Vegan Pesto Cabbage Chopped Salad! We are loving all things healthy and green, and this vibrant bowl of green goodness is sure to get those taste buds tingling with crunchy textures and lively flavors.

This nourishing, oil-free Vegan Pesto Cabbage Chopped Salad is a burst of fresh ingredients and creamy sauce. Finely chopped cabbage, cucumbers, and chives are coated in a delicious basil-spinach dressing that tastes like a nutritious bite of veggies with every forkful or dip of a chip.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

This recipe was adapted from Tik Tok sensation Baked by Melissa.  It features finely chopped healthy salad ingredients coated in a delicious pesto inspired dressing.  Mom and I decided to make some tweaks here and there to make it Whole Food Plant Based.

Mom and I absolutely loved it.  Yasmeen devoured it!  She loved eating it on WFPB chips.

What makes this salad delicious is all those healthy ingredients.  It’s not a salad that tastes decadent by any means.  It’s all about those fresh finely-chopped veggies.

If you love basil and spinach, then you will love this salad. You feel like you are eating a bowl of nutrient-packed ingredients.

You gotta give this one a try!  We freaking loved it!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile: This salad is very fresh tasting from all the fresh garden ingredients:  basil, spinach, cabbage, cucumbers, chives, garlic, shallot, etc.  It tastes exactly like those ingredients – very fresh!  Because we use no oil, the flavors are not weighed down and come through as a beautiful, healthy salad.
• Cabbage Dicing: This salad is very “dip like” meaning that the ingredients should be very finely diced. We suggest slicing the cabbage thinly, then chopping the thin strips into very fine pieces.  Do not use more than 3 cups of finely diced cabbage or you will end up with a drier salad.  If you have a food processor, you can use the grating blade.
• Cucumber Dicing: Slice the baby cucumber in half lengthwise, then again lengthwise.  You now have 4 long strips of cucumber.  Now take each cucumber strip and slice it in half again.  You will end up with 8 long strips of cucumber.  Then dice the long strips.
• Fresh Chives: Fresh chives typically come in small .66 oz. see-through plastic container at the grocery store in the fresh herbs section.  When you open the package, use half in the salad (finely chopped).  Use the other half in the sauce.  You don’t need to chop it for the high-speed blender portion, just push it down into the high-speed blender.  You can also use the small Gourmet Garden Chive Bowls found at the grocery stores.  These are small .35 oz. plastic bowls with finely chopped lightly dried chives if you can’t find fresh chives.  They are on the expensive side, so try to locate fresh chives, if possible.
• Freeze-dried Chive: Chives have this beautiful, lightly oniony flavor to them; however, if you can’t locate any fresh, if you can find freeze-dried chives, you can use about 1 Tablespoon (+/-) in the sauce and 1 Tablespoon (+/-) in the salad (or more freeze-dried chives if you prefer).
• WFPB Chips: You can take any oil-free WFPB tortilla, cut them into 4ths or 6ths, (pie wedge cut), place them onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and pop them into a preheated 350F oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until crisp.  Timing is highly dependent upon the tortillas selected to achieve crispness.  Our blog photos feature WFPB Siete Almond Flour Tortillas cut into 6ths then baked until crisp and lightly golden brown.
• Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.

This dish does not freeze well.

Kitchen Products Used:

• High-Speed Blender

We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.

If you try this flavorful salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Vegan Pesto Cabbage Chopped Salad

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 20 Minutes
• Total Time: 20 Minutes
• Yield: 3-4 Servings 1x
• Category: Salad
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

This nourishing, oil-free Vegan Pesto Cabbage Chopped Salad is a burst of fresh ingredients and creamy basil sauce.

Adapted from Baked by Melissa on Tik Tok

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Ingredients

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Base Salad Ingredients:

• 3 cups green cabbage, small dice (or grated)
• 3 baby cucumbers, small dice
• 1 – [ .66 oz. package ] fresh chives, fine dice (divided in half) *

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup (raw) cashews
• 1/8 cup walnuts
• 2 garlic cloves, rough chop
• 1 small shallot, rough chop (about 1/3 cup-rough chop)
• Fresh chives (other half of chives package – from above) *
• 1 cup baby spinach (packed)
• 1 cup fresh basil (packed)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar (+/-)
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (+/-)
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *

Optional Topping Ingredients:

• Lemon zest
• Tortilla chips or crackers

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Instructions

1. Place the cashews and walnuts in a small bowl, cover with hot water for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, discard the water and place the cashews and walnuts into a high-speed blender.
2. In the meantime, place all the Salad Base Ingredients into a large bowl, mix well, set aside.
3. Add the Sauce Ingredients into a high-speed blender with the soaked cashews and walnuts. Blend on high until the sauce is creamy, emulsified, and smooth. Taste test for flavor, add more ingredients to reach the flavor you desire.
4. Pour the sauce over the salad ingredients, mix well to completely coat the salad ingredients. Taste test, add more seasonings as needed.
5. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers, or eat as a tasty healthy salad.

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.   

*Servings: 3 to 4

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