Learn how to make homemade Vegan Caesar Dressing and salad at home! Oil-free and dairy-free. This Caesar dressing is made with only 6 main ingredients (+salt/pepper/water) and with buttery pine nuts, is oil-free & is so creamy and a crowd-pleaser.
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My all-time favorite caesar dressing has always been at a restaurant called Houstons in my city of…wait for it….Houston. Their dressing is a bit different than typical caesar because it was a bit peppery. It was SO addictive and it always came on the largest salad you ever saw. My hubby and I used to always eat there and having the salad was the best part of the meal.
I kid you not….I’m so obsessed with this dressing, I have been eating a manly size salad every single day.
HOW DO YOU MAKE A VEGAN CAESAR DRESSING?
Easy, you just start with my secret ingredient..unlike most vegan caesar dressings, I did not use cashews!
The nut of choice is pine nuts. Reason being is that pine nuts have a more oily, buttery taste to them and are slightly sweet….which basically, means a perfect vegan Caesar dressing.
Your easy Vegan Caesar dressing ingredients:
- raw pine nuts
- fresh lemon juice
- nutritional yeast
- garlic cloves
- dried parsley
- black pepper and salt
I wanted to create a vegan caesar dressing that did not use cashews, oil or soy/tofu. Of course traditional caesar dressing recipes can contain raw egg yolks, anchovies or lots of oil/mayo….sounds kind of gross doesn’t it? Sure did taste good though.
Feel free to use your favorite greens for the salad. I used an Italian salad blend and also added lots of fresh broccoli and pine nuts because I love the added texture it gives. I also sprinkled some extra nutritional yeast on top…..so delicious!
I also have another Vegan Caesar Dressing with completely different ingredients and is used in this Vegan Caesar Smashed Chickpea Sandwich! That Caesar dressing contains NO nutritional yeast, so if you can’t have it, just use that recipe instead.
OTHER VEGAN OIL-FREE SALAD DRESSINGS
- Best Vegan Ranch Dressing or Easy Vegan Ranch Dressing. Both are great. One has yogurt, the other does not.
- Oil-free Creamy Italian Dressing
- Almond Butter Dressing
- Oil-free Tahini Goddess Dressing
- Vegan Thousand Island Dressing
Vegan Caesar Dressing (Oil-free)
Ingredients
- 1/2 heaping cup (75g) raw pine nuts (you can sub cashews if necessary, it will just taste less authentic)
- 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons (105g) water
- 2 tablespoons (30g) fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes (I highly recommend this Sari brand, it is non-fortified with much better taste.)
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (SEE NOTE)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- I use this scale.
NOTE
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper gives flavor without it tasting like pepper. 1/2 teaspoon will give a peppery taste like I noted in the beginning of the post. I make the peppery version since my take is on the Houston's Restaurant one locally.
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to your blender or food processor and blend until very smooth and creamy. I used my Vitamix, but I'm sure any blender or even a food processor would work since pine nuts are a soft nut. If you have a weak blender, I would suggest soaking the cashews (if using) overnight, drain and rinse, so your dressing isn't gritty.
- Place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. It will be perfect for salads then as it gets well chilled and thickens up some.
- I used an Italian salad blend and added some broccoli, pine nuts, extra black pepper and nutritional yeast on top. However, feel free to use whatever greens you like.
The best healthy Caesar dressing I have tried. This will be one of my regular dressings from now on. I spiced up and baked Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain bread. Then added as croutons. Excellent recipe. Thank you.
Was great but I added onion, mustard powder and a touch of cinnamon.
Cinnamon..in Caesar dressing? Interesting!
This dressing is chefs kiss! Think I’ve found my universal salad dressing lol
Next time I am using sunflower seeds as pine nuts are $8 at Walmart and 1 teaspoon of the nutritional yeast flakes. I like this receipt thank you. 🙂
This is a fabulous Ceasar dressing, vegan or otherwise! I made the recipe exactly as written, including the suggested Sari brand nutritional yeast. I opted to use 2.5 T. of the nutritional yeast as a nice halfway point my first run with this recipe, and used ½ t. black pepper. I weighed the ingredients vs measured with the exception of the smaller amounts like salt and pepper, and also used the tablespoon measure for the yeast.
Incredibly delicious. The Vegan 8 cookbook and Brandi’s recipes are my go-to for all things vegan. My daughter and I have been especially pleased with the salad dressings and soups.
Thanks again for another keeper recipe. 🙂
BTW … if you haven’t made Brandi’s Thai Rice Noodle and Bok Choy Soup or her Crowd Pleasing Brownies, you need to. Honestly, though, everything we’ve tried has been delicious.
You are the best, thank you so much Catherine!!
I love it!!!!
Hi! I tried it with silken tofu per your suggestion and it was outstanding. Thank you!!!!
That is wonderful to hear!
Absolutely fabulous
Thank you so much Val!
Another fabulous recipe this Caesar dressing was a real hit for everyone in my house! Thank you again for sharing all your love! LOL! No one could believe it was oil free! Sure does trump all those store bought brands!
This is so good. I’ve made over a dozen homemade, oil free dressings in the last few years only to be disappointed. This is by far the best. My husband, who still clings to his bottle of hidden valley ranch dressing despite eating 80% wfpb, tasted this, put his ranch back in the fridge, and proceeded to devour this dressing as both a dressing and a dip!
That’s so wonderful to hear Shannon, thank you for the feedback!
Last night I took this to. Cinco de Mayo party full of Omnis. It was up against delicious meaty cheesy enchiladas and Rellenos, yet I got multiple compliments on this salad dressing!! Who compliments salad dressing?!? I had to use walnuts as my pine nuts were freezer burned and cashews seem to make things really sweet, but it was fantastic!!
Woohoo! That’s awesome!
Girl!!! Outta the park! Finally! This is delicious. More salads please.
Yay!! See my Asian Ramen Noodle Salad and Kale salad on my blog, too!
Exceptional Brandi! I made this with salad along with ur exceptional Baked Ziti. Thanks again for making my Vegan experience a tasty one!
So glad to hear that Mark, that is wonderful!
How long g does it last? Also, can it be frozen?
It will last a week or so! Yes, it can be frozen! Just thaw and reblend if needed!
This is one of the best dressings I have made, and have tried a LOT…
Due to pantry mishap, ended up using pumpkin seeds instaed, and it worked!
Thank you so creating and sharing.
I love hearing that so much!
So good! Will definitely make this again. It can sometimes be hard to find vegan recipes that don’t utilize oil, and so I’m thrilled to have stumbled across your blog. I made a caesar salad, your vegan chicken noodle soup and your oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for dinner tonight. All terrific! Thank you so much…will be trying out more of your recipes soon!
Pine nuts were a fun and delicious departure from the usual cashew dressing I make. A big hit around the dinner table! Thanks for this recipe Brandi!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Very good, thank you! Do you have any idea how many servings this makes if a normal salad dressing serving is 2 tablespoons? I’m trying to figure out what the nutritional label on it would say.
Hi I updated the recipe card to reflect the servings!
I just made this to have with your buffalo chickpea wraps and I can’t wait for supper tonight! I had to sub cashews because that’s all I had, but overall this is a close sub to regular caesar dressing. How long do you expect this will last in the fridge? Thanks for the recipe!
In the write up you mention agave as being an ingredient but it’s not listed in the actual recipe???
Sorry about that, it’s fixed. No agave here!
Delicious!!!! My new favorite no-oil dressing!!!!
This recipe is so awesome. It has become my go to dressing I use everyday. I use half soaked cashew pieces and half pine nuts to keep the cost lower. I do not notice too much difference from all pine nuts. Thank you for this amazing dressing. A stpale at our house.
WOMAN! You are AH-MAZING! I hate…I mean HATE all things salad dressing, but since I have been making YOUR ranch for a couple of years to accompany other plant-based recipes, when I endeavored to make your sweet potato chickpea BBQ wrap, I thought this one would be worth giving a whirl. GURL! This smelled SO good that it didn’t even get to the refrigerator before I took a couple of tablespoons and tossed it into some prepared rotini pasta. DEE-LICIOUS! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s dinner (the wrap). I know I’m in for a treat! Please don’t stop doing what you are doing. You have a gift and your creations are a gift to all of us on this journey!
Aww you are the sweetest! I’m so very happy you loved this and thank you for your kind words!!
Honestly, I may have already commented on this dressing, and if so, then it gets a 10 star rating. It is so delicious. That I have to stop myself from just eating it off of a spoon. I just read about your other Caesar dressing which I will try ASAP. Thanks Brandi!
I’m so happy you love it Sita!! Thank you so much for the review! Yes, the other one is really delicious too and is more thick/creamy almost dip-like!