Roasted Chickpea Caesar Salad with Vegan Parmesan

Chickpea Caesar Salad Basics

We must make a thick, delicious Caesar dressing to make a good chickpea Caesar salad. Since we do not use any animal ingredients, the dressing includes a few exciting and fun ingredients:

• Vegan Steak Sauce: Much of the “Caesar” flavor comes from this. The best brand I’ve used is Primal Kitchen, which I got from Whole Foods.
• Vegan Mayo: This is the creamy factor. I do not suggest using regular mayo; I use vegan mayo, and I like the one at Trader Joe’s.
• Olive Juice: I use juice from brined purple olives.
• Flavor Basics: Besides those base ingredients, you’ll need garlic, mustard, black pepper, and nutritional yeast.

Black Pepper Chickpea Caesar Salad

Before I tried going vegan for a few years, I loved big caesar salads with black pepper chicken on top. As a vegan, I thought Caesar salad was the most complicated meal to give up. So naturally, I created my recipe and subbed for black pepper chickpeas.

Chickpeas are the most versatile plant protein, and they’re a blank canvas for almost any flavor and gut-friendly for nearly everyone. This Caesar salad tastes excellent with chickpeas seasoned in other ways, like lemon garlic or cajun seasoned. Try the buffalo chickpea spicing in our Cheesy Broccoli Pasta Salad Recipe.

Vegan Parmesan

This vegan cheese is phenomenal. I don’t think a caesar salad can be complete without a bit of parmesan. Making the cheese is pretty simple. It works best with a good food processor or blender to get the right texture. For the ingredients, you’ll need five things:

• Raw Cashews
• Hemp Seeds
• Nutritional Yeast
• Salt
• Garlic Powder

Add all these ingredients to a food processor or blender to make the cheese and pulse until it forms a parmesan cheese-like texture. It’s really that simple. Just make sure you’re pulsing the ingredients. You may have a cashew butter consistency if you blend continuously at high speed.

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Roasted Chickpea Caesar Salad with Vegan Parmesan

Roasted Chickpea Caesar salad is all about the dressing and parmesan! This salad recipe includes instructions for making your own vegan Caesar dressing and our delicious recipe for vegan parmesan cheese. This is a perfect, filling, vegan salad for lunch or dinner!

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• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes

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Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

• 2 Romaine Lettuce Hearts, Washed and Chopped
• 1 16 Ounce Can Chickpeas, Drained and Rinsed
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Dressing Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic
• 2 Tablespoons Steak Sauce (vegan)
• 1/2 Cup Vegan Mayo
• 2 Tablespoons Sauerkraut Brine
• 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 2 Teaspoons Nutritional Yeast 

Vegan Parmesan Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Cashews
• 1/4 Cup Hemp Seeds
• 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder 

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, add the washed and chopped romaine.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, combine the olive oil, chickpeas, black pepper, and sea salt. Cook the chickpeas until slightly browned. 
3. Combine all of the parmesan cheese ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse for about one minute until the ingredients resemble parmesan cheese crumbles. Don’t blend at high speed, or you will end up with cashew butter. 
4. In a blender, combine all of the dressing ingredients.  
5. Add the chickpeas and the dressing to the bowl of lettuce and toss to combine. 
6. Serve and top with vegan parmesan. 

Notes

* this recipe provides four side salad portions OR two large salad portions. 

Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist

Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.

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