Best Salad Dressing Recipe | Spicy Cashew Dressing

Alright, today I’m sharing the best salad dressing recipe, and one that is an absolute staple in our fridge: spicy cashew salad dressing. Have you ever been to Sweetgreen? It’s loosely based on their spicy cashew dressing which I used to be obsessed with back in the day when I would routinely grab lunch while out and about, before I started to really lock down our monthly food budget. 

Recipe here, and more information after the recipe because I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that the most common gripe with food blogs and online recipes is that the blogger rambles on for too long without sharing the recipe. But if you happen to enjoy rambles, there will be some below. 

📖 Recipe

Some people may think salads for lunch are boring and basic, but I think they’re wonderful for a few reasons:

• So easy to prep ahead of time, which makes it easier to grab the Tupperwares, throw everything in a bowl in 5 minutes, and BAM you have lunch.
• Get a whole load of nutrients in one go -- we all know we should be eating more veggies, so this is one way to ensure you get a bunch!
• Simplifies your week. I extensively meal plan for dinner, but I don’t feel like lunch has to be different and exciting. So I’m more than happy to eat a salad for lunch most days! Of course, in the winter I may lean more towards soups or leftovers or warm up the salad topping ingredients, but those are the exception to my salad for lunch rule.

The main downside with salad, though? Gross, sugary, preservative-laden bottled dressings from the store. Seriously, have you ever looked at the ingredients? Most of them are wretched. Bottled dressing is such an easy way to turn a healthy, veggie-filled salad into an absolute calorie and fat bomb. But this spicy cashew dressing, because it’s made with real ingredients, delivers flavor and lasting satiety unlike dousing a salad in store bought ranch dressing. If you’re calorie conscious, there are ways to calculate calories per serving but I’m not including that here -- I tend to just use 2 spoonfuls and call it a day.

In my quest to find the best salad dressing recipe, I searched high and low online, and the above recipe is a riff on Bon Appetit’s Spicy Cashew Dressing that I’ve adapted to better fit my tastebuds. Nutritional yeast and miso are cornerstones of the vegan cheese sauce that I make, so I knew they would do the trick in this dressing. I made it spicier and swapped in liquid aminos for fish sauce because fish sauce is just not my jam. More garlic, as always, because you know I’m a garlic psychopath.

One nice thing about this recipe is that it’s very forgiving and easily tweaked. No miso? Add a bit more salt. No liquid aminos? Soy sauce would work, or fish sauce (I’d use ¼ of the recommended amount, though). Want it extra spicy? Heavy up on the crushed red pepper flakes. Add a squeeze of lemon if you’re feeling sassy! I truly think this is hands down the best salad dressing recipe I’ve ever used. I’ve been making it for months and haven’t gotten sick of it yet! Some weeks I forget to make it and will make some sort of vinaigrette, but I keep returning to this spicy cashew dressing for lunches. In fact, after I finish writing this I’m going to pop downstairs and have lunch. On the menu? Shredded kale from the garden, quinoa, a veggie chicken patty from Wegman’s, chickpeas, and some spicy cashew dressing. YUM!