Welcome to Day 2 of the July Salad a Day Challenge! Today’s salad is a fun vegan remix of a classic sandwich: the BLT. This salad is comprised of a lettuce, tomato, red onion, and tempeh bacon base, and then gets topped with a creamy green dressing to replace the mayo typically found on a BLT sandwich. It hits me in all the right places: flavour, texture, nutrition, and fell-good factor!
I’ve never liked real bacon myself, even before I went vegetarian, but for my non-vegetarian readers, I encourage you to give the tempeh bacon in this recipe a try. I feel as though what people like the most about bacon is the salty-smoky flavour profile, a flavour profile that is incredibly easy to mimic using tamari and smoked paprika! And to be completely honest, I find that tempeh has an almost meaty texture to it. It’s also an excellent source of clean and complete protein, boasting 19 grams (!) in a 100 gram serving.
How to make the best damn vegan tempeh BLT salad
It’s really quite simple! Start by preparing the tempeh bacon from scratch. It doesn’t take much time at all- I only marinated it for 15 minutes and then baked it, and it still turned out incredible! Unlike ‘real’ bacon, it’s mess-free. No greasy pans or stovetops to clean up here!
Then, chop or tear a full head of green leaf or romaine lettuce. Top with one large chopped tomato, half a thinly sliced red onion, and the tempeh bacon.
To make the dressing, blend together soaked cashews, lemon juice, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, light miso, parsley, olive oil, and almond milk until smooth.
Drizzle individual portions with the dressing and serve!
Make it with me here:
This salad is so cooling and fresh-tasting while still being super satisfying. We served it alongside some store-bought veggie burgers for the perfect summer meal. You can also serve it with some pita and hummus, avocado toast, or sweet potato/white potato oven fries and guacamole to make it into a meal! I personally am the carb queen, so I tend to always include some sort of grain or potato with my meals. They add that stick to your ribs quality that I find rather necessary to prevent hunger from returning an hour after eating. But you do you!
I hope you are enjoying the July Salad a Day Challenge so far! Feel free to join at any time- the details are in this post.
If you make this Vegan Tempeh BLT Salad with Creamy Green Dressing, leave a comment below and let me know how you liked it! And don’t forget to take a photo and post it to Instagram with #upbeetkitchen and @upbeet.kitchen! I love seeing your takes on my recipes!
Vegan Tempeh BLT Salad with Creamy Green Dressing
A healthy vegan remix on the classic BLT Sandwich, this recipe combines lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, smoky and salty tempeh bacon, and a creamy green dressing.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Main Course
- Cuisine: American, Vegan
Ingredients
Tempeh Bacon
- 1 package organic tempeh
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Black pepper to taste
Salad
- 1 large head green leaf or romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and chopped/torn into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large ripe avocado, diced, flesh scooped out
Creamy Green Dressing
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes or cold water for 4–8 hours, drained
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tsp mellow white or chickpea miso
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 cup firmly packed fresh parsley, stems included
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Make the tempeh bacon: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the tempeh into thin slices and arrange in an even layer in a 9×13-inch baking dish. Whisk together the olive oil, tamari, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, smoked paprika, and black pepper in a bowl and pour over the tempeh. Preferably, you should marinate it for at least 15 minutes, but you can skip this step if you are pressed for time. Bake for 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
- Make the salad: Place the lettuce, tomato, red onion, and avocado in a large salad bowl. Break the tempeh bacon into smaller pieces once it has cooled and add it as well.
- Make the dressing: Place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend on high until very smooth and creamy.
- To serve, divide the salad between 4 plates or bowls and drizzle with desired amount of dressing.
Notes
-The dressing recipe makes more than you will need for the salad. Leftover dressing is delicious on veggie burgers, wraps, roasted sweet potato, and many other dishes- let your imagination run wild!
-MAKE IT SOY-FREE: Make eggplant bacon or coconut bacon instead of the tempeh bacon, and use coconut aminos instead of tamari in the marinade.
-MAKE IT OIL-FREE: Omit the oil in the bacon marinade. It may stick to your baking pan a little bit more, but it will still work. Replace the oil in the dressing with an extra tablespoon of olive oil.
-MAKE IT NUT-FREE: Replace the 1/2 cup cashews with 1/3 cup hemp hearts. Soaking hemp hearts is not necessary!
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