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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 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.
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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.
Great salad. Only gave it 4 stars because I am not a huge fan of chick peas in a salad, however my husband loves them. Loved the addition of pepitas (I try to keep them on hand). And I love a dressing made with lemon & mustard!
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it (minus chickpeas for you!)
It was ok, but I wouldn’t call this a caesar salad. I found the dressing to have a sweetness and lacked the savouriness that I expect with caesar dressing.
Also take the step to salt and oil massage the kale before dressing
Feel free to make this recipe your own and adjust as needed!
Like spinach better. Thanks for the recipes
Liked it, though felt it was missing something. Loved the kale and the cheese sprinkles!
Such a good salad. I love Caesar salads. The aioli really made this salad complete.
Keep on rawkin it, so glad you loved it!
Absolutely delicious. I used mixed leafy greens. Not a kale fan, but I would like to try massaging it sometime and or soaking it in the dressing. Easy to make but the aioli was fairly messy in my VitaMix.
Love a good Caesar Salad and this is gooood. I was so excited to have success with the aioli & it had amazing flavor. It seems like somewhat of a miracle that you can take a few ingredients, mix them together and get such a dramatic rich sauce. The combination of kale and chic peas went well together in this Caesar Salad.
I wasn’t feeling good today, so my husband made this salad. Since I already had cashew cream made, I just told him to add garlic and Dijon. So it was ready in a flash. This is a wonderful salad, as is. But you could also play with it a bit and add roasted chicken, or roast the garbanzo beans for a little extra crunch. I also love the vegan cheese sprinkle. I always keep a jar in the fridge to add to salads, soups or spaghetti. Thanks to hubby for keeping me on track and picking up the slack. Lovely dinner.
So yummy!! Creamy dressing was delicious!! Definitely will make again!!
To our surprise, this tasted delicious and my husband even ate a kale salad and liked it!
Garlic aioli was so bomb and was a good dressing for the ceaser salad. I added some extras to make a whole meal and it turned out so well! Very different but so yummy ☺️
Usually kale is not my favorite but it was yummy in this recipe. As usual the dressing was delicious.
Salad challenge: Day 9. I doubled the salad (except the dressing) and we had it as a meal, and it was quite satisfying. Although it wasn’t my favorite, it was still quite tasty.
This is my favorite salad by far. I love the great flavor of the dressing and it is also easy to make. This salad is delicious and healthy and great for a side or a meal.
Amazing dressing. Pine nuts as a topping made the caesar perfect
What’s the optimal temperature and time to toast the garbanzo beans? Having them be crunchy would sway me to rate this five instead of four stars. My boyfriend said he’d give it five stars. He said it tasted just like a Caesar salad; I told them that’s because it is! He prepared it without ever even reading the title to notice!
This salad is the best! I’ve never had to be convinced to like kale. Just eating it always makes me feel healthy. One very good tip is to toast every nut or seed you use in cooking. It triples the flavor!
Wonderful suggestion, I’m going to try that next time!
That’s a great question. We recommend 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes but every oven is different so you may need to adjust accordingly.https://www.loveandlemons.com/roasted-chickpeas/