June 2020 | Cook Now

Perfect Caesar Salad

The very best Caesar salad recipe! This stunner has the perfect balance of creamy homemade dressing, crunchy croutons, and crisp lettuce.

Some foods are classic for a reason. Like frosty vanilla bean ice cream or hot crispy French fries, this classic salad is basic but truly irresistible. Meet the perfect Caesar salad! Yes, you can buy a packaged storebought version with sub-par dressing and soggy croutons. But make all the components at home and it’s a knock out stunner. We’ve perfected all the elements so that you can make them at home. The savory, creamy dressing will instantly become a household favorite. And the crunchy garlicky croutons…well, you’ll be eating them off the baking sheet.

How to make the best Caesar salad

This homemade Caesar salad is absolutely magnificent. From the first bite, you’ll be singing its praises. (Promise.) Here are the ingredients to make an absolutely perfect version of this classic:

Homemade croutons: Don’t even think about purchasing a box! Tear the bread into uneven pieces to make fluffy, crunchy orbs.
Best Caesar dressing: Our recipe is so good, you won’t want to buy it again.
Romaine hearts: We like the romaine hearts, the sweet and crunchy portion of a head of romaine. These are sold usually in packs of 3 in the grocery. You can also use a large head of romaine lettuce.
Parmesan cheese shavings: You need grated for the dressing, so grab yourself a block of the stuff.

Tips for Caesar salad croutons

You’ll start with the croutons for this Caesar salad. All they need is 15 minutes in a hot oven! You can prep the rest of the salad while they bake. Here are our tips for the best homemade croutons:

Use great bread: The better the bread, the better the crouton! Use artisan bread, French bread or sourdough bread from the store, or leftover homemade bread.
Tear the bread into pieces: Tearing the bread into small pieces makes for crispier croutons with crevices that catch the dressing!
Add garlic powder. Our croutons recipe is for garlic croutons, which have the perfect savory flavor.
Bake until crispy (about 15 minutes). You’ll use a low temperature, 300 degrees, and bake until just crispy. The croutons crisp up after baking .

The secrets to homemade Caesar dressing

This Caesar dressing recipe is our favorite that we’ve been making for years! It’s a healthy spin on the standard but it tastes just as good. It’s also easily made vegetarian. Here are a few notes on this Caesar dressing:

Greek yogurt gives it a healthy spin. Instead of going all mayo and oil, we’ve added a little Greek yogurt too. This keeps it creamy but cuts a few of the calories. We use this philosophy in our Ranch Dressing recipe too.
Use anchovy paste, or don’t: it’s optional! Traditional Caesar dressing gets its savory flavor from anchovies, so we’ve used it here. It adds a huge amount of flavor! But this dressing tastes just as good without it. Feel free to make a vegetarian Caesar dressing and it’s just as good.
There’s no raw egg. Standard Caesar dressing uses raw egg yolks (like a homemade mayo). But this recipe is so full of flavor, it doesn’t need it.

Make ahead instructions for Caesar salad

Once you’ve got your creamy dressing and crunchy croutons, all you need is romaine hearts and Parmesan cheese shavings to bring together that perfect Caesar salad. Want a few time savers for putting it together? Here’s how to make it ahead:

Make the dressing up to 1 week in advance. Make it and refrigerate up to 1 week: the flavor tastes just as good!
Make the croutons 2 days in advance. Make the croutons and let them cool completely. Then store in a sealed container for up to 2 days. The flavor gets gradually staler over time, so the closer to fresh they are, the better.

Variations: make it a main dish!

If you take all this time to make Caesar salad…why not turn it into a main dish meal? If you serve it topped with protein, it makes about 4 servings. Here are a few ideas:

Chicken Caesar Salad: Top with grilled or cooked chicken for the classic restaurant main dish.
Shrimp Caesar Salad: Add Sauteed Shrimp, Grilled Shrimp or Shrimp Skewers.
Chickpea Caesar Salad: For a vegetarian option, top with Seasoned Chickpeas or Crispy Chickpeas.

More variations: grilled, kale, and more

Here are a few more variations on Caesar salad that put a fun spin on this classic salad:

Make it grilled: This Grilled Caesar Salad features grilled romaine lettuce and grilled avocado to bring big flavor.
Make it with kale: Our Kale Caesar Salad features leafy green kale with the lettuce, and croutons made from our best homemade cornbread. To die for!

This Caesar salad recipe is…

Vegetarian without anchovy paste. For gluten free, use gluten-free bread for the croutons.

Perfect Caesar Salad

(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

5 from 6 reviews

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

The very best Caesar salad recipe! This stunner has the perfect balance of creamy homemade dressing, crunchy croutons, and crisp lettuce.

Ingredients

For the Caesar dressing (makes 1 cup)

1 medium clove garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
2 tablespoons lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the Caesar salad

1 recipe Homemade Croutons
3 romaine hearts* (or 1 large head romaine)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shavings

Instructions

For the croutons: Make the Homemade Croutons, but tear the bread into pieces instead of slicing it into cubes.
For the dressing: While the croutons bake, make the dressing. Grate the garlic, or finely mince it. Grate the Parmesan cheese as finely as possible (it’s helpful to use a microplane or the fine holes on a grater). Juice the lemon. Whisk together all the ingredients in a bowl. Store refrigerated (keeps at least 1 week).
For the salad: Tear the romaine leaves into pieces (or chop them). Top each salad with Parmesan cheese shavings, croutons, and dressing.

Notes

*Romaine hearts are easy to find packaged separately in the produce aisle.

Category: Salad
Method: Raw
Cuisine: American

Keywords: Caesar salad

More great salad recipes

We love salads! If you do too, here are a few more great salad recipes to try:

Broccoli Salad Crunchy and savory sweet, it stars broccoli, raisins, and a flavor-popping dressing.
Perfect Italian Salad Crisp veggies, crunchy croutons, tangy pepperoncini, and a punchy homemade dressing.
Antipasto Salad Hearty and full of zingy flavor, with lots of crunchy veggies, olives, artichokes, cheese, and Italian herbs.
Classic Corn Salad Fresh and full of tangy flavor, with bursts of bright tomato and basil!
Caprese Salad Pair perfectly ripe, juicy tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and peppery basil.

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies

You better believe it, these beyond perfect chocolate chip cookies are made with olive oil instead of butter!

Bright and fruity extra virgin olive oil makes for a uniquely delicious chocolate chip cookie, paired with two kinds of bittersweet dark chocolate and a pinch of flaky sea salt on top.

Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies on parchment, one cookie broken in half with a small bowl of chocolate chunks and flaky sea salt

Not just for savory cooking, olive oil is an underrated ingredient when it comes to baking.

From brownies to rice krispie treats, swapping olive oil for butter makes for a uniquely-flavored dessert that’s naturally dairy free and downright tasty.

Like these chocolate chip cookies, for instance, which are made with extra virgin olive oil in place of the typical butter. The result is surprising, a little different than your typical chocolate chip cookie, sure, but undeniably delicious.

Balls of olive oil chocolate chip cookie dough in neat rows on a parchment-lined cookie sheet

This recipe is based on my ganache-stuffed chocolate chip cookies, which use melted butter anyway, so the swap to olive oil was quite straighforward (it’s harder to substitute when a recipe relies on creamed butter versus melted).

I did add an egg yolk for richness, and slightly more flour to account for the extra liquid, but otherwise the recipes are very similar overall.

But despite the similarities in the recipe itself, the results are surprisingly different. Not that these cookies taste strongly of olive oil (you probably wouldn’t know if I didn’t tell you), but there is definitely a unique flavor to these cookies when compared to all-butter cookies. Dare I say, sharper? Spicier, although not in the sense of chili spice. I guess it’d greatly depend on what olive oil you use too, whatever fruit/spicy/nutty flavors are in your oil will likely get passed on to the baked cookie.

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Crispy Avocado Tacos

These crispy avocado tacos are destined to be your new favorite! With crunchy breading, they’ve got the vibe of a fish taco but are totally plant based.

Meet your recipe soulmate: Crispy Avocado Tacos. Could there be a taster tortilla filling? We think not. You’ve got avocado fries, breaded and baked in a hot oven until crispy, with a texture of fried avocado. Then top that with spiced black beans, pico de gallo, and the refreshing crunch of romaine lettuce. Drizzle on a creamy lime and cilantro sauce, and it’s heaven on a plate. It tastes like restaurant tacos, but it’s easy to whip up in your kitchen. Let’s get cooking!

Start with baked avocado fries

The inspiration behind these vegan avocado tacos are these avocado fries. As we crunched our way through a platter, I mentioned offhandedly to Alex, “These would be great in tacos.” We looked at each other. Yes! Avocado tacos. The main part of the work in these tacos is the fries. Here are a few notes about how to make them:

Get ripe but firm avocados. The most important part! You don’t want mushy avocados, because they don’t hold up to the breading process.
Slice the avocados the safe way. See below for more!
Set up an assembly line. There are three stops to the avocado breading process. Dredge the slice in flour and spices, then into lime juice and olive oil, then finally into panko.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees. You don’t even need to flip!

How to make avocado tacos: basic steps

Other than making avocado fries, these avocado tacos are a breeze! We tried to keep the other toppings fast and easy so that you can whip them up while the fries are in the oven. Here’s the basic process:

Make the avocado fries. While they’re in the oven…
Season the black beans. This recipe has a quick and simple flavoring for the black beans. The star ingredient is adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilis (see below).
Make the sauce. This avocado tacos recipe has a simple cilantro sauce that covers it in creamy, tangy goodness.
Char the tortillas. It’s optional, but we always warm our tortillas by charring them on an open flame on the stove. It gives them great flavor and looks beautiful too. Go to How to Warm Tortillas.

Cilantro taco sauce (and a few other options)

The taco sauce for these vegan avocado tacos is also quick and simple…so you can finish it while the avocados bake! But you can also make some other sauces if you prefer. Here’s a breakdown on sauce options:

Cilantro taco sauce: It’s got mayo, lime juice, cilantro, garlic powder and cumin. All you have to do is stir together! Done and done.
Spicy Mayo: Even easier! 2 ingredients (you can also substitute sour cream for the mayo).
Shrimp Taco Sauce: Similar vibe to the cilantro sauce, but with yogurt too.
Chipotle Sauce: A vegan tahini-based sauce with a spicy kick!

The safe way to slice an avocado

The most important part about avocado tacos: cutting the avocado the right way! Do it wrong and you could end up cutting yourself. Here’s how to do it the safe way (and see the video below):

Slice around: Using a large chef’s knife, cut lengthwise around the avocado. Twist the two halves to separate them.
Pit holding a towel: Place a towel in your hand and put the avocado on top. With a gentle but quick motion, tap the knife into the avocado pit.
Use our safety trick: Do not attempt to remove the avocado pit with your hand! Instead, pull the cutting board close to your body, then place the pit against the far edge of the cutting board and pull back to release it from the knife. (Watch the video below for this part!)
Scoop out and slice: Use a large spoon to scoop out the avocado from the peel. Place the avocado with the cut side down, then cut it into slices. To dice the avocado, turn the slices and cut crosswise to make diced avocado.

More about adobo sauce…and how to use leftovers

The black beans in this avocado tacos recipe have a bit of adobo sauce. It’s optional but it’s our favorite way to add flavor to Mexican dishes! Here’s more about it:

Adobo sauce is a tomato-chili sauce that brings savory, smoky flavor. It’s the sauce that’s packaged inside a can of chipotle chilis! Chipotles in adobo sauce are sold in most grocery stores here in the US, available near the Mexican products.
This recipe calls for adobo sauce only. Pull out just 1 teaspoon of the sauce from the can. The sauce is lightly spicy, but not nearly as spicy as the chipotle peppers! Each brand of can has different amounts of adobo sauce, so you’ll have to experiment and find your favorite.
Refrigerate or freeze the remainder. You can use the remaining adobo sauce and chipotle peppers in recipes! Try it in Vegan Enchiladas, Vegetarian Tortilla Soup, or Quinoa Chili.

Sides to serve with avocado tacos

Once your vegan avocado tacos are complete, it’s time to serve! Here are a few of our favorite ways to accessorize them for a party (on a weeknight we just go to town on the tacos);

Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn) or Grilled Corn Salad Full of smoky, spicy and tangy flavor.
Easy Mexican Salad The perfect simple side for Mexican-inspired meals.
Mexican Coleslaw Recipe Another great veggie-based accessory.
Homemade Refried Beans Simple and full of big flavor.
Easy Refried Bean Dip You can make it with canned refried beans in a flash.
15 Best Margarita Recipes Make them all!

This avocado tacos recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.