Chicken Caesar Salad
The real one. Egg yolk, anchovy, garlic, olive oil, parmesan, lemon. Crisp romaine, croutons, grilled chicken. Don't skip the anchovy.
Ingredients
- Boneless skinless chicken breast: 280 g (10 oz / about 2 small)
- Olive oil: 1 tbsp (for cooking chicken)
- Romaine lettuce: 2 hearts, chopped or torn into bite-size pieces
- Parmigiano Reggiano: 50 g (1/2 cup grated, plus more to finish)
- Crusty bread: 100 g (about 3 cups), torn into rough 2 cm pieces
- Olive oil for croutons: 2 tbsp
- Anchovy fillets: 4 (or 2 tsp anchovy paste)
- Garlic: 2 cloves
- Egg yolk: 1 large (use a fresh, high-quality egg)
- Lemon juice: 2 tbsp (about 1 lemon)
- Dijon mustard: 1 tsp
- Worcestershire sauce: 1 tsp
- Extra-virgin olive oil: 80 g (about 1/3 cup)
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- 1
Make the croutons: heat oven to 200°C (400°F). Toss bread pieces with 2 tbsp olive oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper. Spread on a sheet pan and bake 8-10 minutes until golden and crisp. Set aside.
- 2
Pound chicken to even thickness (about 1.5 cm / 1/2 inch). Season generously with salt and pepper.
- 3
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Cook chicken 4-5 minutes per side until 74°C (165°F) internal. Rest 5 minutes, then slice against the grain.
- 4
Make the dressing: on a cutting board, mince anchovies and garlic together, then mash into a paste with the side of your knife (or a mortar and pestle). Scrape into a bowl.
- 5
Whisk in egg yolk, lemon juice, Dijon, and Worcestershire.
- 6
Slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking constantly to emulsify. The dressing should thicken and turn pale and creamy.
- 7
Whisk in 30 g (1/3 cup) of the grated parmesan. Taste — it should be punchy. Add salt only if needed (anchovies bring a lot of salt) and plenty of cracked pepper.
- 8
Toss romaine with about 2/3 of the dressing in a large bowl until every leaf is coated.
- 9
Plate the salad. Top with sliced chicken, croutons, the rest of the parmesan grated over the top, and a final drizzle of dressing. Crack pepper to finish.
Notes
Don't skip the anchovy. You won't taste fish — you'll taste umami. It's what separates real Caesar from sad bagged-salad Caesar. Use the freshest egg you can find since the yolk is technically raw. If raw eggs make you nervous, pasteurized eggs in the shell exist.
Why This Works
This is the actual dressing. Egg yolk emulsified with olive oil makes it rich and clingy. Anchovies and garlic carry the umami. Parmesan stirred into the dressing thickens it; more grated on top finishes the dish. Lemon and Worcestershire sharpen everything.
If your idea of Caesar comes from a bottle labeled “Caesar dressing,” this will not taste like that. It tastes better.
The Method
Mince the anchovies and garlic to a paste. Either with the flat side of your knife on a cutting board, or in a mortar and pestle. You want them dissolved into the dressing, not in chunks.
Stream the oil in slowly. This is mayonnaise technique. Pour while whisking, in a thin stream. If it breaks (looks oily and separated), whisk in a teaspoon of cold water — usually fixes it.
Toss the lettuce in a big bowl. Caesar wants the dressing on every leaf, not pooling at the bottom. A bowl twice the size of what you think you need.
Croutons are non-negotiable. Real torn-bread croutons baked with olive oil, not the cardboard cubes from a bag. They take 10 minutes and they make the salad.
Variations
- Steak Caesar: swap chicken for sliced grilled flank or skirt steak
- Shrimp Caesar: 8-10 grilled shrimp per portion
- Anchovy on top: leave 2 anchovy fillets whole and lay them across the finished salad — controversial but excellent
- Caesar wrap: chop everything fine, roll in a flour tortilla — the “Caesar wrap” is just a chopped Caesar in a tortilla
Make-Ahead Notes
Cook the chicken up to 3 days ahead. Make the dressing up to 3 days ahead — it actually improves overnight. Croutons keep 4-5 days at room temp in a paper bag (plastic makes them soggy). Don’t dress the salad until you’re eating; romaine wilts in dressing within an hour.