Caesar Salad Dressing
An easy recipe for creamy Caesar Salad Dressing perfect for salads or even in wraps. Once you try this you’ll never use store bought dressing again!
You probably know by now that I love homemade dressings. Not only are they incredibly easy to make with common ingredients on hand, but they are much better for you. Once you start making your own dressings and taste how fresh they are, the bottled stuff won’t taste the same anymore.
How often do you purchase a bottle of dressing that winds up getting thrown out when it only half of it used. I’m funny about that stuff, and after things like that sit in the refrigerator awhile, it doesn’t matter what the expiration date is on the label, things just go bad. Making fresh, homemade salad dressing gives you just enough to have on hand without being wasteful and can be a money saver too.
The twins have gotten into salads lately. As you can imagine I am so excited that my picky kids have opted to eats salads over some other foods. Since I am battling with them to eat other veggies, if a salad makes them happy, I’m happy with that. I actually have been making their salads with a dressing that is in my next cookbook Summer Thyme, coming out May 19th. You know it has to be good if the twins are loving it. My Caesar salad is another favorite, especially with Mr Mother Thyme. Crisp romaine lettuce tossed, crunchy bacon, sliced red onions, shredded Parmesan cheese, garlic croutons and shredded chicken tossed in a creamy Caesar salad dressing. When it comes to Caesar dressings I usually like the creamier version, just personal preference.
For my Caesar salads I always crumble fresh bacon, and make fresh croutons. I don’t get into cooking bacon on the stove. I hate splatter. I simply line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the bacon strips on there. Bake the bacon at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes until nice and crispy. No splatter, no mess and perfectly cooked bacon. I also cut up day old French bread and toss it with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper and spread them on another baking sheet and bake them until nice and toasted. While the bacon and croutons and in the oven I cut the lettuce, onion and get the other ingredients ready so everything comes together rather quickly and easily.
Classic Caesar Salad Ingredients
Romaine lettuce
Crumbled bacon
Sliced red onions
Freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
Crunchy croutons
Shredded chicken (optional)
Sliced mushrooms (optional)
Chopped egg (optional)
This creamy Caesar dressing is great not just for salads. Toss it with chicken, use it to make Caesar wraps, or even as a dip for veggies. However you use, it once you try this version, you will never want to use the store bought stuff again.
Caesar Salad Dressing
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 0 About 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup regular or light mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 lemons (juiced (about 1/4 cup))
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon anchovy paste
- 2–3 garlic cloves (minced)
- Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir until blended.
- Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or mason jar.
Notes
For an even lighter version, substitute plain Greek yogurt in place of mayonnaise.
This looks wonderful! I wonderful if it can be made with Greek yogurt to be healthier?
Hi Liza! Yes, you can definitely swap out the mayo for Greek yogurt. I actually do that often, and it is fabulous! I just updated the recipe to note this as well. 🙂
Great, thanks!
Gorgeous photos, Jennifer! I love Caesar dressing and love making it at home even more. I can’t wait to try this!
Thanks Cassie! 🙂
I’m so making this! I love a good Caesar but the bottled stuff – yuck!
Thanks Dorothy! 🙂
Homemade dressings are always better! Your salad looks so tasty!
Thanks Laura!
Caesar salad is one of my favorites!
Thanks Rachel! 🙂
Homemade Dressings are the best! Looks gorgeous!
Thanks so much Sommer! 🙂
Oh yum! I’ve never made my own caesar dressing before. I think its merely the fact that anchovies use to scare me until I had them in France and Italy! I think I could totally make this thanks to the paste form! Thanks for sharing my dressing recipe!
You’re welcome! Happy to share it! I’m the same with anchovies too. 🙂
Homemade dressings are the best! And caesar is my absolute favorite!
This looks perfect for a classic Caesar salad! I always have a major dislike for caesar salad when I’m pregnant (we normally eat it weekly), and I needed this reminder to re-introduce it to our meals, it’s my daughter’s favourite 🙂
We love Caesar salad, but am still looking for that dressing recipe that I just adore. Looking forward to trying this one!
We love caesar salad in our house, and I’ve never made homemade dressing for it! Totally pinning this to try, thanks!!!
Thank you Jennifer! This is a PERFECT Caesar dressing recipe and trust me, I have tried to make quite a few! LOVE the fact this one does not require raw egg yolks. I was out of anchovie past so I subbed fish sauce worked like a charm!
Hi Dianna! So glad to hear you enjoyed this dressing! 🙂
Where would I find anchovy paste in the grocery store?
Hi Becky, you can usually find anchovy paste near the canned tuna at the grocery store. I use Giovanni, which comes in a yellow tube.
I will check that out. Thanks!
How long will this last in the fridge for??
Thank u 🙂
It last for a week to 10 days. Also check your ingredients to make sure they are not close to expiring either. Enjoy!
Hands down this is by far the best Caesar dressing I have ever made! My only adjustment is I reduce the anchovy paste to 1/2 teaspoon as the anchovy flavor deepens over time – just a personal taste preference. Caesar salad is now so easy, for an every day dinner or dinner party. This is just wonderful, thank you!
Embrace the anchovy. Not only are anchovies essential for a classic Caesar, they provide a tangy, salty, rich flavor that this dressing couldn’t get otherwise.
Loved this recipe. Totally beats store bought Caesar dressing. I would like to know the brand of anchovies the people who found it too salty are using and what kind of salt they are using as well. Iodized table salt will for sure end up with a very salty dressing. I used Mortons Kosher salt and it was perfect. This is a good reason to switch over to weighing out ingredients by gram instead of using teaspoons and tablespoons.