Paleo Caesar Salad-like Dressing, GF

We've been tasting, trying, and comparing different caesar salad dressings for the past few weeks now. Our taste buds have been searching for the key to the distinct tangy flavor of caesar salad dressing. We thought that we'd figure it out rigghhht fast, but then we realized that maybe there is no “key”…

Despite the garlicy, lemony, and creamy flavors that unite most caesar salad dressings, they can still all taste SO different.

Traditionally, anchovy paste is used in making caesar salad dressing. But we didn’t really want to use anchovy paste in ours. We know we should be more adventurous, and we're not totally opposed to trying it.

But we really wanted to figure out an simple way to make paleo caesar salad dressing at home, with ingredients that we normally have on hand.

So, we played around with some recipes. We found that the key to the flavor, for us, can be found in the dijon mustard, lemon, and garlic. We personally like the extra tang that 3 tsp of minced garlic results in. But you may want to use 2 tsp if that’s too much for you. 🙂

We also played around with making this Paleo Caesar Salad Dressing with coconut cream, and mixing it with a handheld electric mixer. The texture with coconut cream is nice and thick and the electric mixer makes the dressing quite airy… which can be seen below.

We also tried making this dressing with coconut milk and mixing it with a food processor. This resulted in a more liquidy, smoother version of the dressing. Like so.

Both taste great, but we have to say that we liked the thicker dressing made of coconut cream.

We personally don’t think that the manner in which it is mixed (handheld electric mixer vs. food processor) made that big of a difference. Especially when you’re eating the caesar dressing with other foods.

Liiiiike in a salad full of greens, carrots, bacon and rosemary lemon chicken ( oh and shredded parmesan! shhh).

Or in a simple kale salad. Which is a great way to eat kale, if we do say so myself.

Now, we don’t know if our taste buds have been burned by all the raw garlic involved in the process of recipe developing… but we think that this dressing is satisfying. 🙂

We decided to call it Paleo Caesar Salad-like Dressing because it tastes so much like caesar salad to us and yet it has it’s own unique taste to it. You’ll see what we mean.

Let us know what you think, if you suggest anchovy paste, or how you make paleo caesar dressing at home!