A little tahini makes your vegan Caesar salads utterly incredible. Its rich, nutty, and slightly bitter flavors adds a natural creaminess and toasted, umami flavor that pops with fresh lemon juice, capers, and garlic. Serve it over a mixture of fresh greens, homemade Everything bagel croutons, and crispy, crunchy chickpeas for a deeply satisfying vegan tahini Caesar salad that's so good, you'll think about it long after the bowl is empty!
What is Tahini Caesar Salad?
Instead of using traditional Caesar dressing made with parmesan cheese, raw eggs, and anchovies, this version relies on a couple of simple, plant-based swaps for a creamy, punchy flavor.
The star of the show? Tahini.
Tahini is one of the most highly versatile ingredients in my pantry, and I have lots of vegan tahini recipes to share with you.
It's naturally creamy and adds a silky richness to soups, stews, salad dressings and more.
The slightly bitter, earthy flavor pairs beautifully with the fresh lemon juice and briny capers in the creamy dressing.
I often like to use it as a natural substitute for oil and dairy, giving you that luscious texture without any heaviness. It's the best!
Why you’ll love this Vegan Tahini Caesar with Crispy Chickpeas
- Relies on simple ingredients and pantry staples for big, bold flavor
- The creamy, dreamy tahini Caesar dressing hits just right
- Crispy chickpeas add the perfect crunch
- Loaded with protein, fiber, and healthy fats for a satisfying vegan meal
- Great make-ahead option for meal prep or easy weeknight dinners
- Can be served as a side dish, but hearty enough to enjoy as a main meal
Ingredients for Vegan Tahini Caesar with Crispy Chickpeas
Just like traditional Caesars, this vegan version keeps things simple. It's all about crisp lettuce, just the right amount of toppings, and that perfectly sharp, savory dressing. While the tahini dressing has a few extra ingredients, each one contributes to that notoriously punchy flavor we all know and love. Feel free to make an extra large batch of the dressing to serve on salads all week long.
- Baby greens mix - You want a nice, robust bunch of greens, like a mix of baby chard and kale.
- Everything bagel - It might sound a little funny, but bagels make amazing croutons and I absolutely love Everything bagel seasoning.
- Chickpeas - Toss with garlic powder, smoked paprika, and salt before roasting for a crispy bite.
- Olive oil - Helps crisp up the homemade croutons and chickpeas.
- Vegan tahini Caesar dressing - This creamy tahini Caesar dressing relies on a range of ingredients to get just the right texture, creaminess, and sharpness like traditional Caesar salad dressing. I like to use vegan yogurt with tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup, capers, nutritional yeast, and raw garlic. It's so easy, though. Just add everything to a blender and mix until creamy!
Pro Tip: For the best flavor, be sure to use fresh lemon juice in the dressing. The concentrated stuff doesn't taste nearly as good.
How to Make Vegan Tahini Caesar with Crispy Chickpeas
There are just a couple of basic steps to make the perfect vegan Caesar salad. First, we'll start by crisping up the chickpeas and the bagel. While those are baking, let's blend the dressing quickly. Finally, add everything together and you're good to go. Nothing complicated - just easy, delicious food.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- On a baking sheet, place chickpeas, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Toss well then bake for 20 minutes until chickpeas are crisp.
- On another sheet pan place the everything bagel cubes and 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss well then bake for 8 minutes until crisp on the outside.
- Make the dressing in a high speed blender or food processor by adding yogurt, tahini, water, lemon, maple, capers, Dijon, salt, nutritional yeast, and garlic.
- Blend until smooth and creamy.
- To a large salad bowl add the greens, crispy chickpeas, bagel croutons and dressing. Toss until well combined
- Enjoy immediately.
Storing Suggestions
To keep everything fresh, I recommend eating the salad within 3 days. Store the greens in an airtight container and keep the dressing on the side or the salad greens may start to get soggy.
If you have leftover dressing, keep it in a mason jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Tips for Making the Best Vegan Tahini Caesar
- Try different greens. I like to use baby greens for this recipe, but you can also use crisp romaine lettuce like a classic Caesar salad. For an even heartier option, make a kale tahini Caesar salad with shredded kale.
- Load up on veggies. Caesar salads tend to contain minimal ingredients since the dressing is so sharp. That doesn't mean you can't load up on veggies, if you want to. Try adding sliced red onions, cherry tomatoes, or fresh avocado.
- Use different beans. If you aren't a fan of chickpeas, try using white beans (like cannellini beans) instead.
FAQs
This is a great recipe for entertaining or meal prepping because you can prep pretty much every component before you need it! Make the chickpeas, croutons, and dressing the night before, and then assemble and serve right before you need it. This also allows the flavors in the vegan Caesar dressing to really get a chance to develop. So good!
The chickpeas already offer a fair amount of protein here, and you get some extra from the dressing ingredients. If you want even more, you can add more beans or some crispy cubed tofu.
Traditionally, you do add olive oil to make Caesar dressing, but this recipe is a little different. The combination of the vegan yogurt and tahini adds all the creaminess you need without the oil or raw egg yolk.
Other Delicious Vegan Salad Recipes
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Tahini Caesar Salad
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 8 oz baby greens mix ideally with kale and chard
- 1 everything bagel diced in small cubes
- 15 ounce can chickpeas. drained
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
For Dressing
- ¼ cup vegan yogurt
- ¼ cup runny tahini
- ½ cup water
- 1 lemon squeezed
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp capers
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400.
- On a sheet pan place chickpeas, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, garlic powder and smoked paprika. Toss well then back for 20 minutes until chickpeas are crispy.
- On another sheet pan place the everything bagel cubes and 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss well then bake for 8 minutes until crisp on the outside.
- Make the dressing in a high speed blender by adding yogurt, tahini, water, lemon, maple, capers, Dijon, salt, nutritional yeast and garlic.
- Blend until smooth and creamy.
- To a large salad bowl add the greens, crispy chickpeas, bagel croutons and dressing. Toss until well combined.
- Enjoy immediately.