Vegan Spinach Salad with Avocado Ranch and Chickpea Bacon

This is what I did with yesterday's bacon roasted chickpeas. Most of them anyway. Did I mention how addictive that stuff is? Perfect snack material, but as you can see from this post, perfect meal material as well.

I love a good meal salad. Interestingly, meal salads can be one the toughest items to find vegan and vegetarian versions of when dining out. A spinach salad sounds like a great vegan meal in theory, but once you take away the ranch dressing, bacon, boiled egg and cheese, you're left with a lonely plate of plain spinach. (Note: I've tried eating platefuls of plain, raw spinach lately in an effort to get more iron into my blood. Not good.)

I realized recently that I've probably never had a classic spinach salad. I decided it was time to put a vegan version together. Yesterday's chickpea bacon seemed perfect, because in addition to giving you baconoy flavor, it adds some bulk, making this salad into an actual meal. I also added optional tofu, which ups the nutrition and fullness factors even more, and replaces the boiled egg you'd find in most spinach salads. Finally, avocado ranch...which I'm sure you can guess is absolutely rich and satisfying. Another option would be to try this with my silken tofu ranch, and maybe even some sliced avocado on top, which would make this a completely-over-the-top-super-filling-meal-of-a-salad. Whew!

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Vegan Spinach Salad with Avocado Ranch and Chickpea Bacon

This meal-worthy vegan spinach salad has pan-fried lemon tofu, creamy avocado ranch and crispy bacon roasted chickpeas.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Author Alissa

Ingredients

For the Avocado Ranch

• 1 ripe avocado
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp. unflavored soy or almond milk
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice about 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp. onion powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper

For the Lemon Tofu (Optional)

• 1 lb. extra firm tofu drained and pressed at least 30 minutes
• ½ tbsp. olive oil
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice about 1 lemon
• dash salt
• dash pepper

For the Spinach Salads

• 8 cups baby spinach
• 1 batch bacon roasted chickpeas
• 2 scallions chopped

Instructions

Make the Avocado Ranch

1. Place avocado in food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
2. Add garlic, parsley and chives. Pulse a few times to blend.
3. Add milk, lemon juice, vinegar, onion powder, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.Add a few dashes more of milk and blend again if the mixture seems too thick.

Make the Lemon Tofu

1. Cut tofu into ½ inch thick slabs.
2. Coat a large skillet with olive oil and place over medium-high heat. Arrange tofu slabs in a single layer. Cook about 5 minutes, until lightly browned on bottoms.
3. Flip and cook about 5 minutes on opposite sides, until lightly browned.
4. Drizzle lemon juice over tofu and cook about 1 minute, until liquid has evaporated.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Assemble the Spinach Salads

1. Divide spinach on plates. Top with tofu, bacon roasted chickpeas, scallions and avocado ranch.