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If you shy away from salads because you find yourself hungry 45 minutes after eating one, you aren’t alone. This Kale Caesar Salad is not your average salad. It’s actually filling, creamy and crunchy. Plus, this is a vegan salad, so no bloating, cramping or bathroom runs from a dairy-filled lunch.
Salad isn’t always a filling lunch option, yet I find myself full and satisfied after sitting down to this fun dish. Dress it up to your preference and get ready to enjoy a truly tasty creation.
Ingredients in Kale Caesar Salad
I’ve got two drool-worthy secrets to making this kale caesar salad vegan AND enjoying it even more.
- I smother the whole creation with my Garlic Lemon Aioli. It is seriously good and super easy to make. If you forget to soak the cashews ahead of time then just pour some hot water over them and let them sit for 10 minutes before draining and using.
The Garlic Lemon Aioli is super easy to make, remember to give your cashews time to soak. If you forget to soak them ahead of time, pour hot water over them and let them sit for 10-15 minutes. The drain and add to the recipe. - I use my Vegan Parmesan Cheese recipe that totally tastes like the real deal and yet is completely dairy-free AND packed with protein. Book! I keep a jar of this wonderful creation on hand at all times since it goes with almost everything.
Vegan doesn’t have to be gross, less flavorful or boring. This kale caesar salad still has the creamy dressing and the crunch. It fills me up and doesn’t give me the uncomfortable side effects that dairy does.
How to Make Kale Caesar Salad
- Massage the kale: Squeezing the kale with oil helps soften the hard fibers and aids in digestion. It’ll feel strange the first time you do it, but after the first bite you’ll be sold. If kale isn’t your thing, then swap for dark romaine or do half romaine, half kale and enjoy!
- Puree the dressing: I like to do this in my Vitamix Ascent A3500 blender because I get the best results. Yet you can also make the cashew aioli in a food processor or other high-speed blender. You might want to double the dressing to have it easier for the blades to puree everything.
- Add toppings: What you put on top of your salad is what makes it memorable. Try adding garlic baked chickpeas to create more of a crunchy crouton result. And don’t miss out on the Vegan Parmesan Cheese— it’ll become a staple. Toast the pepitas for a soften crunch and a deeper flavor
Salad Prep Tips
You can make kale caesar salad a day or three ahead! I like to prepare the kale, toppings and dressing in separate containers until ready to eat. That way it’s not soggy and all I have to do it mix it together to eat it. Should last 4 to 5 days in the fridge this way.
Kale Caesar Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups kale stems removed and thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juiced
- ½ cup chickpeas canned, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp pepitas raw
- dash sea salt
- dash ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp vegan parmesan cheese
Garlic Lemon Aioli
- ¼ cup raw cashews soaked
- 1 garlic clove peeled
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp lemon squeeze of juice
Instructions
- In a food processor or high-speed blender (small container), puree the Garlic Lemon Aioli ingredients until creamy. If needed, add a few tablespoons of water. The mixture should be thick and creamy.
- Place the kale in a large serving bowl and drizzle it with oil. With clean hands, gently massage the kale until tenderized (5 minutes, at most). Squeeze the lemon juice over the top.
- Mix in the chickpeas and Cashew Garlic Aioli until well combined.
- Serve with pepitas and Vegan Parmesan Cheese.
Video
Notes
- Soaking the cashews for 2+ hours helps get the aioli creamy. If you’re short on time, flash soak in boiling water or just blend them raw. Yet you won’t get as creamy of a dressing.
- Massaging the kale helps relax the leaves as well as takes out some of the bitterness.
- If you don’t have kale on hand, swap with spinach or romaine lettuce.
- Kale does have a bite, so if you’re new to kale then use half kale, half romaine to start.
- Toasting the chickpeas slightly before adding gives them a crouton-like texture.
Nutrition
Common Questions
It depends on what’s in it. The one you get at a restaurant, drowning in dressing and covered in croutons probably isn’t. Yet my version is 100% plant-based, creamy and filling.
This Kale Caesar salad omits the cheese and dairy-based dressing, replacing them with vegan ingredients. My salad has a vegan cheese sprinkle (that’s wonderful!) as well as a dairy-free dressing that you might need to double because it’s so good.
Caesar dressing is dairy-based, which makes it vegetarian yet not vegan. My Kale Caesar salad has a cashew garlic aioli that is super creamy and flavorful and 100% vegan.
We loved it! I used regular Parmesan cheese as I didn’t have nutritional yeast to make the vegan version. I’m sold cashew crema, and my husband is impressed!
I know the salad challenge is over but , I made the Kale Caesar salad and I was surprised how good it tasted wow. I had to use regular Parmesan cheese because I only had baking yeast and I learned the difference in using nutritional yeast , it’s on my shopping list as well as a food processor . I used black beans instead of chickpeas which I don’t care for oh well. This salad was very delicious
Adding more kale to my garden JUST so I can have more of this fresh salad over the summer! Yum-o!
I switched out the kale for romaine for the Kale Salad. The cashews I soaked them added the ingredients and put it the Vitamix blender. The mixture wouldn’t get smooth. Dressing was thick. Added more liquid. Salad had a more crunchy taste.
Oh wow! I love a good Cesar salad, and this twist is a great alternative. Will have on repeat.
This was excellent. Will be making again
Easy to put together and delicious! I will double the dressing next time, not due to needing more, but because my blender had a really hard time with the small amount.. it would be delicious on regular chopped green salad too.
This salad is absolutely fantastic. I was a bit apprehensive because it looks so simple and not very flavorful, but was I ever wrong. We will definitely have this on repeat at our house. Kale yeah!
i don’t remove the stems from my kale and i doubled the aioli, but otherwise i made this salad as written. i’m giving it five stars despite the aioli challenges. i doubled the aioli and still had to add 4T of cashew water (perhaps even more would have been better). even so, i had to do a lot of scraping of my vitamix (i hate scraping )! (no, i don’t have a blending bowl and i discovered they’re discontinued on the website.) i will add this to my kale salad repertoire. i would imagine that roasting the chickpeas would be delicious.
This is a light and tasty salad. Will be making this one repeatedly.
This salad is so good! It’s always fun to massage kale. I resisted the urge to add extra veggies because Caesar Salad is best when it is simple.
Love a good Caesar dressing. This one is a keeper. Love the dressing.
This is a delicious salad! I didn’t do any prep ahead, but it was still a fairly quick salad to make. The dressing is really flavorful and the chick peas fill you up. The salad holds well too. I made 4 servings with dressing and had a second salad a day later. It looked and tasted exactly the same as the previous day!