Follow this relatively easy recipe to make the Ultimate Caesar Salad including creamy Caesar dressing and homemade, crunchy croutons!
Caesar Salad
I mean honestly, who doesn’t LOVE a good Caesar salad? From your local pizza joint to the 5-star downtown restaurant, you’d be hard pressed to find a more popular salad here in the U.S. Other salads that come to mind might be the Waldorf, Cobb or Wedge, but for us the Caesar reigns supreme!
Surprisingly, the Caesar salad was not created in Italy. It was, however, created by an Italian chef in Tijuana, Mexico back in 1924. Caesar Cardini is credited with the creation of this iconic dish. He had relocated his restaurant business to Tijuana in order to escape the constraints of prohibition. Like many other famous dishes, the Caesar salad was created out of pure necessity. Because his restaurant had just finished up an extremely busy weekend and was running low on ingredients, he was forced to throw a few things together and voila! The Caesar Salad was born.
Fun fact: you can still visit the original Caesar’s restaurant in Tijuana and see the whole thing made table-side, just like it’s always been. The restaurant is currently operating with Baja Med celebrity chef Javier Plascencia running the kitchen.
Tools & Utensils
For this cook, you’ll need access to the following:
- Cutting Board
- Chef’s Knife
- Small Sauce Pan or Sauté Pan
- Small Mixing Bowl
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Immersion Blender, optional
- Parchment Paper or Silpat
- 1/2 Sheet Pan
Production Notes
Side Dishes & Food Pairings
- Pasta (Try our fab Bolognese recipe!)
- Pizza, duh!
- Cioppino
- Risotto
- Grilled/Blackened Seafood
- Rotisserie Chicken
Drink Pairings
- Dry, light to medium bodied white wines like
- Pinot Grigio
- Pinot Blanc
- Prosecco
- Chardonnay/Chablis
- Viognier
- Cocktails
- Aperol Spritz
- Dirty Vodka Martini
- Grapefruit Paloma
- Beer
- Peroni
- Birra Moretti
Use Duke’s Mayonnaise!
I prefer Dukes Mayonnaise over any mayonnaise for everything! Because it’s creamy & tangy and perfectly balanced, I truly feel like Duke’s is the perfect Mayo. Also, it seems like I have to opt for the store-bought Mayo because so many friends/clients seem to be pregnant these days! Eliminating the raw egg-yolk component makes the dish a much safer and more stable option.
Storage & Leftovers
Freshly made Caesar dressing will hold for up to 2 weeks in the fridge. Some creative uses for leftover dressing include serving it with:
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Steamed Carrots
- Heirloom Tomato & Cucumber Salad
- As a Chicken or Pork Marinade (it’s awesome!)
The Recipe
Ultimate Caesar Salad Recipe w/ Crispy Croutons
Follow this relatively easy recipe to make the Ultimate Caesar Salad including creamy Caesar dressing and homemade, crunchy croutons.
Ingredients
- *** For the Dressing ***
- 1/2 Cup Duke's Mayonnaise
- 1 tsp Anchovy Paste (or 2 anchovies, adjust for personal preference)
- 1 tsp Whole Grain Mustard (HEB Organics is our fave)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tsp Caper Brine
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder or 1 Clove Fresh Garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 1/2 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp. Water, to thin out the dressing
- Kosher Salt, to taste
- *** For the Crouton ****
- 6 Cups of Bread (Ciabatta, French, Baguette, etc.), cut into bit size pieces
- 4 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Dried Parsley
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
- 3/4 tsp Sweet Smoked Paprika
- *** For the Salad ***
- 3 Heads of Romaine Lettuce, Rough Chopped
- 1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees.
- Step 2 Next, Line a large baking sheet w/ Parchment Paper. Add the garlic powder, dried parsley, paprika and salt into the melted butter. On the sheet pan, toss the bread with the butter mixture until evenly distributed. Spread croutons evenly across the sheet pan. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the edges. Season with salt and pepper as needed. Set aside and let cool.
- Step 3 To make the dressing, combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir together. Season to taste.
- Step 4 To build the salad, in a large bowl, toss the romaine lettuce with 1/3 cup of the Caesar dressing and half of the Parmesan cheese and croutons. Add more dressing as needed and season to taste with salt.
- Step 5 Once combined, top with remaining Parmesan, croutons and freshly cracked black pepper.
- Step 6 If desired, add protein on top of salad.
About the Author
Lauren is a classically trained, professional chef. A culinary school graduate, she has spent time working organic farms in the Italian countryside and was the pastry/sous chef at a high profile restaurant in Dallas prior to becoming a full-time personal chef. Her cooking style is often referred to as “rustic.” Being a personal chef, she is not bound by a single type of cuisine and has had the opportunity to experiment with hundreds of regional recipes from all over the world.
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