Tahini Caesar Salad with Crispy Breadcrumbs

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This tahini Caesar salad is a vegetarian-friendly take on the classic salad. Instead of a salad with a traditional Caesar dressing with eggs and anchovies, this crisp, refreshing salad gets tossed with a creamy tahini and lemon dressing and crunchy homemade breadcrumbs.

Do you love the lemony tang of tahini sauce and the delicious crunchy texture of a good homemade crouton? This tahini caesar salad is for you!

The dressing relies on creamy tahini to bind it together — there’s no eggs, mayo or anchovies in this vegetarian remake of the classic caesar dressing.

Ingredient overview

• Tahini
• Fresh lemon juice
• Garlic
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Plain yogurt: Dairy or plant-based
• Grated fresh Pecorino Romano and/or Parmesan cheese
• Salt and cayenne pepper
• Crusty sourdough bread (2 slices)
• Romaine lettuce: It has crisp, sturdy leaves that hold up well to weightier dressings. If you can find Little Gem romaine, grab it! It’s a type of lettuce that looks like a baby head of romaine, with beautifully crinkled green leaves and a small, tender core of paler green inner leaves.

To be honest, when I’m not craving a my Tuscan kale salad, I snatch up Little Gem lettuces up when I see them in the market because they can be hard to find (you might have the same problem).

Romaine hearts are just as delicious and sweet — they’re interchangeable to use in this salad.

Tahini caesar dressing

The dressing includes yogurt and cheese. But if you want to make this vegan-friendly you have some choices.

• First, you can just omit the dairy ingredients and season with a bit more salt, lemon and cayenne pepper.
• Or substitute a plain, unsweetened plant-based yogurt in the dressing and use nutritional yeast instead of the grated cheese.

The tangy dressing is terrific on kale too, so mix it up if you’re into it! It will keep in the refrigerator up to a week so you can whip up the salad in minutes when you’re hungry.

Breadcrumbs on salad (instead of croutons)

So now let’s talk about breadcrumbs. When I order a Caesar salad in a restaurant I usually pick off the croutons, unless I know it’s the kind of place that pays extra-special attention to details. I’m kind of obsessive about bread.

I’ve worked in enough restaurant kitchens to know that stale slices from the bread basket often get recycled into croutons and tossed into the daily salad. No thanks — I’ll pass on that!

• Start with a few slices from a loaf of the best crusty bread you can find, add some good olive oil, bake and grind into crumbs. You’ll be rewarded with toasty, crunchy, hard-to-stop-eating little nuggets to sprinkle over the salad.
• Yield: You’ll have enough dressing to make this salad, plus a little leftover to use as a dip for vegetables, chips just to use as a saucy dip on the side. Serve with my baked ziti recipe for a family-style feast!

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Tahini Caesar Salad with Olive Oil Breadcrumbs

Karen Tedesco

Tahini caesar salad is a healthy vegetarian version of a classic caesar salad, with a tahini and lemon-based dressing and crunchy homemade breadcrumbs.To make the dressing vegan, omit the yogurt and cheese. 

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4.81 from 42 community reviews

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine Vegetarian

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

Tahini Caesar Dressing:

• ▢ ¼ cup (60 ml) tahini
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice
• ▢ 1 small garlic clove
• ▢ 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 1 tablespoon (15 g) plain yogurt or plant-based yogurt
• ▢ ½ cup (50 g) grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese (or a mixture of both), divided
• ▢ ¼ cup (60 ml) cold water
• ▢ ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salad

• ▢ 2 thick slices crusty sourdough bread, cut into cubes (2 heaping cups)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin oil
• ▢ 12 ounces (350 g) 2 or 3 heads Little Gem lettuce or hearts of romaine, washed and dried

US Customary – Metric

Instructions 

Make the dressing

• Combine the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, 3 tablespoons olive oil, yogurt, ¼ cup of the cheese, water, salt and cayenne pepper in a blender or mini food processor until smooth, or whisk the ingredients together in a medium bowl. (Makes about 1 cup).

Make the breadcrumbs

• Preheat the oven to 375 (190 C) degrees. Spread the bread on a small baking sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss until evenly coated. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the bread is brown and crisp. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop the cubes on a cutting board or in a food processor to make pea-sized crumbs (or feel free to crumble with your hands if you want stress relief).

Assemble the salad

• Pull the green leaves off the lettuce and cut the inner core into wedges. If using romaine hearts, separate the leaves and tear into large bite-size pieces. Keep the inner core intact and cut into small wedges.
• Put the lettuce in a bowl or serving platter and toss with about ⅓ of the dressing. Sprinkle half the breadcrumbs and the remaining grated cheese over the salad. Serve with additional dressing and breadcrumbs on the side.

Karen’s Notes and Tips

• To make a vegan salad, substitute a plant-based yogurt (such as coconut or cashew) for the dairy yogurt and an equal amount of nutritional yeast for the cheese.
• Extra dressing will keep up to a week refrigerated.

Nutrition

Calories: 1000kcal Carbohydrates: 136g Protein: 35g Fat: 37g Sodium: 618mg Fiber: 8g Sugar: 8g

Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.

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• Salad
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Hey, I’m Karen

Creator of Familystyle Food

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I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.