Behold: The 30-Minute Chickpea Caesar Salad with vibrant kale, tangy 5-minute Caesar dressing, crispy baked chickpeas, and so much flavor we can hardly contain ourselves.
Let me show you how it’s done!
Start this 30-minute recipe with the dressing: a simple blend of raw cashews (soaking optional, but not necessary!) mustard, garlic, lemon juice, capers, salt, pepper, a little miso paste, maple syrup, and olive oil.
While we love our 5-Minute Caesar Dressing made with hummus, this creamier version wins on flavor and texture by a landslide.
If serving with crispy baked chickpeas, prep your kale as the chickpeas bake by massaging it with a little olive oil and lemon juice.
Why massage kale? It softens the sometimes tough texture, removes a little bitterness, and primes the greens for the dressing. In other words, less chewing, better flavor, more enjoyable salad.
All that’s left to do is add your Caesar dressing and crispy chickpeas!
We hope you LOVE this salad! It’s:
Crunchy
Fresh
Flavorful
Satisfying
Customizable
& Incredibly delicious
This would make the perfect side to just about any main, especially our Garlic White Wine Pasta with Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Red Pepper Pasta, Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Pasta, Garlic Chili Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, and Creamy Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes.
Into salads? Be sure to check out our Loaded Kale Salad, Easy (Oil-Free) Ranch Dressing, Savory Breakfast Salad, Apple Pecan Arugula Salad, and Herbed Green Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette!
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Chickpea Caesar Salad
This Chickpea Caesar Salad is ready in just 30 minutes! Kale provides a hearty base while the zesty cashew Caesar dressing brings the whole dish to life. The perfect side to any main!
Ingredients
SALAD
- 1 batch Tandoori Spiced Chickpeas
- 2 large bundles lacinato or curly kale, chopped or torn (2 large bundles equals ~16 ounces | 554 g)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup vegan parmesan cheese (optional)
- 2 Tbsp hemp seeds (optional)
DRESSING
- 1 cup raw cashews (option to soak overnight in cool water, or in hot water for 1 hour)
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper, plus more to taste
- 8-12 medium cloves fresh garlic, chopped
- 4 tsp capers in brine
- 2 tsp brine juice from capers
- 6 Tbsp lemon juice (2 large lemons yield ~6 Tbsp or 90 ml)
- 3-4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup hot water (plus more to thin)
- 1 tsp chickpea (or soy) miso paste
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup (or sub Stevia to taste)
Instructions
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If serving with crispy chickpeas, prepare at this time (see link above).
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To prepare dressing, add raw cashews, dijon mustard, salt, pepper, garlic, capers, brine juice (from capers), lemon juice, olive oil, hot water, miso paste, and maple syrup to a small or high-speed blender. Blend until creamy and smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Add enough water to thin until pourable.
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Taste and adjust seasonings as needed, adding more lemon or mustard for zing, salt or capers for saltiness, olive oil for creaminess, maple syrup to sweeten, or miso for more depth of flavor. Set aside.
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Add kale to a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp (15 ml) each olive oil and lemon juice as recipe is written. Massage by hand to remove some of the bitterness and soften the texture (see photo).
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Add desired amount of dressing, plus vegan parmesan cheese and hemp seeds (both optional). Toss to coat and top with crispy chickpeas. Serve immediately. There may be leftover dressing, which will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 7-10 days. Not freezer friendly.
Notes
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with lesser amount of garlic and olive oil and without optional ingredients.
*Recipe adapted from our Kale Caesar Salad from Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking.
Nutrition Per Serving (1 of 6 servings)
- Calories: 253
- Fat: 19.3g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Sodium: 334mg
- Potassium: 561mg
- Carbohydrates: 17.4g
- Fiber: 3.9g
- Sugar: 4.5g
- Protein: 7.8g
Made the salad dressing only and it was wonderful. Used all of the garlic but roasted it. Omitted miso because I didn’t have it and it was still fabulous.
White or red miso?!
We used white. But either should work.
Thank you for this delicious recipe, the whole family loved it! Like one reader below I used 4 fresh cloves of garlic in the sauce and it was plenty. I made this recipe two days in a row, and on the second day I had to prepare the tandoori chickpeas a bit more quickly so I pan-fried them and added a dash of soy sauce at the end, it turned out very nice. I will definitely be making this recipe again, thank you Dana!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Olga! We’re so glad you enjoyed it!
Perfect and delicious!
Cesar dressing is the thing I miss a lot after adopting a vegan diet. This was delicious! Didn’t have miso paste which turned out not to be a problem. I added 2 more tablespoons of lemon for more zing!
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Anna. We are so glad you enjoyed it! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Would it still have the same umami flavour if I omitted the miso paste? My grocery store is all out
It will have a different flavor, but it’s not critical!
I only made the dressing, which was great, but I will use less garlic. I was skeptical of the 8-12 cloves, so I used 4 large ones, and it was still overwhelming. But otherwise fantastic.
Thanks for the feedback, Stephanie!
This was so easy to make and is so good!! I added tomatoes and they work perfectly. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing, Kari!
Loved this recipe! My husband who loves traditional caesar dressing stated that this was the best one he’d ever had. Made the crispy chickpeas and just seasoned with some garlic powder, onion powder and red pepper flakes. I also had some jalapeno olive oil so used half of that in the dressing along with regular olive oil. Added a nice bit of spiciness to the dressing.
Will definitely be making this again!
So glad you both enjoyed it, Bree! Thanks so much for sharing!
This was amazing! The dressing was the best caesar dressing I’ve ever had (vegan or not)! It was also really easy to put together. So excited to make this again!
Yay! Thanks so much for sharing, Emily! xo
How much does the dressing makes like a cup?
Roughly 1 – 1 1/4 cups!
AMAZING! This recipe has become my staple lunch/dinner option – it’s a great go-to for a quick and hearty meal. I’ve probably made it at least twice a week for the past couple months and it never disappoints.
In an attempt to become more conscious about my oil consumption, I just tried a modification to the original dressing recipe that omits the olive oil and water, and replaced with 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk. This modification yielded less of a ‘Caesar’ taste but still produced a creamy garlic dressing that I enjoyed just as much as the original version.
Thanks for the delicious recipe, Dana! I am obsessed! :)
Thanks, Katie!
Made this recipe for the first time at a dinner party last night with a few friends – it was a MASSIVE hit. It was only supposed to be the side but turned out to be the star of the party. I wasn’t allowed to take the leftovers home because the hosts wanted to keep the rest. But that’s okay – the dressing made enough for two batches that I can now re-create it today for myself & my partner. And it felt awesome to know all of the ingredients in this from scratch :)
Also – I had the same issue as others – pulsed the vegan parmesan too long and it turned out clumpy. Just put it in the oven as another comment recommended with some more nutritional yeast stirred in and it flaked up a bit again. After the oven, I just broke it up with a fork and you couldn’t tell the difference once it was mixed in with the full salad :)
Yay!! Thanks for sharing!!
What is the benefit to soaking the cashews?
Hi Cat, it makes them easier to blend and gets the dressing more creamy. Hope that helps!
Just made this for dinner and it was a big hit! Omitted capers because I didn’t have any, and it still came out great. Definitely adding into my dinner rotation!
Just simply amazing! I added your yeast free Parmesan as well. I can’t. Stop. Eating. It.
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Shawna. We are so glad you enjoyed it! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! xo
Can’t wait to try this recipe! It looks amazing!
Can I substitute cashew with other seeds or nuts (almond, hemp,…)?
Thanks! :)
I think blanched almonds or hemp seeds would work well! Or even soaked sunflower seeds, as in this recipe.
So, sO, SOOO GOOOD!!! I followed all directions as written (9 raw cloves garlic) and found this salad to be EXTRA extraordinaire!!! The creamy textures mixing with the crunch, the salty tang mixing with the slight sweetness …MMMMM!!! THANK YOU for your MAGIC!!!
Just wow! This dressing was so easy to put together and made an amazing dinner salad. That being said, the recipe made close to 2 cups which was WAY more than we needed and we are trying to figure out how to get through so much dressing in the next 7 days. I think I will halve this recipe the next time I make it.
Hi Tia, so glad you enjoyed it! The reason for the quantity of dressing is that making a half batch in a large blender is difficult because the blades don’t get covered and then it doesn’t mix. If you have a small blender such as this one, a half batch will work better!
I only made the dressing portion of this recipe and OMG IT IS AMAZING! (Even just on a simple bowl of romaine/cucumbers). This will 100% be a staple in my house from now on. I plan to try the whole recipe in the near future!
Thanks, Erin!!
I followed the recipe exactly and loved it, loved it, LOVED it. To me, the best classic Caesar salads are garlicky, and I found the amount here just right. I couldn’t believe how flavorful this dressing was. The capers and brine were a great idea. I actually like it more than traditional Caesar dressings! It is so good on kale or Romaine. After I made it I found myself wanting big salads every day – it really elevated them.
Definitely a new favorite.
Aww, thanks so much Leni! We are so glad you enjoy this recipe! xo
I made a variation of this recipe the other day and it was great! Today I made it exactly to the recipe. I love garlic, but the 8 cloves I used was way overpowering. When I make it again I will use only 4 cloves of garlic!
BTW I only gave it 3 stars because of the overpowering garlic. When I make it again with half the amount it will be 5 star category!
Thanks for the feedback, Kim! Is it possible that your garlic cloves are on the larger size?
This salad is delicious! My 4-year-old caper-loving (but salad averse) daughter even ate some. I used a tip from another comment and roasted the garlic with the chickpeas. We will definitely keep this in rotation!
Great! Thanks for sharing, Amanda!
Can capers be replaced with anything else or not added at all?
Capers can be omitted here, but they do add that “fishy” ocean flavor that sardines typically provide. If you try it without, let us know how it goes!
Oh dangggg, girl! You worked your magic on this dressing – it is so good! I’ve made your spiced chickpeas before and this combination is just heavenly. You keep doing that good work. (I omitted the maple syrup and added vegan parm!)
Yay! Thanks, Christie!
Yum! Made this tonight and it was soooo good! Added some tomatoes (even though they are not traditional for Caesar Salad) and avocado on the side. The dressing is amazing.. I used 1/2 raw 1/2 roasted garlic like another commenter. This will definitely go in my recipe rotation!
SMART! Thanks for sharing, M Lynne!
Made this tonight for the first time, a definite win. The dressing is amazing and even pleased my teenage daughter!
Whoop! Thanks for sharing, Nicola!
Oh my the colors here are making my mouth water. I was caught at chickpea Caesar but then you went and added kale!! I can’t wait to try this!
OMG, this is now my favourite salad. I’m eating it right now. It’s a meal in itself. I made the dressing before I flipped to the chickpea recipe, so I did add the garlic clove to the chick peas but as I had already added a lot of garlic to the dressing, i just threw the roasted cloves into the salad. Beautiful. Best dressing ever!!
Yay!! Thanks for sharing!!
Forgot to rate the recipe, so I am doing so now! Tastes great!
Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
Why did u not call this salad “Kale Cesar?” Just had to…