Vegan Avocado Basil Dressing

Vegan Avocado Basil Dressing 🌱This dressing has it all. Creamy, citrusy, and slightly sweet with the perfect herbal balance of basil and richness of avocado.

My hubby John and I have a favorite local cafe we enjoy for a quick lunch. We always share a veggie sandwich & side salad which comes with a fantastic creamy basil dressing. I wanted to try to create an oil-free version of their dressing and boy did I come close. The flavor was spot-on, but it just wasn’t quite as creamy. So I decided to throw in some avocado. Wowza!

This zesty creamy dressing will wake up any salad!

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The avocado made the dressing rich and creamy. And the color. . . gorgeous!

I love pouring a dollop of this vegan avocado basil dressing on salads and roasted veggies. Try it on our Vegan Roasted Root Veggies!

Since this recipe includes fresh avocado, you will want to prepare it right before serving. You can combine all the other ingredients in advance, but the avocado should be added at the last moment. Only make enough dressing for one day, as it will likely discolor after a few hours.

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HOW TO PICK A PERFECTLY RIPE AVOCADO

So, you’re in the produce section at the grocery store and you need avocados to make vegan avocado basil dressing. How do you go about choosing which ones to buy when they all look pretty much the same?

1. Select your avocados based on when you plan on making the dressing. If you want to prepare it the same day, choose ripe (not over-ripe) avocados. A ripe avocado will be fairly firm, but will yield to light pressure. The skin will be snug to the fruit, not brittle or pulled away. A perfectly ripe avocado will be neither hard nor mushy.
2. My husband always checks to see that the stem is still intact on the avocados he buys. If it has been removed, the avo will tend to over-ripen from the top, so he only buys the ones with the stems.
3. There’s a fine line between ripe and over-ripe and you’ll know it when you cut into an avo. One of the first signs of it being too ripe is the color of the flesh. Once those brown spots show up, it’s too late. Another way to check if it’s over ripe is by smell. An acrid or sour smell is a sure sign that you won’t be using that avocado.
4. If you don’t plan on using your avocados the day you buy them, it’s better to error on the side of caution and choose firmer ones. If you have ripe avos that you won’t use the same day, put them in the fridge. It will slow down the ripening process and might give you a few extra days to use them.

🌱If you enjoy this recipe, be sure to check out my recipe for Chilled Avocado Cucumber Soup!