Dressings have the power to make or break your salads, and perfecting a roster of homemade salad dressings is an absolute must for salad fans. We bet you’ll come back to this vegan recipe for oil-free orange sesame dressing again and again.

Read more: 15 Vegan Salad Recipes

The recipe comes from Clean Food Dirty Girl, and it’s creamy cashew base works for a wide variety of dishes. As well as salads, you can enjoy it on wraps, grain bowls, and anything else you like. It requires just a few ingredients, and doesn’t take too long to make.

Why cashews?

Cashews are a popular choice for creating creamy dressings in vegan recipes due to their naturally rich and buttery texture. When soaked and blended, cashews become exceptionally smooth and creamy, making them an ideal base for dressings without the need for dairy. They also have a mild flavor that easily absorbs other tastes, allowing them to pair well with a variety of seasonings and ingredients. Additionally, cashews are a good source of healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, enhancing the nutritional profile of vegan dishes.

Orange sesame salad dressing

Making salad dressing is quick, easy, cost-effective, and, most importantly, it tastes better than anything you can buy in the store. Whole food plant based eaters especially benefit from making their own salad dressing as oil-free dressings can be hard to find. Our oil-free orange sesame dressing is the perfect recipe to start with.

A tub of oil-free orange sesame dressing made with a vegan recipe

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Ingredients

⅓ cup raw cashews, soaked in water for 10 minutes (50g)
⅔ cup orange juice, freshly squeezed (160 ml)
1½ tbsp raw brown sesame seeds (15 g)
1½ tbsp brown rice vinegar
½ tsp garlic cloves, peeled and left whole (1 small clove or about half a large clove)
¼ tsp salt

Instructions

Drain the cashews and discard the soaking water.
Place the cashews into your blender, along with the rest of the ingredients, and blend until creamy and smooth.

This recipe was created by Clean Food Dirty Girl. Start a trial to Plant Fueled Life for more plant-based and oil-free recipes like this. Photos by Amber Asakura.