I didn’t have Ceasar salad often growing up, but it is something I enjoy eating. Did you know where it originated? It has nothing to do with the Roman Caesars.
It was named after Caesar Cardini, a restaurant owner, in Tijuana, Mexico, who made it up one day, ostensibly when he was low on ingredients, so he used what he had on hand to make it.
While the sauce is complex with many ingredients, the salad base itself is simple, with just lettuce, croutons, and parmesan cheese. Real Caesar salad is basically one of the more allergen filled dishes you can find, made with gluten, dairy, eggs and fish.
The other day, looking at some crisp, fresh romaine lettuce, I got inspired to make some Caesar salad, but I knew I had made a challenging task for myself, making it without any ingredients that make me sick (gluten, dairy, and eggs) and without fish to make it vegan.
I played around with various ingredients to replace the different textures and aspects that the salad needed, using my flax seed mayonnaise as the base instead of egg yolks, as I did with my vegan hollandaise sauce, nori and a caper to give it a briney fishy taste instead of anchovies, gluten free soy sauce instead of the Worcestershire sauce (which is typically glutenous and with fish), and nutritional yeast in place of the parmesan cheese. Easiest of all was using gluten free croutons instead of gluten ones. (I made them by cubing some gluten free bread and toasting it in the oven.)
Does it taste exactly like Ceasar salad dressing? No, but it tastes close enough, and for something vegan needing to substitute so many of the essential ingredients, I’d say that is a big win.
Because I wasn’t putting parmesan in the salad, I decided to add some canned hearts of palm into the salad, even though it isn’t traditional. It was great there, but feel free to leave it out.
Allergy Friendly, Vegan Ceasar Salad Dressing
For the Dressing:
- 1 1/2 cups vegan mayonnaise, ideally homemade flax seed mayonnaise
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons gluten free soy sauce (or coconut aminos to keep it top 8 allergen free)
- 1/4 sheet nori
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup mildly flavored oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 large caper (optional)
- 1-3 pinches sugar (optional)
For the Salad:
- 1 head of romaine lettuce
- Gluten-free croutons
- 1 can hearts of palm (optional)
Instructions:
- Rip the nori to small pieces to make it easier to blend.
- Add all the dressing ingredients, other than the caper and the sugar to a blender. Blend until completely smooth.
- Taste it. Do you want something a little brinier? Add the caper. (If they are small, add one at a time until you get the taste you like.) Maybe you want a drop of sugar to balance out the flavor? Does it need more salt? Adjust it as needed.
- Let the dressing sit for at least 30 minutes before serving to let the flavors meld.
- Tear the romaine lettuce into bite sized peices and put in a bowl.
- Add the croutons and hearts of palm (if using).
- Drizzle the dressing onto the salad, and mix well.
- Serve immediately.
- The dressing can stay in the refrigerator, covered, for a few days.
- Enjoy!
Feel free to use the dressing as a dip for crudites or as a topping for cooked vegetables like broccoli.
Are you a fan of Ceasar dressing? What do you put in yours? Does this look like a recipe you’d try?
