A simple salad that’s bursting with flavour
We’ve published a few recipes for salads over the years, and I don’t often say this, but I’m quite proud of this recipe! It’s a very faithful recreation of the classic chicken caesar salad, but of course, it’s been veganised! Our vegan caesar salad is not only delicious but it’s also easy enough to realistically rustle up for a weekday lunch. Quick lunches like this can be hard to pack flavour into, but this caesar salad is totally delicious!
What makes the best caesar salad?
When I think of a caesar salad, I think of crisp fresh lettuce, creamy sauce, salty parmesan, perfect golden chicken pieces, and crunchy croutons. So when creating our vegan chicken caesar salad, we knew these five elements would have to be perfect to make the best vegan caesar salad.
The lettuce is easy peasy since it’s already vegan. Our local Sainsbury’s stocks lovely crispy romaine lettuce; step one complete! For the croutons, we decided to lightly toast ciabatta before baking with lovely oil and herbs. Ciabatta has a very open crumb, which means it will have lots of holes and pockets in for all the delicious herbs we’re adding in.
With the vegan cheese, we need to be able to make nice fat shavings of parmesan. This is why the Violife Prosociano Wedge is perfect. It’s got a great texture that holds up in the salad and its salty flavour is exactly what we were looking for.
A caesar dressing recipe is made with anchovies, which can be a difficult thing to substitute. We’d previously made vegan fish and chips using nori sheets, so we decided to blitz up those sheets in a spice grinder to make nori flakes. It worked a dream! Added together with the other ingredients and a little caper brine, it was exactly how I remembered the caesar dressing to be.
Which chicken is best?
When it comes to vegan chicken, Naked Glory Roast Tenderstrips was the winner for us. We did test a couple of different brands, which came close, but nothing could beat Naked Glory. If you can’t get your hands on the Naked Glory pieces, then Like Chicken Bites or This Isn’t Chicken are also great choices.
This salad recipe is:
- Brimming with flavour
- A great simple lunch option
- 100% vegan, egg-free and dairy-free
- Excellent as a side or a main meal
- Quick and super easy
Vegan chicken caesar salad
Ingredients
Croutons
- 100 g ciabatta sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1/2 tbsp oregano dried
- 1/2 tbsp rosemary dried
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
Caesar dressing
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp vegan parmesan grated
- 1 tsp caper brine
- 1 tsp nori powder nori sheet ground in spice grinder
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1/2 tsp maple syrup
Salad
- 400 g romaine lettuce sliced
- 165 g naked glory roast tenderstrips 1 packet
- 50 g vegan parmesan shavings
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 120 degrees celsius.
- Toast the ciabatta slices, then cut into cubes. Add to a bowl with oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and oregano. Toss to combine. Lay out the cubes on a baking try and cook in the oven for 20 minutes (or until crispy).
- Whilst the croutons are baking, make the caesar dressing. Add to a glass the mayo, grated garlic, white wine vinegar, dijon mustard, grated parmesan, nori powder, caper brine, maple syrup and olive oil, and stir to combine.
- Then cook the vegan chicken pieces. Heat some oil in a pan, add in the pieces and cook according to the packet instructions.
- The croutons will now be done. Add the lettuce and 1/2 the dressing to a salad bowl and toss. Now plate up by adding the dressed lettuce into bowls, then top with the vegan chicken, croutons, parmesan and the rest of the dressing.
Video
Notes
Nutritional info:
- 23.6g protein
- 47.7g carbs
- 48.3g fat
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