cobb salad with serving spoons and water glass

This easy vegan Cobb salad recipe features the best tangy red wine vinaigrette dressing and salty, smoky, marinated tempeh bacon! With loads of chopped veggies, it’s a great nutrient-packed lunch or dinner.


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I LOVE an entrée salad. Eat More Plants Cookbook has a ton of ‘em. In my opinion, there is nothing better than tucking into a big bowl of veggies that is packed with texture AND flavour. Something salty, something sweet, something creamy AND something crunchy. So creating vegan salad recipes that actually fill you (me!) up is a way of life for me.

And this easy vegan Cobb salad, which takes about 20 minutes of hands on time, fits the bill to a T. The dietitian in me says that if you truly want a salad to be a meal, you have to add some healthy fats and some plant-based protein.

It’s a common slip up I see when people are starting to eat more plant-based meals…and I had to learn it too when I went plant-based. The instinct is to just take out the animal products, but it’s gonna leave you hangry and craving carbs if you don’t replace them with yummy plant alternatives rich in protein + fat.

Which is why I’ve got a super yummy tempeh bacon in this otherwise pretty classic vegan Cobb. I wanted to keep a lot of the core Cobb salad ingredients, but I simplified the protein so this salad feels weeknight-ready and you don’t have to make 3 different types of vegan proteins for a single dish! Honestly, I’m just too lazy for that.

A healthy vegan Cobb salad that’s weeknight friendly? Sign me up.

There are a lot of different takes on vegan ‘bacon’. Some are made with mushroom, others are made from coconut…which honestly, I don’t love. While I love coconut itself, I kinda hate it when all my vegan foods taste vaguely of coconut. For example, I don’t like coconut ice cream…I’ll take cashew-based anyday! 

But tempeh is actually kinda “meaty” in texture, nutrition and flavour and doesn’t need too much fussing. Also, I know that tempeh bacon recipes often use liquid smoke but I find that it ends up just sitting in my pantry unloved. So I am using my spice cabinet instead: smoked paprika and cumin make a smoky/earthy pairing that is super delicious.

sliced tempeh, tomatoes, romaine lettuce and avocado

Just some tips + tricks + substitutions from my home kitchen

  • The longer you let the tempeh marinate, the more flavourful it will be! If you have to, go for just 15 minutes but an hour is ideal. To minimize the wait – and make the tempeh even more flavourful! – whip up the marinade and let tempeh sit in the fridge overnight so it’s ready after work. 
  • You can absolutely make this salad ahead, or use it for meal prep. It will keep very well with the dressing stored separately for a few days and fully dressed, for a day or two. 
  • Want to take it to a picnic? Just chop everything up and bring the dressing separately.
  • Allergic to soy? Try marinating ½ pound of sliced shitake mushrooms and panfry!
  • Try this vegan Cobb with a different dressing! If you like ranch, I have a delicious avocado ranch dressing, or go bold with my creamy balsamic dressing.
  • Don’t like blue cheese? I don’t either, ha! So my fave vegan cheese to use is a feta-style like Violife or semi-firm style like Spread Em Kitchen.
  • Want to make this salad even easier? Just buy pre-marinated tempeh bacon and fry it up as instructed…I won’t tell!

Looking for more healthy vegan main dish salads?

cobb salad with serving spoons and water glass

Vegan Cobb Salad with The BEST Dressing

4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Marinating Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
This easy vegan Cobb salad recipe features the best tangy red wine vinaigrette dressing and salty, smoky, marinated tempeh bacon! With loads of chopped veggies, it's a great nutrient-packed lunch or dinner.
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Ingredients

Cobb Salad with Tempeh Bacon

  • 2 hearts of romaine, or one head of romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 2 cups diced cucumber
  • 1 ½ cups thawed frozen corn
  • 2 small tomatoes, deseeded and diced
  • 1 cup crumbly cheese, I like Millsie vegan Greek-style!
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • ¼ cup minced chives
  • 1 batch tempeh bacon, marinated for at least 15 min
  • avocado or extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking tempeh bacon

Red Wine Vinaigrette

  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ¼ cup avocado or extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 large clove garlic, micrograted
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • freshly cracked pepper
Imperial – Metric

Instructions 

Tempeh 'Bacon'

  • When ready to cook, heat avocado oil in a nonstick skillet on medium heat. Remove the tempeh from the marinade and fry until golden brown on both sides, about 2-4 minutes a side. Remove from heat.

Red wine vinaigrette

  • In a jam jar, shake up red wine vinegar, oil, Dijon, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Salad Assembly

  • In a medium bowl, toss romaine with half of the dressing. Arrange on platter.
  • Top with cucumber, corn, tomatoes, cheese, tempeh and avocado. Sprinkle over chives and remaining dressing and serve.

Notes

Vegan Cobb Low FODMAP modifications

I wanted to design this vegan Cobb salad as a lower FODMAP recipe so that you didn’t need to do a lot of swapping to make this meal fit a low FODMAP vegan eating pattern. Here’s what you need to do:
  • skip the garlic powder in the marinade and the garlic from the dressing
  • if you’ve got it, use a low FODMAP garlic infused olive oil for the dressing to add more flavour (optional!)
  • ensure you use a starch-based vegan cheese without a lot of pea protein like Violife
  • reduce avocado to 1/8 avocado per serving or omit
  • FYI for dairy eaters: 40g of most cheeses, including blue cheese 
Cuisine: American
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Salad
Author: Desiree Nielsen, RD

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