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Caesar Salad & Chicken Caesar Salad

Creamy anchovy, Parmesan & garlic dressing over leaves & crunchy croutons makes a classic Caesar Salad. Add tender chicken for a knockout main course salad.
Course Main Course, Side Dish, Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword caesar salad
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 2 people
Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

For the Croutons:

  • 1 slice good crusty bread e.g. sourdough cut into 1-2 cm cubes
  • 1-2 cloves garlic finely grated or chopped
  • black pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp olive oil (or oil from the tin of anchovies) see below

For the Caesar Dressing:

  • 75 g mayonnaise
  • 75 g natural yogurt
  • 1 small tin anchovies in olive oil (approx 30g of anchovies when drained) drained & roughly chopped, oil reserved
  • 1-2 cloves garlic finely grated or chopped
  • 25 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
  • black pepper to taste

For the Salad:

  • 1 head Romaine lettuce torn into large pieces
  • 1 third of a large cucumber cut lengthways, then sliced
  • 1 small onion, yellow or red halved then sliced thinly
  • 2 tbsp chopped herbs e.g. parsley, chives
  • 30 g white anchovies, drained optional
  • 20 g Parmesan cheese, shaved use a potato peeler to shave the Parmesan
  • 3 rashers smoked streaky bacon or pancetta cooked until crisp, then broken into pieces or crumbled

For Chicken Caesar Salad

  • 2 chicken breasts, freshly cooked & rested see Recipe Notes for alternative

Instructions

For the Croutons:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C with a shallow baking tray inside.

  2. Put the cubed bread into a bowl and sprinkle with the garlic, black pepper and the olive oil. Mix so that each cube is covered in seasoning and oil (using your hands is best).

  3. Put the bread cubes on the preheated baking tray in a single layer and put in the hot oven. Bake until the croutons are golden and crunchy (approx 10 min), turning occasionally and making sure they don't burn. Remove from the oven and set aside.

For the Caesar Dressing:

  1. Put all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or in a suitable container if using a stick blender.

    IMPORTANT: you may wish to start with half the garlic and half the anchovies, adding more later to suit your own taste.

  2. Blend the ingredients until you have a relatively smooth dressing. Taste, then add more garlic, anchovy, seasoning etc. if needed. Set aside when the dressing is to your liking.

For the Salad:

  1. Put the lettuce, cucumber, onion and half the herbs in a large bowl. Pour over approximately half the Caesar Dressing and toss the salad. Divide the salad between two bowls.

  2. Sprinkle over the white anchovies if using, half the shaved Parmesan, half the croutons and half the bacon.

  3. FOR CAESAR SALAD without CHICKEN

    Drizzle with the remaining dressing then top with the rest of the shaved Parmesan, the croutons, the bacon and the remaining herbs.

    FOR CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD

    Lay the slices of chicken over the salads, drizzle with the remaining dressing then top with the rest of the shaved Parmesan, the croutons, the bacon and the remaining herbs.

Recipe Notes

Chicken Caesar Salad with Chicken Wings instead of the sliced chicken breast, roast 3-5 free range chicken wings per person and serve on the side. You may wish to make extra dressing for dipping!