This grilled chicken caesar salad is better than any restaurant! The chicken is extra-juicy and flavorful (thanks to a lemony garlic marinade and super hot grill) and it’s tossed with crisp romaine, craggily sourdough croutons, and a creamy lemony caesar dressing. It’s a classic for a reason!
Why I love it:
My go-to restaurant salad is almost always a chicken Caesar salad. Adventurous, I know. But I just can’t get enough of the thick, garlicky, tangy dressing, the cold crunchy romaine, and all of that salty parm. Grilled chicken makes it a complete meal and I get to pretend like it’s all totally healthy.
It’s the textures, I think, that keep me coming back. And that’s what I’ve played up in our own grilled chicken caesar salad recipe.
![grilled chicken caesar salad](https://www.withspice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/grilled-chicken-caesar-salad-683x1024.jpg)
Here are the highlights.
- Juicy grilled chicken breasts that are infused in a lemony garlic marinade. Butterflied chicken breasts soak up the most flavor and cook evenly on the grill.
- Super craggily croutons, where we tear the bread for extra rough edges that soak up the olive oil and get wonderfully crunchy in the oven.
- Homemade Caesar dressing with a ton of fresh lemon and high-quality oil-packed anchovies (just enough to add savory depth). We coddle the eggs in boiling water to add a thicker, richer mouthfeel to the dressing.
Note: this Caesar salad dressing does contain raw eggs. The minute in boiling water won’t pasteurize the raw eggs, it just helps denature the proteins so they emulsify the dressing more effectively. If you have health concerns, you can buy pasteurized eggs or pasteurize them at home before making the dressing.
grilled chicken Caesar salad ingredients:
- chicken breasts
- romaine
- parmesan
- lemons
- eggs
- dijon mustard
- anchovies
- worcestershire sauce
- garlic
- thyme
- red chile flakes
- sourdough
how to make a grilled chicken Caesar salad:
- Butterfly the chicken breasts and marinate for at least 20 minutes, and up to 2 hours.
- Make the croutons: tear the sourdough, toss with olive oil, and bake until crunchy (15- 20 minutes).
- Make the Caesar salad dressing in a blender or food processor.
- Grill the chicken, let rest a few minutes, then slice.
- Toss romaine with parmesan and some dressing.
- Add croutons and grilled chicken, and drizzle with more dressing.
- Serve, passing extra dressing and parmesan.
How to make the garlic paste:
If you’ve never mashed garlic into a paste, it’s a fantastic kitchen skill to learn!
We use it twice in this recipe, in the chicken marinade so garlic bits don’t burn on the grill in the dressing, so it's ultra-creamy and free from garlic chunks.
Here’s how to do it:
- Mince the garlic.
- Sprinkle a bit of kosher salt on top.
- Use your chef’s knife to spread, smash, and scrape the salt into the garlic, over and over again. The salt pulls out the moisture from the garlic and helps break it down.
- Repeat smashing and scraping until the garlic turns into a smooth paste.
How to make this chicken caesar salad recipe for two:
Everything in this recipe can be easily halved!
I recommend making the full amount of chicken and re-purposing it throughout the week in wraps and sandwiches, or tossing it on pasta or in rice.
When halving the dressing, use ⅜ cup olive oil (equal to ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons) and 4 ½ teaspoons of lemon juice. Use a tiny amount of garlic and a tiny bit of Dijon.
Shortcut this recipe for a weeknight dinner!
- Marinate the chicken for 10 minutes and toss it on the grill. Any amount of time is better than none!
- Use store-bought croutons.
- Use store-bought caesar salad dressing (or make it in the morning before you head to work).
- Buy a bag of pre-chopped, washed romaine lettuce instead of heads of lettuce.
- Use grated parmesan and save time from grating your own.
More leafy salad recipes to try!
raw beet salad with citrus vinaigrette
Printgrilled chicken caesar salad
This grilled chicken caesar salad is better than any restaurant! The chicken is extra juicy and flavorful (thanks to a lemony garlic marinade and super hot grill) and it’s tossed with crisp romaine, extra craggily sourdough croutons, and a creamy lemony caesar dressing.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Salad
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
sourdough croutons
- ½ loaf sourdough bread
- ¼ cup olive oil
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
caesar dressing
- 2 eggs
- 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, mashed with a pinch of salt into a paste
- 4- 5 anchovies, chopped and mashed into a smooth paste (or to taste)
- dash Worcestershire sauce
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
grilled chicken
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 garlic clove, mashed with a pinch of salt into a paste
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- ¼ tsp red chile flakes
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise
salad assembly
- 6 cups chopped romaine
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Instructions
sourdough croutons
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.
- Using a serrated knife, remove crust from the loaf of bread then cut into 1-inch thick slices. Cut the slices into 1-inch thick strips then tear the strips into bite-sized pieces (about ½-inch).
- Place torn bread on the prepared baking sheet and toss with olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and black pepper and spread out into an even layer.
- Bake for 15- 18 minutes, or until golden brown and crunchy.
- Let cool on the baking sheet until needed.
caesar dressing
- Place the whole eggs in a heat-proof bowl and pour boiling water over top. Let sit 1 minute. Pour off water and crack eggs into a blender. Add lemon juice, mustard, garlic, anchovies and Worcestershire sauce, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Blend until smooth.
- With the blender on medium-low speed, add the olive oil slowly until the dressing is thick (this should take about a minute).
- Stir in parmesan and season with more salt and pepper to taste.
- Transfer to a jar and refrigerate until needed.
grilled chicken
- Combine olive oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic, thyme, chile flakes, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Add chicken, toss to coat, and marinate at least 20 minutes or up to 2 hours, refrigerated.
- Preheat grill to medium-high heat for at least 10 minutes. Clean and oil grates.
- Remove chicken from marinade, letting excess drip off, and place on grill. Cook until dark grill marks develop, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook another 3- 5 minutes, basting with reserved marinade, until chicken registers 165°F. Transfer to a cutting board and slice when cool enough to handle.
salad assembly
- Place romaine in a large bowl. Toss with ½ cup shredded parmesan and two-thirds of the dressing. Taste and add more dressing, if desired. Top with croutons and sliced chicken.
- Serve, passing extra dressing and parmesan.
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 (using half the dressing)
- Calories: 670
- Sugar: 3.7g
- Sodium: 762mg
- Fat: 44g
- Saturated Fat: 8.9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 33.2g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 36g
- Fiber: 2.9g
- Protein: 33g
- Cholesterol: 114mg
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