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Home » Recipes » Salads

Grilled Romaine with Vegan Ranch

Published: Jul 15, 2021 by Lexi

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We love this grilled romaine salad topped with charred corn, crispy chickpeas, avocado, tomatoes and homemade vegan ranch dressing. Grilled lettuce might sound odd, but the flame transforms this often-boring veggie into something totally new we think you'll love!

Overhead view of grilled romaine with corn, tomatoes, and vegan ranch dressing.
Jump to:
  • 🥬 Why We Love This Recipe
  • 🥗 Ingredients
  • 📋 Ingredient Notes
  • 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
  • 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
  • 🍽 Related Recipes
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Reviews

🥬 Why We Love This Recipe

  • Unique way to serve romaine: Grilling romaine really elevates a normally boring ingredient, giving it additional flavor and texture. I know it sounds strange, but it's totally delicious! As someone that almost never uses romaine in regular salads, I'm absolutely hooked on this grilled romaine.
  • Homemade dressing: Homemade vegan ranch is pretty easy to whip up with just a few basic ingredients, and it tastes much fresher than the bottled stuff. You can also use it as a dip for veggies, on other salads or even on pizza!
  • Customizable: Grilled romaine makes for a great (and sturdy) platform for toppings, so feel free to take our recipe as a suggestion and top the romaine with whatever you like best!

🥗 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this grilled romaine salad with vegan ranch:

Overhead picture of the ingredients in this salad: romaine, corn, cherry tomatoes, crispy chickpeas, vegan ranch dressing.
If you're feeling lazy, you can use bottled ranch instead of our homemade version.

📋 Ingredient Notes

  • Romaine lettuce: Other hearty lettuces, like radicchio or endive, with a strong core and thicker leaves, would also grill up well and add some nice colors to a grilled salad. However, we chose romaine for it's grill-ability and size, which helps to hold a lot of toppings.
  • Homemade vegan ranch: If you're feeling lazy, you can sub out for regular store-bought ranch, but it won't taste as good. We used a cashew-based dairy free yogurt, but any type will do. You could even sub for regular yogurt if you don't have a dairy allergy.
  • Crispy chickpeas: This is a key ingredient as they add a much-needed crunch to our salad. You can probably find these in the snack section of your grocery store, or you can make them from scratch.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

PREP: Preheat your grill to medium.

(1) Brush both sides of the romaine halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

(2) Grill romaine for about 5 minutes per side, watching carefully, until the lettuce is slightly charred. Grill the corn at the same time. You can wrap the corn in foil or leave it unwrapped - just be sure to watch it carefully.

Romaine being prepped and then placed on the grill alongside corn.
We chose to wrap our corn in foil - keep an eye on it if you don't. It can burn easily.

(3) Whisk or blend all of the dressing ingredients together until combined.

Overhead view of dressing ingredients being whisked together.

(4) Lay grilled romaine halves cut-side up on a serving platter and top with grilled corn, diced avocado, cherry tomatoes, crispy chickpeas and vegan ranch dressing.

Overhead view of grilled romaine leaves plain, then with toppings, then with ranch dressing added.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

  • Grilling tips:
    • Preheat your grill to medium - this will be hot enough to char your leaves without wilting them.
    • We like taking 3-4 paper towels, spraying/lightly soaking them with canola oil, and rubbing them over the grates of the grill with a pair of tongs. This will help to prevent sticking. Y
    • our goal is to warm the romaine thoroughly while creating some charring on the leaves. This should take about 5 minutes per side. The outer leaves should be a bit crispy and browned.
  • Be sure to dry your romaine thoroughly after washing, as it can retain a lot of water. If it's too moist, it won't get super crispy.
  • Add-ons: We opted for corn, avocado, tomatoes, and some fresh herbs, but feel free to customize with your favorite grilled or fresh summer veggies. Just be sure to add a crunch element or else the textures can be too similar. Grilled zucchini, red onion, etc would all be great! This grilled romaine is also delicious served plain with the ranch.
  • Storage: this grilled romaine salad is definitely best served fresh. It will wilt and get soggy the longer it sits, so we recommend waiting to grill and add toppings until just before serving. Luckily, it only takes about 10 minutes to grill!
Overhead view of 4 heads of grilled romaine with crispy chickpeas, corn, tomatoes, and vegan ranch.

🍽 Related Recipes

  • Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with White Bean Salad
  • Grilled Barbecue Tofu
  • close up view of grilled tofu kebabs with vegetables on a platter with a bowl of peanut sauce.
    Grilled Tofu Kebabs with Peanut Sauce

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

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📖 Recipe

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Overhead view of grilled romaine with tomatoes and ranch dressing.

Grilled Romaine with Vegan Ranch


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  • Author: Lexi
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

Grilled Romaine salad, topped with charred corn, crispy chickpeas, avocado, tomatoes and vegan ranch dressing is the answer to your next summer BBQ. 


Ingredients

Salad: 

  • 2-4 heads of romaine, sliced in half lengthwise
  • 2 ears of corn, grilled, with kernels cut from the cob
  • 1 ripe avocado, diced
  • ¾ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • ½ cup crispy salted chickpeas 
  • Fresh herbs, chopped

Vegan Ranch:

  • 1 cup plain cashew (or other non-dairy) yogurt
  • 3 tbsp almond milk
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh chives
  • 1 ½ tbsp fresh parsley
  • 1 tbsp fresh dill


Instructions

  1. Preheat your grill to medium.
  2. Brush both sides of the romaine halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  3. Grill romaine for about 5 minutes per side, watching carefully, until the lettuce is slightly charred.
  4. Whisk or blend all of the dressing ingredients together until combined.
  5. Lay grilled romaine halves cut-side up on a serving platter and top with grilled corn, diced avocado, cherry tomatoes, crispy chickpeas and vegan ranch dressing. 

Notes

Grilling tips: (1) Preheat your grill to medium - this will be hot enough to char your leaves without wilting them, (2) we like taking 3-4 paper towels, spraying/lightly soaking them with canola oil, and rubbing them over the grates of the grill with a pair of tongs. This will help to prevent sticking. (3) Your goal is to warm the romaine thoroughly while creating some charring on the leaves. This should take about 5 minutes per side.

Be sure to dry your romaine thoroughly after washing, as it can retain a lot of water.

Add-ons: We opted for corn, avocado, tomatoes, and some fresh herbs, but feel free to customize with your favorite summer veggies. Just be sure to add a crunch element or else the textures can be too similar. We think diced cucumbers would work well.

  • Prep Time: 5
  • Cook Time: 10
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Grill
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 333
  • Sugar: 16.4 g
  • Sodium: 683.2 mg
  • Fat: 13.2 g
  • Carbohydrates: 50.9 g
  • Fiber: 15.7 g
  • Protein: 12.1 g

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #crowdedkitchen

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Lexi and Beth toasting with wine.

Hi, we're Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team from Michigan. The recipes you'll find here are a reflection of how we bring our family together around the dinner table despite various dietary differences.

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