Crunchy Romaine, garlicky croutons, and shredded chicken are tossed with tangy Caesar dressing in this easy homemade recipe. Chicken Caesar salad is perfect for packing for lunch or enjoying as a light dinner.
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“Made the caesar salad according to recipe, except I used a rotisserie chicken to save time. It is delicious. The dressing is perfect, just the way it should be.” -Greta, FoodieCrush reader
The Chicken Caesar Salad I Never Tire Of
Made with minimal ingredients — just its signature dressing, lettuce, croutons, and Parm — the Caesar salad has got to one of the top 3 salads of all time.
It’s got everything you could want in a salad, after all. The perfect combination of creamy and crunchy textures, a bold tangy, savory flavor, and those crispy croutons. Add in shredded chicken and you’ve got yourself a lunch or dinner salad that everyone goes gaga for!
My chicken Caesar salad recipe is made totally from scratch with a simple blender Caesar dressing that I could happily slurp up with a spoon. You can prep the dressing and chicken a few days in advance so you can make Caesar salads on the fly during the week.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tip: How to Cook and Season the Chicken
My thing lately has been cooking a whole chicken or chicken breasts on Sunday or Monday to eat throughout the week. I’ve grilled it (this is my secret to making it THE BEST), put it on the rotisserie (yes! you can rotisserie at home) and popped it in the crock pot to stew, (seriously, this recipe is so SO easy) then shred the meat to be used for just about anything.
My latest chicken cooking foray has been with my Instant Pot, where it takes just 8 minutes, yes, I said 8 MINUTES, to cook an incredible tasting bounty of chicken breasts for whatever your heart desires.
Generally speaking, though, you can use just about any cooked chicken you like for making this homemade chicken Caesar salad. Some options are:
The Other Key Ingredients You’ll Need
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Caesar dressing — The bottled stuff doesn’t hold a candle to homemade Caesar salad dressing. My version uses anchovies to create that tangy umami flavor that Caesar salad is known for, plus coddled eggs to add richness and creaminess.
- Croutons — Skip the tooth-cracking, bland store-bought croutons and make your own with fresh bread cubes and plenty of garlic.
- Lettuce — Choose a sturdy romaine lettuce as your main crunch. I prefer to buy romaine hearts. Then I don’t mess around with limp outer leaves and instead get to the “heart” of the matter. (Yes, I just did do that bad pun.)
- Cucumber — Not a traditional ingredient, I admit, but I love the crunch that cucumber adds.
- Parmesan — Freshly grated, please!
How to Make a Caesar Salad with Chicken
- Cook the chicken as desired. I’ve laid out your (many) options above. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and call it good.
- Toast the croutons. Making homemade croutons is seriously easy, and requires just 20 minutes or so of planning ahead.
- Coddle the eggs so they’re safe to eat “raw.” You can either separate the yolks from the whites and microwave on high for about 12 seconds OR you can submerge the eggs in boiling water (off the heat) for 30 seconds, then place in an ice bath to prevent further cooking.
- Blend together the dressing. The Caesar dressing takes less than a minute to whiz up in a blender. Stream in the olive oil last to emulsify the dressing and make it super creamy.
- Toss everything together. My recipe makes 8 generous servings. Either toss the salad now to enjoy right away, or store things separately in the fridge to eat throughout the week.
Heidi’s Tip: Did you know your favorite salad transforms seamlessly into a Chicken Caesar Salad Wrap? If you love Caesar dressing, you have to make this wrap next!
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Caesar Dressing
- 2 large eggs , coddled (directions below)
- 1 clove garlic , pressed
- 4 anchovy filets in oil , roughly chopped, or 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dry mustard
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salad
- 10 cups romaine lettuce , chopped into ½ inch pieces (about 2 heads of romaine)
- 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast* (see options below)
- 1 cucumber , sliced into coins
- 1 cup croutons
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Try one of these methods for coddling eggs. 1) Separate the yolks from the whites and save the whites for another use. Place the egg yolks in a microwave safe dish and microwave on HIGH for about 12 seconds. Remove and whisk. Or, 2) Placing whole eggs in shell into warm water. Boil enough water in a pan to cover eggs completely. Immerse the eggs in the boiling water with a slotted spoon then remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 30 seconds, then plunge into cold water to prevent further cooking. Divide the yolks from the whites.
- Place the eggs in a blender. Add the pressed garlic, anchovy filets or paste, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, salt and pepper to the blender. Blend on high until combined. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the blender until the dressing is emulsified. Pour into a small jar and set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
- In a large bowl, add the romaine lettuce, chicken breast and cucumber. Add about ⅔ of the dressing and toss to coat. Add the croutons and Parmesan cheese, toss lightly and season with more salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- The Best Baked Chicken Breasts
- Instant Pot Chicken Breasts (From Fresh Or Frozen)
- Juicy Roast Chicken
- How to Make a Great Rotisserie Chicken
- Slow Cooker Whole Chicken
- Simple Poached Chicken
- Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Nutrition
FAQs
Unless you’re allergic to anchovies, I suggest you give them a try. They give the salad an incredibly, mellow salty umami flavoring you won’t get any other way, and they do not leave the dressing tasting like fish. I’m just saying, give them a try. It’s worth it.
If you absolutely cannot fathom the idea of anchovies, double the amount of Worcestershire sauce instead.
Definitely! I make the dressing ahead and keep it in the refrigerator for weeks. Or until it’s all gone. And obviously at our house, it’s usually the latter.
It’s simply an egg that’s been immersed in boiling water just long enough to very gently cook it.
I feel comfortable using regular eggs in this recipe, but you can use pasteurized eggs, which have been processed in such a way that any harmful bacteria has been killed.
If you can’t do coddled eggs, try this Caesar salad dressing made with mayonnaise and sour cream instead.
More Chicken Salad Recipe Ideas That Make a Meal
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Joan
A friend’s mom made the most glorious dressing using coddled eggs. This was many years ago and unfortunately I don’t have the recipe. Just wondering why, in this recipe, you instruct to separate the yolks from the whites after coddling? Thanks.
Hi Joan, you only use the egg yolks in this salad dressing because they are the emulsifiers.
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I was searching salad recipe on the internet and discover your blog. I am a big fan of chicken. I should try this tonight. This is the most excellent chicken Caesar salad I have eternally had. Well Congrats on having such healthy control site! It has excellent looks and encloses useful content as well. We are as well a web entry where students get the help with the educational writing by opting for our assignment help online and can obtain a fine written assignment.
Zuleika Dobson
Despite the adulation of your friends, fans, assorted others, your cooking may pass muster but your spelling reveals an ignorance that is appalling. An apostrophe is a sign of a missing letter. In the word–it’s–that is, i, t, apostrophe, s, the apostrophe replaces the letter ‘i’. Yes. It’s is a contraction. Do you know what contraction means? Two words, combined into one. It is —> it’s. Get it? It’s = it is. The word, its, is a possessive pronoun. As in: It’s a terrible thing to hear a cat yowl when someone steps on its tail. Get it? People used to get it before they completed grade school. Self-esteem and pride are no excuse for ignorance and the ability to shred lettuce..
Connie faithful followers
You should have never given this reply credit by posting it on your lovely website
You could have responded to this person with a duly noted remark and make sure your contractions are all correct in the future
Alison
WTAF? Are you always this mean? How judgmental. Many of the best chefs have learning disabilities. They would be the first to tell you that. Perhaps you should just sit in your own kitchen and compose recipes all by your lonesome. I’m guessing you already do that based on your hostile post, you must not have any friends.
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Chicken caesar salad is looking very tasty. Really this recipe is one of my favorite with chicken.I can’t wait to make it now.Thanks for sharing.keep try different recipes with chicken. Install hip4u app on your ios to get paid apps for free.Hip4u is very popular for customizing ios devices.you can also download many apps related to recipes and you can try it on your own by seeing them.
Ninestars
Thanks for sharing.keep try different recipes not with chicken only
Regina D. Allen
Chicken Caesar and salad recipe is my favorite .Thanks for sharing this post with us here .
Jennifer
Thanks you very much for this delicious and healthy food.
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Laura | Tutti Dolci
Now this is a fine looking caesar salad! I’m also totally intrigued by those cauliflower wraps – great lunch idea too!
Kari
Sometimes all you need is a classic, simple, chicken Cesar!
Kari
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Ruth
This salad dressing looks so good that I would love to try it sometime!
Danae @ Recipe Runner
I love that your daughter ordered the Caesar salad with chicken instead of the hot dog, the girl’s got good taste! This seriously looks like one of the best chicken Caesar salads and your dressing sounds fantastic!
Greta Ebersole
Made the caesar salad according to recipe, except I used a rotisserie chicken to save time. It is delicious. The dressing is perfect, just the way it should be. I don’t want to add anything else so as not to disturb the anchovy flavor. Everyone loved it.
Thank you, Heidi. As usual a great recipe.
Yuri
Cesar salad dressing yum. Our family recipe is almost identical except that we funk it up a tablespoon of horse radish (available at any deli counter) into the dressing mixture. A wonderful tang. Try it, you’ll love it
That sounds like such a unique twist. I’ll totally give it a try!