These vegan Caesar salad wraps are a quick and easy lunch that’s ready in just 15 minutes. They’re packed with crisp romaine, crunchy croutons, “meaty” breaded tofu and a flavourful nut-free vegan Caesar dressing.
Up till now cashews have been my go-to for making creamy sauces and dressings. Since I always buy my cashews at the Asian supermarket, the cheapest place I can find them, I’ve watched the price creep up and up over the last few years.
I’m actively on the search for cheaper alternatives and since I’ve been seeing more and more recipes using sunflower seeds in salad dressings, I finally decided them give it a try.
Works!
They blend up as equally creamy as cashews and have a subtle flavour to which you can add whatever seasonings you like. And considering the price ($0.77/oz vs. $1.06/oz), sunflower seeds are the way to go!
So I decided to try out my sunflower seeds with a simple vegan Caesar dressing, and since I do love to make vegan wraps (if you haven’t tried my vegan Mediterranean wraps with tzatziki dressing or my BBQ tempeh vegan burrito, you need to do so!), I rolled it all up into these vegan Caesar salad wraps!
Making them is stupid-simple: blend all the dressing ingredients until smooth and creamy. While the blender’s running you can chop up your romaine lettuce. To make four wraps I needed only about half a head of lettuce. I prefer to peel off the outer leaves and use the more tender inner leaves and hearts for Caesar salad.
To make these vegan wraps more in the style of a chicken Caesar wrap I sliced up a block of extra-firm tofu, breaded and fried them till golden and crispy.
Since the dressing is so flavourful, I didn’t complicate things or waste any time by marinating the tofu. The tofu’s in there more for it’s meaty texture than flavour but you can feel free to use your favourite tofu marinade or add some dried herbs into the breading.
I have to say, although I was sceptical about putting croutons in my wrap they turned out to be my favourite part of this recipe, so definitely don’t skip those! They add not only great texture but also extra flavour that brings all the elements of these vegan wraps together into a delicious vegan Caesar salad in hand-held form!
Vegan Caesar Salad Wraps
Ingredients
- ½ cup (85 grams) raw sunflower seeds (soak them overnight or boil for 15 minutes, drain) - $0.43
- ½ cup water - $0.00
- 1 clove of garlic - $0.08
- 1 tablespoon capers - $0.30
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice - $0.06
- 2 ½ teaspoons white miso paste - $0.28
- 2 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard -$0.08
- ½ teaspoon soy sauce - $0.01
- ¼ teaspoon salt - $0.01
- 1 block extra-firm tofu sliced into 1 cm slices - $0.80
- 2 tablespoons flour - $0.01
- ¼ cup (60 ml) plant milk - $0.07
- ½ cup (38 grams) panko bread crumbs - $0.18
- Oil for frying - $0.12
- ½ head romaine lettuce use the inner leaves and heart, chopped - $0.49
- 1 cup (75 grams) small croutons (roughly chopped if they’re big) - $0.70
- 4 large tortillas or wraps - $0.83
Instructions
- Combine the first nine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. You can add more water if you’d like a thinner consistency.
- Heat about half a centimeter of cooking oil in a pan over medium heat. It’s hot enough when you can dip a wooden chopstick in and the oil bubbles up around it.
- Dredge the tofu slices first in flour, shake off the excess then dip them into the plant milk and finally into the panko bread crumbs. Coat well on all sides with the bread crumbs then transfer them to the hot oil. Fry, flipping halfway through, until they’re golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Combine the chopped lettuce, croutons and dressing in a bowl and toss well. Divide the salad between four tortillas down the middle and top with a couple slices of tofu. Fold the outer edges in over the filling then roll them up from the bottom. It’s best to eat them right away otherwise the croutons get soggy.
Notes
Nutrition
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Tim Allen says
@ things - due to all the problems with romaine lettuce lately , I would remove it from your recipes. And secondly, I don't know where you buy tofu, but a block is much more than 80 cents.
Melissa says
Yeah, I'm not American so I don't know what the problem with romaine is but I trust my readers to use their own common sense when selecting ingredients. If you'd like to know where I buy tofu, please see my tips for eating vegan on a budget.
dannie says
I love the combination of the ingredients,it tastes nice though I would prefer Melisa if you would suggest a sauce to accompany the dish.
Valerie says
This looks really yummy!! I was wondering if you think it would work just as well cooking the tofu in the oven?
Pam says
This was really good after I deceided to go vegan ( vegetarian) I hoped for yummy recipes like this . It is amaaaaazing guys !
Thumbs up 👍🏼
Saankhya says
Very very yummy. Subbed lettuce with a slaw mix cause thats what I had. Paired with itslizmiu's glarlicky dill sauce. 100% would make again.
Nell says
I've made this a couple of times. The dressing is super yummy and I usually use any left over on other wraps and salads throughout the week. The breaded tofu is good and tends to disappear before all the salad is gone, so it may be worth doing twice as much for some families.
This is a pretty basic wrap with not a lot of complexity, but it definitely is satisfying. I usually like something with more variety, but this a great in a pinch or when I don't have time to run to the store for more ingredients.