Name: Vegan Russian Dressing
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 16 oz silken tofu (or 2 cups soaked cashews/sunflower seeds/beans); The juice of 1 medium lemon; 3 tbsp ketchup; 1 tbsp onion powder; 1 tsp sea salt; 1 tsp nutritional yeast; ¾ tsp paprika

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Creamy, sweet, tangy, and salty, this lightened up Vegan Russian Dressing is quick and easy to make. This sauce is the perfect condiment for vegan reuben sandwiches, salads, and more--it’s fabulous as a dip for potato wedges too!

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Hey Internet, I’m here today to bring you another awesome vegan sauce recipe--because I can’t really get enough--Vegan Russian Dressing! It’s a new one for me, honestly one I thought I would hate but ended up loving.

Russian dressing, a key ingredient in a Reuben, is often made from mayonnaise and ketchup and a few other ingredients like pimentos, horseradish, fresh chives, and spices.

I’ve kept the ketchup, but used silken tofu as the base with just a few spices to make this a tangy yet healthy dressing that’s perfect for salads and more.

If I’m being honest I mainly am adding this recipe so I can show it off in a vegan reuben sandwich I developed for my vegan pastrami, but I’ve recently discovered that it has many other uses.

This easy vegan Russian dressing makes a fantastic dip for baked potato wedges (i.e. “fries”), a great spread for any kind of sandwich (slather it on a bagel with some tofu and vegan cheese for an awesome breakfast sandwich!), and it’s even a great salad dressing.

The best part about this dressing is probably how quickly it comes together--just 5 minutes or however long it takes you to throw the stuff into a blender or food processor and flip the power switch!

This dressing (and the vegan pastrami) are part of my Plant-Based Jewish Recipes e-book, the book this Russian dressing is part of.

Oh, and fun fact: this dressing was developed in the United States (records from the early 20th century suggest New Hampshire), it was just named Russian dressing because it used to include caviar, a staple of Russian cuisine.

ANYWAY, I always seem to go off on a tangent about things that are only semi-related to the recipe.

To be fair, I’m not sure how much I can write about a 5 minute recipe.

Tofu, lemon, ketchup and spices in bowls

What You’ll Need

So, as you might already know, the base I commonly use for creamy sauces is tofu. I know it’s like “the vegan thing” to use cashews but I have a few qualms with those:

High in fat
Really expensive
Not great for the environment -- acidifies soil
Really not good for people with nut allergies

So yeah, I like to use tofu instead. And while I normally just use firm tofu (because I buy it bulk at Costco), silken tofu works especially well for getting a super creamy texture in this recipe.

Plus the tofu makes it high in protein but low in fat.

If you can’t eat soy, you could definitely use raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or --if you must-- soaked cashews.

Everything else is just flavor. The best shortcut for a sweet and tomato-y flavor is to use a good squeeze or natural ketchup (any kind of ketchup you like… I’m partial to organic low sugar ketchup).

If you abhor ketchup, you could use a squeeze of tomato paste or a small amount of tomato sauce and a pinch of some kind of sugar.

For extra tang I recommend some fresh lemon juice, but vinegar will also work.

Finally, I recommend the following seasonings (to taste): nutritional yeast, onion powder, paprika, and sea salt.

That’s it! Pretty simple.

I know there are people who use vegan mayo, and some throw relish in there (which I hate), but I just like to keep it simple and these flavors are so delicious.

Tips for Making Vegan Russian Dressing

Gosh, this is so simple I feel a bit silly.
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and combine until smooth.
Taste and adjust seasonings if desired.
Pour on your favorite salad or spread on your favorite sandwich.
Refrigerate leftover dressing in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

That’s literally it!

Ways to Use Russian Dressing

Once you make my vegan Russian dressing, you may want to put it on everything. But here’s a few ideas on what you *could* use it on:

As a sandwich spread for any sandwich, but I highly recommend it on a reuben made with my vegan pastrami (not that I’m biased or anything, no that would be wrong).
Drizzled over a chopped salad, especially with added chickpeas or white beans
In a lettuce wrap with avocado, roasted chickpeas, and whatever raw veggies you like
As a dip for baked or air-fried potato wedges, or as a dip for any other veggie
Similarly, use it as a topping for a baked potato or some steamed veggies like cauliflower and broccoli

More Vegan Sauces

Making unique vegan sauces is honestly a game change for any plant-based diet. Put a good sauce on anything and it’s usually infinitely better.

Try one of my favorite sauces like:

And if you're looking for more tofu dishes, check out this post I made with all my best tofu recipes.

Anything Else?

As always, I hope you love this recipe--I know I do, and Mr. Zardyplants does too.

This vegan Russian dressing is:

Tangy
Sweet n’ salty
Cool
Light
Creamy
Thick
Fresh
And delicious on any sandwich, wrap, salad, on a baked potato or served on the side as a dipping sauce!

Let me know in the comments below if you make this recipe or tag me @Zardyplants on Instagram so I can see your beautiful recreations! If you tag me on IG, I will share your post in my stories :)

Also, one quick request: if you love how this recipe looks or tastes, please leave me a 5-star rating and a nice comment–ratings help more people find my recipes which helps me keep providing them! Thank you!

<3 Liz

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