We all love salads - the fresh bowl full of colourful veggies, beans, fruits, and nuts. But to be honest, what makes them super delicious are the dressings. Gone are the days when just olive oil, vinegar, salt, and lemon were used to dress up the greens. Now, the variety in dressings is limitless. You can spark your love for veggies by choosing any of the below mentioned vegan dressings. Vegan dressings are not just healthy, but quick to make and are super yum.
1. Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing
This is a super easy, creamy, healthy, and low-fat dressing made with just five ingredients. Take some vegan yoghurt of your choice, add some apple cider vinegar for the tangy zest, poppy seeds for the crunch, maple syrup for the mild sweetness and salt to taste. Mingle them all, and voila, the super delicious dressing is ready.
2. Vegan Thousand Island Dressing
One of the most popular vegan salad dressings known for its bold, sweet, tangy, creamy, and thick texture is Thousand Island. Gather the following eight ingredients – overnight soaked cashews, ketchup, lemon juice, dry mustard, fresh white onion, sweet pickle relish, regular paprika and salt – put them in the blender and blend until you get the smooth, silky dressing.
3. Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing
Ready with only six ingredients, this is a flavourful, oil-free dressing for your salads. Take some cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and maple syrup for a bit of sweetness and salt. You can always customise this dressing by adding a bit of fiery punch with pepper powder or jalapenos.
4. Spicy Mango Dressing
This bright, oil-free, sugar-free dressing is a must try during summers. The spicy-sweet tropical dressing can elevate your salad bowl to another level. All you need is fresh mango, cumin seeds, habanero, green onion, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Blend till you get a nice, bright emulsion.
5. Basil Pesto Vinaigrette
A hands-on dressing, which is not just perfect for your salads but also for pasta toppings. You can make it in less than five minutes by using these six simple ingredients: basil, cashew parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. Blend them together, add water as per consistency needed and it is ready to liven up your salad. You can make and store it in the fridge for two weeks.
6. Lemon-Chia Vinaigrette
This dressing complements both vegetable and fruit bowls. All you need is garlic, lemon juice, chia seeds, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, black pepper powder, olive oil, and salt. This dressing is loaded with strong flavours and is perfect to kick up your taste buds while adding the nutritional value to your bowl.
7. Spicy Peanut Dressing
The name says it all, this peanut-based dressing is so delicious that you can eat it by the spoonful. Not just as a dressing on salad, you can use it as spread for your rolls and sandwiches. All you need is peanut butter, soy sauce or tamari, sesame oil, garlic, jalapeno, rice vinegar, salt, and water as needed. Blend them all and the Thai-style dressing is ready to make your taste buds do a happy dance.