Who doesn’t love a good salad. Especially one that’s not only loaded with tons of greens and colorful veggies (or just a bowl of cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and Violife Feta crumbles like this one) AND topped off with a super YUM dressing. Although skeptical when I first started messing around with vegan dressing recipes, I have found that getting a flavor profile is the easy part … the hard part is finding a proper consistency. But, alas, I believe I’ve finally figured out the key to making creamy dressings that fit into a plant-based diet. And the secret is, silken tofu. Sort of like the recipe I shared for making creamy tomato soup sans the cream, silken tofu is a wonderous thing when it comes to tricking your palate to think it’s still getting cream-based goodness. So give this recipe a whirl and LMK what you think. I absolutely love, love, love it!
VEGAN RANCH DRESSING
- 1 shallot chopped
- 12 Ounces silken tofu, soft
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 T white vinegar
- 1 T lemon juice
- ½ tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp ground celery seed
- ¼ tsp paprika
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- Fresh herbs: chives, parsley, dill
- ¼ cup water, optional
- LOTS of black pepper
Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Note on the herbs, most people don’t add dill to this, but I like dill so I add equal amounts of dill, chives and parsley—about a small, loose handful, so ¼ cup. As for the water, I don’t like to add it because I prefer my dressings thicker than most but hey, you do you 😉 Store in a closed container for up to two weeks in the fridge. And yes, it will be much greener than typical ranch … perhaps I’ll try this again and alter the amount of dill. Thoughts?
The flexitarian prescription 
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