dressing just place all of the ingredients into a bowl or a jar and whisk or shake until combined and the dressing turns creamy.
Lastly, just assemble your salad: place chopped lettuce into your salad bowl, add avocado, roasted chickpeas, bread croutons, and vegan parmesan cheese. Top with a drizzle of the creamy dressing and you’re ready to serve!
Serving and storage
You can make the dressing and roasted chickpeas up to 2 days ahead to save time, or for meal prep.
If you want to store this salad, we recommend storing ingredients separately and combining them just before serving, to prevent sogginess.
Vegan Chickpea Caesar Salad
This Vegan Chickpea Caesar Salad Recipe makes a refreshing dish with a crunch! Make it easy with a creamy dressing and roasted chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 260 grams chickpeas, drained
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 cups lettuce (romaine hearts)
- 1/2 avocado
- 1/3 cup vegan parmesan cheese
- 3 slices bread, stale
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1/4 tsp salt
- dash of black pepper
Dressing:
- 3 tbsp hummus
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp lemon peel
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, more to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, roasted
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- pinch of salt
- black pepper to taste
- water as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F.
- Rinse and drain the chickpeas, then transfer them to a clean kitchen towel and dry well, removing the peel as we do so. Then transfer the chickpeas to a baking tray, season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic, parsley, and drizzle with olive oil. Mix well to combine. To the tray, add a couple of cloves of unpeeled garlic - remove the tops and wrap in foil.
- Place the baking tray into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes, then give it a stir and bake another 10-15 minutes until golden brown in color, and crispy. Once baked, remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool. It will get crunchy once cooled. Remove the garlic from the foil, peel it and mash with a fork.
- Prepare the bread croutons: dice the stale bread slices, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt, pepper, garlic, and parsley. Heat a large pan and toast the bread croutons until crispy and golden brown. Once toasted, remove from the heat and set aside.
- Prepare the salad dressing: place all ingredients into a bowl and whisk until combined.
- Prepare the salad: chop the lettuce into a large bowl. Add sliced avocado, roasted chickpeas, bread croutons, and sliced vegan parmesan cheese. Top with a drizzle of the salad dressing and serve.
Notes
You can make the dressing and roasted chickpeas up to 2 days ahead to save time, or for meal prep.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 365Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 7mgSodium: 579mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 10gSugar: 9gProtein: 13g
Nutrition data is automatically calculated using Nutritionix and may not be accurate.
This recipe is brought to you by Hofer Slovenija.
Find more salad recipes here!
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