If you are looking for a vegan alternative to your favorite caesar dressing, you are going to love this easy tahini Caesar dressing recipe. It takes less than 5 minutes to make and tastes just as good as the real thing!
If you are looking for a plant-based alternative to your favorite caesar dressing, you’ll love this creamy tahini Caesar dressing recipe. Made with just 5 simple ingredients plus salt and pepper; you can’t get any easier than that.
We love keeping the fridge stocked with homemade salad dressings like this one for salads, wraps, and more. The homemade version tastes just so much better than store bought dressing!
What is Tahini?
Tahini is a butter or paste made from ground sesame seeds. Sometimes oil and salt is also added. It’s a great source of heart healthy fats as well as calcium and phosphorus.
Tahini is an ingredient traditionally used in Mediterranean cuisine and is a common ingredient in hummus, baba ganoush, and halva. It has a rich, nutty flavor that works well in both sweet and savory recipes.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Simple to Make: you can easily mix up a batch of this vegan caesar dressing in 5 minutes or less; just whisk everything together in a bowl and you’re done! We love making a batch on the weekend to add to salads all week long.
- Versatile: use this creamy dressing for everything from salads to wraps or keep it simple and serve as a dip for chopped veggies.
- Diet & Allergen Friendly: this caesar tahini dressing is vegan, gluten free, dairy free, and egg free.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Tahini: naturally creamy tahini adds all the creaminess you need to this vegan salad dressing so you don’t have to add the yogurt or mayonnaise used in a traditional caesar dressing. If you don’t have tahini, you could use cashews that have been soaked and pureed.
- Capers: instead of anchovies, we add capers to this tahini salad dressing to add that salty and savory flavor without the animal products.
- Dijon Mustard: to add just a bit more tang and balance out the other flavors in this dressing, you’ll add a bit of dijon mustard. You’ll want to use dijon mustard as yellow mustard does not have the right flavor profile for this recipe.
- Lemon: add a hint of brightness with fresh lemon juice. Use fresh squeezed lemon juice rather than bottled lemon juice for best results. For extra lemony flavor add some lemon zest too.
- Garlic Powder: garlic is traditionally used in caesar dressing so we are adding a bit to this vegan version as well. I think fresh garlic is a bit too strong for dressings like this one so we used granulated garlic powder.
How to Make Tahini Caesar Dressing
Step One: Add all of your dressing ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add more water a tablespoon at a time (if needed) until desired consistency is reached. We like this dressing to be thick but pourable.
Step Two: Transfer the dressing to a mason jar or other airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Recipe Notes:
- Hand Mix or Puree: I usually just whisk up this dressing in a bowl, but you can put everything in a single serving blender cup or food processor and puree until smooth.
- Season to Taste: Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. If you like a little heat, you can even add a dash of cayenne pepper. If you want to add a little bit of cheesy flavor, feel free to mix in a couple teaspoons of nutritional yeast.
- Use Good Quality Tahini: try to choose a higher quality tahini for this recipe. Some lower quality brands of tahini can be dry and bitter; the best tahini should be smooth and thick, but pourable.
Recipes FAQs
A traditional Caesar salad dressing is made from: garlic, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, anchovies, parmesan, and Worcestershire sauce.
Traditional caesar dressing is generally gluten free but it is not dairy free as it is usually made with parmesan cheese. This vegan Caesar salad dressing is both gluten and dairy free!
No, most often Caesar salad is not vegetarian because the dressing includes anchovies, a type of fish.
What to Serve with Vegan Caesar Dressing
- Salad: serve this Caesar salad dressing on a bed of romaine lettuce with homemade croutons and vegan parmesan cheese like a classic caesar salad. We also like to serve it with little gems lettuce or on massaged kale like in this lemon kale Caesar salad.
- Wraps: if you don’t feel like eating a salad, you could also add this dressing to some chopped salad greens and cubed tofu or vegan chicken in a wrap.
- Dip: keep it simple and just serve this salad dressing with some chopped vegetables for an easy side or snack.
- Roasted or Grilled Vegetables: we also love drizzling this caesar dressing over grilled veggies in the summer or roasted vegetables in the colder months. It tastes great on broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, and cabbage.
More Salad Dressings You’ll Love
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Tahini Caesar Dressing
Equipment
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons capers, chopped
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 dash sea salt & ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add all of your ingredients to a small mixing bowl and whisk well to combine. Some brands of tahini are thinner than others, so you may need to add a little more water. Dressing should be thick but pourable.
- Store in a mason jar or other airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- A serving is about 2 tablespoons of dressing.
- Feel free to double or triple this recipe! This is just the right amount of dressing for 2 main dish size salads.
Nutrition
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