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Home » dressings

Nut-free Vegan Caesar Dressing

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Looking for a nut-free vegan caesar dressing that utilizes whole foods? You've found it! This nutritious, creamy salad dressing is also oil-free and gluten-free. It's super quick and easy to make, ready to eat in only about 5 minutes. It's the new way to enjoy caesar dressing without anchovies, eggs, or oil.

A round wood board covered with romaine lettuce leaves filled with homemade croutons and dairy-free caesar dressing.

This is my new favorite dressing for caesar salad, but I want you to know you don't have to limit it to that. I love this creamy, dreamy dressing on most salads. In fact, for lunch today I had it on a spinach salad with fennel, cucumber, mint, and mango. It brought it all together in a wonderful way.

For a quick and easy salad dressing that isn't creamy and only requires three ingredients, check out my Maple Dijon Dressing.

Jump to:
  • Ingredients
  • Equipment
  • Instructions
  • Storage
  • FAQ
  • Other salad dressings
  • Pairing
  • The Recipe
  • general food safety
  • Comments

Ingredients

We only need nine fairly common ingredients for this recipe. You likely have at least most of them them on-hand!

The ingredients needed to make vegan caesar salad dressing using just whole foods.

Hemp hearts: These little seeds are the star of this recipe, since they can be used immediately to provide rich creaminess (most nuts require pre-soaking). They also provide nutrients, including omega-3s and protein. They help make this a health-promoting salad dressing.

Lemon juice: Fresh will taste the best; that said, you can use store-bought in a pinch.

Garlic: I prefer the flavor of fresh garlic, but you can use garlic granules if that's what you have. Since we're blending the ingredients, the fresh garlic just needs to be coarsely chopped.

Dijon mustard: This contributes to the flavor quite a bit. You can try different mustards if you don't have dijon.

Capers and worcestershire sauce: These two ingredients help replace the traditional anchovies in this caesar. Not all worcestershire sauces are vegan, so do read the ingredients. They can include wheat-based ingredients, too, so watch out for that if you need to stay away from gluten.

Maple syrup: The dijon, lemon juice, and capers are on the tart side, so maple syrup softens the flavors a bit. You could use date syrup instead.

Salt: Just a small amount is needed to highlight all of the flavors.

See recipe card for quantities.

Equipment

Here are the tools you'll need to make this recipe:

A blender (high speed or strong blender preferred)

Measuring cups and spoons

If you're using fresh garlic, you'll need a cutting board and knife

If you're using fresh lemon, you'll need a manual juicer

Instructions

  • Place all the ingredients in a strong blender. Start the motor slowly, gradually working up to high power. Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides if necessary.
  • Serve on salad or use as a dip. Store in a sealed refrigerated container for up to a few days.

Instructions

We just blend all the ingredients together in this recipe and it's ready to eat!

A view into a Vitamix blender with salad dressing ingredients blended inside.

Add all of the ingredients to the blender and slowly bring up the speed until smooth and creamy.

A top down view of a glass jar filled with vegan caesar salad dressing.

Use immediately or store in a sealed jar for up to a few days in the fridge.

A jar of nut-free vegan caesar salad dressing with a cork lid.

Storage

Store in a sealed refrigerated container, like a jar, for up to a few days.

Tip: The container should be just big enough to hold the amount of dressing; this will help keep it fresh.

FAQ

How is this vegan Caesar dressing different from others?

Many recipes use cashews or other nuts as the rich, creamy base of vegan caesar dressings. This requires having to soak the cashews for hours in advance or boil them for several minutes to soften.

This recipe instead uses hemp hearts, which are already soft and ready to blend immediately. So this vegan Caesar dressing is much faster to make; it can literally be ready within 5 minutes. Bonus: the hemp hearts also contain omega-3s, while nuts do not.

What makes traditional Caesar dressing not vegan?

Traditionally, Caesar dressing contains eggs (egg yolks), fish (anchovies), and dairy (parmesan cheese).

A jar of vegan caesar dressing in front of handheld caesar salads.

Other salad dressings

Looking for more dressings? Try these:

  • Maple dijon salad dressing in a small jar with a cork lid next to a green salad.
    Maple Dijon Dressing
  • Lemon oil-free salad dressing in a small pitcher surrounded by greens.
    Lemon Salad Dressing (oil-free)
  • 47 Vegan Salad Dressing Recipes
  • tahini-balsamic dressing poured onto a colorful salad
    5-Minute Tahini Balsamic Salad Dressing

Pairing

These recipes work well with this one used as a dressing or dip:

  • A bowl full of colorful veggies, golden curry quinoa, and black beans.
    Vegan Buddha Bowls
  • A bowl of spinach salad with tempeh bacon, red onion, and artisan vegan cheese
    Vegan Spinach Salad
  • Overhead view of three plates of hoomemade fries made with different potatoes.
    Oil-free Air Fryer French Fries
  • Air fryer sliced potatoes covered in chive blossoms.
    Air Fryer Potato Slices (oil-free)

The Recipe

A jar of nut-free vegan salad dressing in front of a board containing caesar salad.

Nut-free Vegan Caesar Dressing Recipe

A nutritious, creamy nut-free vegan caesar dressing that utilizes whole foods, is oil-free and gluten-free, and ready in just 5 minutes!
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate SaveSaved!
Course: Salad, Sauce, Topping
Cuisine: American, Italian
Lifestyle: Vegan
Prep Time: 4 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes
Blend Time: 1 minute minute
Total Time: 5 minutes minutes
Servings: 4
Fiber: 0.69g
Prevent your screen from going dark

Equipment

  • blender high speed preferred
  • measuring cups and spoons
  • cutting board and knife if using fresh garlic
  • manual juicer if using fresh lemon juice

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup hemp hearts
  • ¼ cup filtered water
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice fresh squeezed, if possible
  • 2 garlic cloves coarsely chopped, or ½ teaspoon garlic granules
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon capers
  • 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce any vegan version (I like spicy), gluten-free if needed
  • ¼ teaspoon maple syrup or date syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Place all the ingredients in a strong blender. Start the motor slowly, gradually working up to high power. Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides if necessary.
  • Serve on salad or use as a dip. Store in a sealed refrigerated container for up to a few days.

Rough Nutrition Estimate provided by WPRM (based on generic ingredients and limited specification options)

Nutrition Facts
Nut-free Vegan Caesar Dressing Recipe
Amount per Serving
Calories
105.35
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
7.63
g
12
%
Saturated Fat
 
0.51
g
3
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
 
6.03
g
Monounsaturated Fat
 
1.06
g
Sodium
 
207.34
mg
9
%
Potassium
 
34.57
mg
1
%
Carbohydrates
 
3.18
g
1
%
Fiber
 
0.69
g
3
%
Sugar
 
0.75
g
1
%
Protein
 
6.42
g
13
%
Vitamin A
 
90.79
IU
2
%
Vitamin C
 
5.05
mg
6
%
Calcium
 
30.95
mg
3
%
Iron
 
2.48
mg
14
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?I'd love to see! On Instagram, mention @beautifulingredient and tag #beautifulingredient!

general food safety

  • Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
  • Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat
  • Wash hands and ingredients well before using
  • Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
  • Never leave cooking food unattended
  • Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
  • Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

More dressings

  • A closeup view of a large salad bowl filled with vegan street corn salad.
    Vegan Street Corn Salad
  • Roasted Sesame Dressing
  • Two plates filled with vegan mango taco salad with sriracha dressing, tortilla chips, sliced avocado
    Mango Taco Salad
  • A white bowl of non-dairy blue cheese dressing on a picnic table.
    Blue Cheese Dressing (vegan)

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Welcome to a world of beautiful food!

I'm Kari, and this is where I celebrate beautiful ingredients and focus on ways to make eating more plants easier. Recipes are centered around whole foods and are vegan, cooked without the need for oil, mostly refined sugar-free and gluten-free. And so delicious!


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