Three Easy Plant-Based Dressings

Recipes by Danielle Lavallee

For many folks, the thing that seems the most daunting about building a plant-based meal is making an easy plant-rich sauce or dressing. Ideally, your dressing would be free of unhealthy fats, packed with healthy ingredients and phytonutrients to increase the plant variety and nutrient density of your meals, easy to make, and delicious to eat. These three dressings check all the boxes.

Here are my top 3 easy dressings:

LEMON TAHINI DRESSING

Mix:

• ¼ cup of tahini

• ¼ cup of lemon juice

• A pinch of salt

• Cold water, added by the TBS until the dressing is smooth

You may find this to be too lemony on its own, but it’s delicious once poured over your bowl. If it is still too zippy, reduce the lemon juice to 1/8 of a cup and add more water.

Optional Add-Ins:

• Fresh herbs

• Garlic

• Spices, like cumin

• Maple syrup

This Lemon Tahini Dressing is delicious on everything. No need for a blender for this one. Try maple lemon tahini dressing over a bowl with farro, kale, roasted sweet potatoes, almonds, and dried cranberries. It’s so good!

EASY MAPLE MUSTARD DRESSING

I use this on any dish which calls for sweetness. Simply blend equal parts Dijon mustard and maple syrup. Seriously. It’s that easy. If it seems too thick, add a touch of water.

SPICY CILANTRO SAUCE

A high-speed blender is your friend for this dressing, or it will be lumpy.

Add to the blender:

• 1 large bunch of washed cilantro, stems included (no waste, less fuss)

• 1/3 cup of walnuts

• 2 TBS hemp hearts

• The juice of 3 limes

• 1-2 jalapenos, seeds included (start with 1 and see how spicy it is)

• 1 tsp cumin

• A pinch of sea salt

Blend and adjust seasonings to your taste.

If you like garlic, add some. If it needs more umami flavor, add a splash of tamari.

This is perfect over anything Mexican inspired.

Wishing you excellent health and happy eating!
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