Today, I gave a new twist to the classic caesar salad (but vegan, of course) by using bok choy instead of lettuce! It was so life-changing! Recipe video is now LIVE and don’t forget to scroll down for the written recipe!

I’m so excited to share this recipe with you guys because this has been one of my new favourite recipes in the last month or so. I’m sure many of you already know what a caesar salad is, but this time, I used bok choy or baby bok choy instead of lettuce. It has been life-changing, and I cannot rave about this enough!

I got this idea from a local vegetarian restaurant here in Calgary, Canada. It was on their menu and I immediately was drawn to it. I was so amazed because although I regularly use bok choy in my recipes, I always cook it and have never even thought of eating it raw in a salad!

After trying this out, I can confidently say that there’s a high chance you won’t go back to eating a regular caesar salad (yes, I am indeed smitten with the bok choy version, haha!)

What I love about this recipe is that because the bok choy has so much water content, it’s just so refreshing when you bite into it. It’s like instant hydration (haha!). Apart from that, it is so tasty and I can’t wait for you guys to try it out (tag @cheaplazygang on Instagram when you do, okay?).

So I came up with the vegan caesar dressing recipe after looking at a couple of already existing recipes online, and I fell like this way was one of the easiest ways because I based it on which ingredients I had in my kitchen. Honestly though, I just mix together a healthy blend of mayo, mustard, some sweetener, a little bit of lemon juice for the dressing… Well, the point is that it doesn’t have to be too complicated (but there’s a recipe coming, don’t worry, LOL!). There are actually a lot of vegan caesar dressing recipes out there, so feel free to give those a try as well.

Another thing to note is I made roasted chickpeas and some croutons, but you don’t have to make these because I, my friends, am allowing you to be lazy (wink!)

Let’s get started with the recipe!

Bok Choy Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

For the croutons:

• 2 pcs bread, cut into cubes
• 1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ tsp basil
• ¼ tsp garlic powder
• Sprinkle of salt

For the chickpeas:

• ¾ cup chickpeas, canned and rinsed
• 1 tsp oil

For the vegan caesar dressing:

• ½ cup vegan mayo
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• ½ tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp black pepper

For the caesar bok choy salad:

• Around 350g bok choy or baby bok choy (3-4 heads if using baby bok choy)

Instructions:

For the croutons:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. While your oven preheats, cut up the bread into small cubes. 
3. Add olive oil, garlic powder, basil, and salt to the bread and mix well together.
4. Pop bread into the preheated oven and bake it for 10 minutes or until it’s nice and crispy.

For the roasted chickpeas:

1. Take the skin off the chickpeas by rolling them on a paper napkin (NOTE: I’m not sure if this is a necessary step, so feel free to skip it if you like)
2. Add a little bit of oil to a frying pan and add in the chickpeas. Roast until they’re nice, brown, and crispy on the outside. (NOTE: You can roast the chickpeas in an oven, too.)

To prepare the bok choy:

1. Wash the bok choy or baby bok choy.
2. Chop into small pieces and set aside.

For the vegan caesar dressing:

1. In a small bowl, mix together vegan mayo, lemon juice, dijon mustard, maple syrup or agave nectar, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and black pepper. (Feel free to add in more of the ingredients if you like)

And now for the assembly:

1. Place the baby bok choy, roasted chickpeas, and croutons onto a bowl. 
2. Add your vegan caesar dressing (feel free to add as little or as much as you like!) and mix everything well.
3. Enjoy!