Our Vegan Caesar Dressing tastes exactly like the real thing, and store-bought dressing can’t touch this recipe! All you need is nine simple ingredients to make the vegan Caesar salad of your dreams.
🥗 WHAT IS CAESAR DRESSING?
Did you know that the classic Caesar dressing isn’t just non-vegan, it’s also non-vegetarian? It is true, friends! Why? Anchovies.
The Caesar salad is a 1924 invention of Caesar Cardini, a San Diego-based restauranteur who opened an eponymous restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico to avoid Prohibition-era restrictions. His Tijuana restaurant was the birthplace of the Caesar salad. Cardini’s original dressing contained raw garlic, raw egg, Worcestershire sauce (which contains anchovies), Parmesan cheese, olive oil, vinegar, and black pepper. Modern day iterations add anchovy filets to the mix. Mayonnaise is basically an emulsion of eggs, oil and an acid, so Caesar dressing is essentially a flavored mayonnaise. Romaine lettuce, croutons and more Parmesan complete the Caesar salad package.
❤️ WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
Our vegan Caesar dressing is a lighter take on the traditional recipe. We trade dijon mustard for egg. Dijon mustard, like eggs, are natural emulsifying agents that stabilize delicious edible suspensions like oil-and-vinegar dressings. We also use a vegan Worcestershire sauce. In addition, we add minced capers and their brining juice to the mix to emulate the seafood flavor of anchovies, and we brighten things up with a combination of lemon juice and zest. We nix the Parm in our dressing, but we simply top our salad with a copious amount of vegan Parm.
📝 INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CAESAR DRESSING:
- Red wine vinegar: A classic Caesar dressing ingredient that adds a sharp punch of acidity.
- Extra virgin olive oil: A classic Caesar dressing ingredient that has fruity, herbal notes.
- Dijon mustard: A delicious emulsifying agent stand-in for the eggs in a traditional Caesar dressing. Oil and water don’t mix, except in the presence of emulsifying agents like dijon mustard and eggs. The finely ground seeds in dijon mustard are surrounded by proteins and polysaccharides that are highly effective at stabilizing emulsions. Eggs contain similar-acting proteins, but obviously aren’t vegan! Whole grain mustards make better emulsifiers for this reason.
- Minced garlic: A spicy classic Caesar dressing ingredients.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce: Another classic Caesar dressing ingredient that adds a layer of complexity and savoriness. Worcestershire sauce traditionally contains anchovies. We bought our vegan version online. You can substitute soy sauce or tamari instead.
- Capers and their brining juice: Mimic the seafood flavor of anchovies in a traditional Caesar dressing.
- Lemon juice and zest: Brighten up the flavor profile of our dressing.
- Make the Caesar dressing: Combine the minced garlic, dijon mustard, vegan Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, lemon zest and red wine vinegar in a bowl. Begin whisking these ingredients and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while continuing to whisk. Then season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
💡 RECIPE TIPS
- Slowly drizzle in the olive oil: When you’re making salad dressing at home, the key to making a successful emulsion is to add the oil slowly into the mixture containing the vinegar and emulsifier. Add the oil too fast, and the oil and vinegar will want to stay separated.
- Make it a meal! Want to make a classic Caesar salad to go with your Vegan Caesar Dressing? Our recipe makes four servings. You’ll need 20 ounces of romaine lettuce, ½ a cup of vegan Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of croutons.
DID YOU MAKE OUR VEGAN CAESAR DRESSING?
Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️
💕 MORE SALAD RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
👩🏽🍳 RECIPE
VEGAN CAESAR DRESSING
Ingredients
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 ½ teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce or substitute soy sauce or tamari
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon capers finely minced
- 1 tablespoon caper brining liquid
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Combine the minced garlic, dijon mustard, vegan Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, lemon zest and red wine vinegar in a bowl. Begin whisking these ingredients and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while continuing to whisk. Then season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Enjoy!
Notes
- Slowly drizzle in the olive oil: When you’re making salad dressing at home, the key to making a successful emulsion is to add the oil slowly into the mixture containing the vinegar and emulsifier. Add the oil too fast, and the oil and vinegar will want to stay separated.
- Make it a meal! Want to make a classic Caesar salad to go with your Vegan Caesar Dressing? Our recipe makes four servings. You’ll need 20 ounces of romaine lettuce, ½ a cup of vegan Parmesan cheese, and 1 cup of croutons.
Tasted just like caesar dressing! Couldn’t believe it was vegan.
I doubled this recipe for meal prep, and it did not disappoint. It was really easy to make.
My favorite dressing before eating more vegan. So dope.