Vegan Caesar Dressing

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This is the best vegan Caesar dressing recipe! Rich and creamy it tastes just like a classic Caesar salad dressing but is made with cashews, capers, and nutritional yeast to give it the perfect flavour and keep it dairy free and oil free. Great for salads or as a dip for veggies you will also love how easy this dressing is to make.

A bowl of vegan Caesar dressing with a spoon in it and surrounded by a lemon wedge and fresh parsley.

What is caesar dressing?

Classic caesar salad dressing is usually made with anchovies, raw egg yolk, garlic, mustard, lemon juice and parmesan cheese. When blended together the ingredients make a thick and creamy dressing that is zesty, garlicky and savoury.

However, if you are dairy free or vegan, you won't be able to eat traditional Caesar salad dressing because of the cheese and anchovies. Hence why I created this vegan version! It tastes just as good as the classic dressing you know and love, but is made with no anchovies and no dairy.

Why you will love this recipe:

Move over Oh She Glows and Trader Joes! This is the best dairy free Caesar dressing recipe!
It's quick and easy to make and is ready in under 5 minutes.
This simple homemade dressing is oil free and made without mayonnaise and instead uses cashews and capers to give it that perfect flavour.
It makes great leftovers and stores really well in the fridge so it's perfect for meal prep.
Besides being vegan this dressing is also healthy, dairy free, gluten free, egg free, sugar free, paleo and Whole30 compliant.
It's made without aquafaba, without eggs, without tahini, without tofu, without hummus, without yogurt and without mayo.
This caesar dressing is plant based and safe for raw food diets.
It's so thick and creamy!
It tastes just as good, if not even better than most store bought dressings.

If you love homemade salad dressings you will also love my walnut dressing.

Taste and texture:

This dressing is smooth, thick and creamy. It is a little zesty, a little garlicky and loaded with flavour. Even though it is cheese free it also has slightly cheesey taste from the nutritional yeast.

Key ingredients and substitutions:

Raw Cashews - these are the base of this vegan salad dressing and help give it that rich, creamy texture while keeping it dairy free. You could swap these for pine nuts instead.
Capers - for that perfect Unami flavour! Capers are a great replacement for the anchovies that are normally used for Caesar salad dressings.
Coconut milk - to help give this dressing a rich and creamy texture. I recommend using full fat coconut milk. You could also replace this with another dairy free milk such as cashew milk or almond milk.
Dijon mustard - this helps add some delicious flavour to this dressing.
Apple cider vinegar - to add that perfect tang to this dressing. You could swap this for lemon juice.
Nutritional yeast - to give it a little cheesy flavour, without the dairy and without cheese.
Aromatics and spices: garlic, salt and pepper are all you need to complete this delicious dressing recipe.

How to make this recipe:

Step one:

First, place all the ingredients into your high speed blender.

A blender filled with nutritional yeast, coconut milk, capers, water and spices.

Step two:

Then blend everything until it’s smooth. Now serve and enjoy!

A Caesar salad dressing a bowl surrounded by fresh parsley.

Chef's tips

This dressing will thicken in the fridge - simply add a bit of water and stir it into the dressing to thin it out again before using.
Feel free to double or triple this recipe if you are serving a crowd.

Variations and add ins:

If you don’t like garlic feel free to omit it.
If you like a thinner dressing add a bit more water.
Instead of coconut milk you could use also a different dairy free milk such as almond milk, cashew milk or oat milk.
Instead of cashews you could use pine nuts.

How to serve:

You can use this dressing in so many ways. Of course you can use it to make Caesar salad, but it also makes a delicious dip for raw veggies, crackers or chips. You can also use it as a sauce to top sandwiches, burgers, or wraps.

You can also use this dressing as a marinade for meat or fish dishes, to drizzle over roasted vegetables, or to give other salads such as potato salad, broccoli salad or egg salad a different flavour.

How to store:

This dressing stores well in the fridge in an air-tight container or jar for up to a week.

A bowl of vegan caesar dressing with a spoon in it and surrounded by a lemon wedge, fresh parsley and capers.

Frequently asked questions:

What if I don't have a high speed blender?

You can still make this dressing, but you will have to soak the cashews for 1-2 hours to soften them before blending. You could also use a food processor instead of a blender.

What if I'm allergic to cashews?

I would use pine nuts instead.

Is Hellman’s caesar dressing vegan?

Hellman’s caesar dressing is not vegan. It is made with cheese, eggs and anchovies, all of which cannot be eaten by vegans.

How do you make caesar dressing without eggs?

Instead of eggs, caesar dressing can be made with ingredients such as cashews, mayo, tofu, aquafaba or tahini to give it a similar creamy texture.

Other vegan recipes you will love:

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Kristie

May 10, 2021 at 4:56 pm

Delicious!!