Classic Caesar Salad has a rich and creamy dressing and super simple homemade croutons. The flavor can’t be beat! Get excited about salad again!
Caesar salad has always been a favorite. Despite that fact, we just never loved green salad. We know, it’s super healthy and probably a good idea to eat more of it, but so many salads are just bland and not overly exciting. Luckily, Caesar salad is one we could always get excited about when eating out! There’s something about that rich and creamy dressing with crispy croutons and parmesan cheese – yum! You’re going to love it!
Can I add chicken to caesar salad?
Absolutely! We love a good chicken caesar salad, and you have so many options for what chicken to use! You can buy pre-cooked chicken that is ready to throw into a salad, cook up a chicken breast, use leftover chicken, or even shred a rotisserie chicken!
Parmesan Cheese:
You can either freshly shred or grate some parmesan cheese or buy the pre-shredded or pre-grated parmesan from the refrigerator section in your local grocery store. You want to avoid the powdered or shelf-stable parmesan cheeses as they are low quality with several additives.
Can I use store-bought caesar salad dressing?
You can always use store bought in a pinch, but nothing tastes quite like freshly made caesar salad dressing. If you plan to use store-bought dressing, this recipe will need 2 cups of it.
Where are the eggs?
We know a lot of people are squeamish over raw eggs, so we developed this recipe without them to give you all one less thing to worry about.
Anchovies:
Anchovies are a classic ingredient in caesar salad dressing, and are completely necessary. If you don’t want to deal with those teeny filets, go ahead and substitute with 2 tablespoons of anchovy paste.
Make Ahead Instructions:
You really want to make this dressing the day of serving. It is best fresh, though it can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Store in the fridge until ready to use. The croutons, however, could be made 2-3 days ahead of time. Just keep them stored in a zip-top bag until ready to use.
Storage Instructions:
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for approximately 3 days. How long your salad stays fresh will largely depend on how fresh your romaine and dressing ingredients were. The croutons will start to soften the longer it is in the fridge.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other delicious salad recipes:
Mustard flavor or flavor in general was way too strong and overpowering.
Fantastic and delicious recipe! I made this last night with only two adjustments. I used anchovy paste and didn’t add the extra salt. I shredded fresh Parmesan cheese. My husband and I agreed it was the best we ever had! Thank you for all these delicious recipes!
Absolutely delicious!!!! All of Rachel’s recipes are the best!! You can count on that!!
Delicious
I’ve never left a review on a food page but I made your Caesar salad tonight and OMG it was fantastic!
The recipe was outstanding. Since I am not a big fan of anchovies, I used the liquid from the can and it worked out very well.
Instead of a food processor I place the ingredients in a small jar & shake, easier clean up!
looks delicious