Crispy romaine, creamy tangy dressing, crunchy croutons, topped with grilled seitan tenders, I’m drooling. This is the salad meal I want for dinner! This Vegan Seitan Caesar Salad is one of my favourite dishes for a lighter dinner, or you could divide it into smaller portions and serve as a side dish. Make most of this salad ahead of time, then assemble when ready. There’s even gluten-free and oil-free options, as well as several variations! Because can you ever get enough salad? The answer is no.
One of the best features of this vegan chicken Caesar salad is that so much of it can be made ahead of time. I make the seitan tenders, dressing, and Parmegan (vegan parmesan) ahead of time and store in the fridge for up to a week. So you could easily prepare those elements on a weekend, and then have this gorgeous salad ready to go for a quick lunch or dinner.
Toss the salad in the dressing, sprinkle with vegan parm, and dive it. I love this salad served hot or cold, so do what you prefer! Serve with a side of crusty bread or cheesy vegan garlic bread for utter perfection.
To make Vegan Seitan Caesar Salad:
For the seitan, I like to marinate my tenders in my lemon mustard, Italian, or sweet and smoky marinades for this salad. Prepare and marinate the seitan tenders.
Make the salad dressing and Parmegan (vegan parmesan).
The seitan, dressing, and Parmegan can be prepared well in advance and stored in the fridge for several days so assembly of this salad can be quick and easy.
To assemble the salad: brush a grill pan or skillet with oil then place on medium-high heat. When hot, fry the seitan tenders a few minutes on each side until golden. Remove the seitan from the pan and slice into thin strips.
Add the romaine to a large bowl and drizzle with the salad dressing to taste. Toss well to evenly coat the lettuce in dressing. Top the salad with the seitan tender slices, croutons, and Parmegan. Serve fresh.
For the croutons, this time I used store-bought Fresh Gourmet Organic Seasoned Croutons which are accidentally vegan, but you can use any kind of crouton you like, just check the ingredients to make sure they are vegan. You can even make homemade ones (see recipe notes for more).
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
The perfect healthy meal. Make most of the salad ahead of time and assemble when ready. See the notes for many variations including gluten-free and oil-free options!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or other oil
- 1 Seitan Tender
- 2 romaine hearts, loosely chopped
- 1 recipe Vegan Cashew Caesar Salad Dressing
- 1 cup vegan-friendly croutons
- 1 - 2 tablespoons Parmegan (vegan parmesan)
For the seitan, I like to marinate my tenders in my lemon mustard, Italian, or sweet and smoky marinades for this salad. Prepare and marinate the seitan tenders. Then make the salad dressing and parmegan. All of these can be prepared well in advance and stored in the fridge for several days so assembly of this salad can be quick and easy.
To make the salad: brush a grill pan or skillet with oil then place on medium-high heat. When hot, fry the seitan tenders a few minutes on each side until golden. Remove the seitan from the pan and slice into thin strips.
Add the romaine to a large bowl and drizzle with the salad dressing to taste. Toss well to evenly coat the lettuce in dressing. Top the salad with the seitan tender slices, croutons, and parmegan. Serve fresh.
Variations:
- Instead of the seitan you can sub my Tofu Bites.
- Instead of the cashew caesar you can sub my mayonaise based caesar salad dressing found in my cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan on page 77.
- Instead of store-bought, you can make homeade croutons using my recipes also found in Fuss-Free Vegan on page 77.
- If you would like to add bacon, you can use my Mushroom Bacon or Banana Peel Bacon recipes both found on my blog, or my Coconut Bacon or Rice Paper Bacon both found in Fuss-Free Vegan.
Make ahead tips: the seitan, dressing, and parmegan can all be made ahead of time so assembling this salad can be quick and easy. If you plan on enjoying this seitan more than once throughout the week, grill multiple seitan tenders at once, then either quickly rehead in the microwave or enjoy cold.
Gluten-free tips: buy or make gluten-free croutons by simply subbing the bread for a gluten-free bread, or sub the croutons for a nut or seed such as walnuts or sunflower seeds. Sub the seitan tenders for my Tofu Bites.
Oil-free tips: use a good non-stick pan or a bit of broth or water to "fry" the seitan. Skip the croutons and instead replace them with a nut or seed such as walnuts or sunflower seeds for some added crunch.
Nutrition
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Tag @itdoesnttastelikechicken on Instagram and hashtag #itdoesnttastelikechicken.
I made the tenets last week for the first time. I did not have a chance to try them so I put them in the freezer. I took one out last night and me it today. All I can say is OMG! If I hadn’t made it I would have not know that it was not chicken. I am so happy right now. Thank you so much for this amazing and easy recipe.
Haha! So happy you enjoyed it Kristin!
where did you find vegan croutons? or did you make your own?
I linked the ones I used in the post itself 🙂
Hi Sam,
I am new to the Plant-Based Whole -Food life style and am enjoying your videos and blog. My question for you is about S.O.S. or salt, oil and sugar. I have noted that you use oil in many of your meals and wonder if using S.O.S. is a personal choice or if there is a reason why some choose to exclude these items in their foods. Thanks and I look forward to your response.
Tod
Hi Tod. I’m vegan mainly for the animals and am not totally health-focused. Therefore, I don’t mind consuming salt, oil, and sugar. My goal on this blog is to make recipes as easy as possible using easy to find ingredients to show people cooking vegan can be easy, delicious, and not too far from what most people are used to consuming. Of course, if you want a more health-focused approach, by all means, go for it! You can find my oil-free recipes here on my blog (sometimes the oil-free options are listed in the notes such as with this recipe). Enjoy!
Hi! New to this page and just flicking through! Love lost of the recipes so far.
I would like to point out, as coeliac…seitan is NOT gluten free. It is pure gluten. Please be careful when putting this recipe in the gluten free section.
Sorry to have to mention it. Love your recipes so thank you
Hi Oli, please see the notes on the recipe to make it gluten-free. So happy you’re enjoying my recipes!
Sam thanks for the quick reply and explanation.
Thank you. This looks really good. Will be looking for a good gluten free version of the chicken (new intolerance, still getting used to going gf). If you have any suggestions I would love them. Thanks.
Also, I miss your Youtube demos. Hopefully you’ll be doing more.
You could try my tofu bites as suggested in the recipe notes. I hope to do more videos soon 🙂
Thank you, I’ll give them a try.