Vegan Cobb Salad with Green Goddess Dressing

This salad is the perfect main dish on a warm summer evening, and it’s extremely delicious!

I recently served this for a family dinner, along with corn on the cob, but we really didn’t need the corn. This is super satisfying – crispy, crunchy, and creamy. It has it all.

Instead of the traditional Cobb Salad toppings (bacon, chicken, blue cheese, and hard-boiled eggs), you’re seeing plant-based protein-rich Za’atar Roasted Chickpeas, BBQ Tempeh, and steamed quinoa.

Make one large bowl of this lovely salad, or smaller individual servings – your choice. Feel free to mix and match your favorite veggies as substitutes for the toppings, too.

This Green Goddess Dressing (inspired by Dreena Burton’s wonderful recipe) easily makes enough for 6 to 8 main dish salads, depending on how much dressing you use. Make it earlier in the day (or even the day ahead) for easiest assembly.

I also prep the quinoa ahead, to be sure it has time to cool before adding to the salad bowl(s).

I air fryer the Za’atar Roasted Chickpeas. These are at their crunchiest right out of the air-fryer. But I sometimes make them earlier in the day and although they lose a bit of crunch while waiting for serving time, they are still plenty yummy. It makes the last minute assembly more fun for me, but feel free to make them at the last minute if that works for you.

Same goes for the BBQ Tempeh. You can make the tempeh ahead of time, but it’s really nice served warm, so you may want to air fry the tempeh while you assemble the rest of the salad.

And although I make both the chickpeas and tempeh with my air fryer, if you don’t have one, just use a traditional oven. Remember to add 25 degrees to the oven temperature, and double the cooking time.

Hope you like this salad as much as we do!

VEGAN COBB SALAD WITH GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

Servings: 6 to 8
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Dressing

1/2 cup raw cashews
1 cup water
1/2 cup fresh basil (packed)
1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley (packed)
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons tahini
4 teaspoons date syrup
1 teaspoon brown mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Salad

fresh salad greens (1 to 2 cups, per person)
shredded red cabbage (about 1/3 cup, per person)
sliced cucumbers or celery (about 1/3 cup, per person)
cooked quinoa (about 1/3 cup, per person)
sliced grape tomatoes (about 1/3 cup, per person)
Za’atar Roasted Chickpeas (about 1/3 cup, per person)
BBQ Tempeh (about 1/4 cup, per person)

Instructions

To prepare dressing, add cashews, water, herbs, lemon juice, tahini, date syrup, mustard, salt and garlic powder to a high-powered blender (like a Vitamix), and process until smooth. Refrigerate until time to serve.

To prepare salad, place a bed of fresh lettuce at the bottom of each bowl. Over the greens, arrange the other salad ingredients in clockwise fashion, in the order listed above, finishing with the tempeh in the center of the bowl.

Drizzle desired amount of Green Goddess Dressing over salad(s), and serve immediately.