By Team Dirty
Feb 26, 2025,
By Team Dirty
Feb 26, 2025,
Say goodbye to boring Caesar salads with their skimpy veggies, limp lettuce, and bland dressing full of dairy and preservatives. Say hello to your new go-to, our Mouthgasmic Plant-Based Caesar Salad Bowl!
This beauty is full of vibrant veggies, crisp greens, hearty grains, and protein-packed beans—all topped with a creamy plant-based Caesar dressing you’ll absolutely fall in love with (plus, you can pronounce all the ingredients!).
It’s simple enough to throw together for lunch (just batch the dressing and rice ahead of time), and it’s satisfying enough for dinner. Even the omnis in your life won’t be able to resist. Enough talking, let’s dive in!
What’s inside
Caesar Dressing: This blended dressing is packed with flavor. Instead of the anchovies traditionally used, we’ve opted for dulse flakes (find specialty ingredients like dulse here), which are made from seaweed and deliver a subtle briny flavor that gives Caesar its edge. Between that and the garlic, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice, this dressing absolutely sings.
Brown rice and cannellini beans: Rice and beans add a nice bulk to your salad, keeping you feeling full for longer. Plus, they include lots of vitamins and minerals. You can swap quinoa for the rice or use another white bean if needed.
Red leaf lettuce and baby arugula: These dark leafy greens add flavor and freshness. The peppery bite of the arugula is especially nice blended with the other veggies. Prefer a more classic take? Use romaine lettuce instead.
Walnuts: No salad is complete without an element of crunch, and walnuts bring the perfect nutty bite. If you can’t get walnuts, sunflower seeds make a great substitute.
Let’s make our Caesar Salad Bowl
First, get your rice going.
While your rice is cooking, whip up a batch of Caesar Dressing. You’ll need about ¼ cup per serving (it freezes well if you have any left over).
Then, rinse and chop your veggies and greens, and drain and rinse your beans.
After your rice is done, grab your big ass salad bowls and add your chopped lettuce and baby arugula. Drizzle on a little dressing and mix until your greens are coated.
Add your beans, a scoop of warm rice, chopped cauliflower, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion. Then, drizzle on more dressing and top with some walnuts.
That’s it! Dig in and feel the power of plants fueling your beautiful bod.
Ingredients
Cooked Brown Rice
- ¾ cup uncooked brown rice, rinsed and drained (160 g)
- 1⅔ cups water (390 ml)
Everything else
- 4 cups red leaf lettuce, chopped (110 g)
- 4 cups baby arugula, chopped (120 g)
- 1 cup Caesar Dressing
- 2 cups canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (300 g)
- 2 cups Cooked Brown Rice, warm
- 2 cups cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized pieces (200 g)
- 1⅓ cups cucumber, diced (185 g)
- 1⅓ cups tomato, diced (240 g)
- ½ cup red onion, thinly sliced (80 g)
- ½ cup raw walnuts, chopped (60 g)
Instructions
Cooked Brown Rice
- Rinse the rice well and strain in a fine mesh strainer. Tap the strainer against the sink to remove excess water. Place the rice into a stock pot, along with the (new) water. Bring to a boil, stir, turn the heat to very low, and place a lid on the pot.
- Cook for 25-35 minutes. The cooking time varies depending on your altitude. The higher the altitude, the longer it takes to cook. Check after 25 minutes and if there is liquid still in the pot, keep cooking until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is fluffy.
Put your salad together
- In your salad bowl, add some lettuce and baby arugula and drizzle with Caesar Dressing. Mix until the greens are coated with the Dressing.
- Add some beans, rice, cauliflower, cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion.
- Drizzle with more Caesar Dressing and top it off with a handful of walnuts. Now munch like the badass that you are!
Planning ahead
The dressing and rice will keep for about five days when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. If you’re planning on having the salad more than once, feel free to prep multiple servings of the veggies and store them in the fridge so they’re good to go. This makes packing your lunch in the morning before work super fast. To keep things fresh, pack the dressing in a separate container and mix it in right before eating.
The Caesar Dressing and rice are freezer-friendly, so you can make a larger batch and store extras in the freezer for future use. We love freezing staples in Souper Cubes (affiliate link). They’re available in various sizes, so it’s easy to thaw exactly the amount you need!
If you want to enjoy every last drop of the dressing, there are a lot of delicious plant-based recipes with Caesar’s name written alllll over them in Clean Food Dirty Girl Recipe Club! Here are some of our favorites:
- Mediterranean Pasta Salad Bowl
- Baked Tofu Caesar Sandwich
- Spinach Broccoli Caesar Salad
- Grab-n-Go Salad (just use the Caesar Dressing instead of the suggested Zesty Italian Dressing)
Have you tried our Caesar Salad Bowl or fallen in love with our plant-based Caesar Dressing? Let us know in the comments below.
Here’s to food that’s delicious and never boring!
Xo
Team Dirty
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