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Home » Salads

Classic Caesar Salad With Whole Leaves

Modified: Jan 30, 2023 · Published: Jun 30, 2021 by Charlé Visser · This post may contain affiliate links · 5 Comments · 1467 words. · About 8 minutes to read this article.

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The best Caesar salad recipes stay true to the original version. This is one of those—it's the BEST Caesar you will ever make.

Crunchy romaine salad leaves, real aged Parmesan cheese, creamy fresh Caesar dressing, and homemade garlic croutons. Perfect for lunch, dinner, or simply a delicious side dish for ribeye steak, bavette steak, or oven-baked chicken breast.

caesar salad on white plate
Jump to:
  • What makes it Classic?
  • Useful equipment for this recipe
  • Ingredients for Caesar salad
  • How to make homemade croutons
  • How to make Caesar dressing
  • Top tip
  • Making the salad
  • How to eat a Caesar
  • Variations
  • Serving suggestions
  • Frequently asked questions
  • More salad recipes
  • Recipe
  • Comments

What makes it Classic?

Traditionally, Caesar salad consists of whole crispy cos or Romaine lettuce leaves, homemade croutons, Parmesan cheese, Ceasar dressing and finished with some freshly cracked black pepper. The way Caesar Cardini intended when he invented this salad.

That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Caesar salad varies wildly nowadays with chefs adding ingredients the original never had. Grilled chicken, shrimp, eggs, and tomatoes all get added and the list goes on.

The original recipe stays the best. Like all classics do.

Useful equipment for this recipe

baking sheets

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Vegetable Peeler

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Ingredients for Caesar salad

ingredients for caesar salad on a marble background
  • Lettuce - You want to use nice crispy lettuce like Cos, Romaine, or Little Gem. Don't go making this with iceberg lettuce. That stuff is for feeding rabbits and that's it. Originally the salad was made with whole leaves. The idea is that you eat this salad by hand and use the leaves as a sort of boat that holds together the other ingredients. It's genius and that is definitely the way you should eat this. Just in case I even included a little how-to-eat-Caesar-salad Guide below)
  • Parmesan - You could also use Grano Padano. Just make sure it's a hard well-matured cheese. It's packed with umami and it carries the other flavours in the salad. If you use a plastic crappy cheese. Tears will follow. Worse, you will blame me for a shit salad.
  • Croutons - Unless you can buy really good artisan croutons which are basically as good as homemade then make your own. I use homemade sourdough croutons in this recipe but I also have a sandwich bread crouton recipe you could use too. I suggest though you go with the sourdough croutons. Mine are made with some leftovers from this amazing sourdough bread recipe.
  • Dressing - Just like the croutons. Homemade is best.
  • Seasoning - Good old natural sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

How to make homemade croutons

Quick and easy as you like. Our little trick? We add grated parmesan and make supercharged Parmesan sourdough croutons. They're simple but super delicious and you could eat them by the fist full on their own or with a cold beer.

croutons on white parchment
  1. Tear the sourdough bread into random bite-sized chunks. Do not cut it with a knife. Tearing is way better and makes better croutons.
  2. Mix with grated parmesan, olive oil, and a touch of salt.
  3. Bake at 170 °C or 338 °F until the croutons are crispy and golden brown.
  4. Let it Cool down completely before using.

How to make Caesar dressing

Quickly jump over to the Caesar dressing post for a more in-depth recipe. Alternatively here is a quick run-through.

caesar sauce in a glass bowl
  1. First, you want to roast the garlic and let it cool down. Easily do this at the same time as making the croutons.
  2. Wrap it whole in tin foil and bake until soft at 170°C or 338°F. Simple as that.
  3. When cool, add all the ingredients apart from the oils.
  4. Slowly add in the oils while whisking vigorously to ensure you have a smooth stable sauce.

Top tip

Use a high-speed blender to make this part easier. Also useful for blending endless other foods and making curry pastes like adjika or massaman.

The full Caesar dressing post also has alternatives like using mayonnaise or what to do if you are cautious of eating a raw egg and explains what to do if you end up splitting the dressing.

Making the salad

  1. Remove the leaves and trim the bottoms. Wash and dry thoroughly and lay on a plate. If your salad leaves are wet the dressing will run off and the croutons will get wet too.
  2. The Parmesan should be thinly shaved ideally using a mandolin or a very sharp vegetable peeler.
  3. Liberally drizzle the Caesar dressing all over the leaves. Followed by some croutons and Parmesan shavings and again a drizzle of sauce.
  4. Finally, finish with a generous grinding of fresh black pepper.

How to eat a Caesar

man with blue shirt eating salad

Variations

Do

  • Add Protein - You can add proteins like bacon, grilled salmon, chicken, shrimp, or soft boiled eggs.
  • Modify the dressing - You could make it without the anchovies if you don't like them. But, They are essential to the authentic taste of Caesar. Classically given by Worcestershire sauce which contains anchovies anyway.
  • Other additions - Cured tomatoes, cucumber, or avocado.

Dont

  • Add pasta - Adding it is ludicrous. Please don't).
  • Use flimsy leaves - Caesar salad is meant to be made with sturdy crispy leaves so that you can pick them up. Can't pick up a baby spinach leaf when loaded with sauce, croutons, and cheese). If you like spinach then rather have it steamed, creamed, or with another salad like this cured salmon salad.
  • Use cheap cheese - Only use aged matured hard cheese.
  • Grill the salad - I've seen this at a few places and as much as I like grilled salad, it is not a Caesar once the leaves are wilted and soft. If you would like to know how to grill salad properly though check out this post about side dishes done on the BBQ.

Caesar is simple, but the flavor is big, so try and keep it that way. Only add one or two extra things and don't overload the salad.

Serving suggestions

By itself, Caesar Salad can be a full meal. Alternatively, serve as a side salad with some of the following or as part of a feast.

  • BBQ and meat - Crispy pork belly, lamb koftas, slow-roasted lamb leg or baked chicken breast.
  • Steak - Ribeye, bavette or chimichurri steak.
  • Fish - With pan-fried salmon or something light like seabass Crudo or cured salmon gravlax.

Frequently asked questions

Can it be made ahead of time?

It doesn't sit well once the dressing is on the salad. The croutons will get soggy over time and the leaves will wilt.

How long does it keep?

Once you have put together the salad you have to serve it straight away for the best results.

What about using raw eggs?

You can use pasteurised egg yolks to make the dressing instead of fresh eggs if you are worried about consuming or serving raw egg.

More salad recipes

  • Tahini coleslaw
  • Smashed Chinese cucumbers
  • Authentic Greek salad
  • Roasted pumpkin salad
  • Beetroot and feta salad
  • Georgian summer salad

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Recipe

caesar salad
5 from 8 votes
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Classic Caesar Salad With Whole leaves

The best Caesar salad recipes are those that stay true to the original Caesar salad. This is one of those. In Fact, this is the BEST Caesar salad you will ever make.
Author Charlé Visser
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes minutes
Total Time 30 minutes minutes
Servings 4 portions
Course Dinner, Lunch, Salad
Cuisine American, Italian
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Ingredients

For the Salad

  • 2 heads Romaine salad - We only use the hearts
  • 100 g (1 cups) Parmesan cheese - shaved
  • 1 g (½ teaspoon) freshly ground black pepper

For the Dressing

  • 80 g (4 yolks) egg yolk
  • 40 g (2 ½ tablespoon) Dijon mustard
  • 12 g (1 tablespoon) Worcestershire sauce
  • 12 g (⅘ tablespoon) Lemon juice - freshly squeezed
  • 40 g (¼ cups) baked garlic - optional
  • 16 g (1 tablespoon) anchovy fillets - optional
  • 40 g (2 ½ tablespoon) olive oil
  • 160 g (¾ cups) neutral oil

For the Croutons

  • 200 g (5 cups) sourdough bread - torn into chunks
  • 30 g (2 tablespoon) olive oil
  • 2 g (½ teaspoon) salt
  • 40 g (½ cups) grated Parmesan
Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Make the Dressing

  • Combine all the ingredients apart from the oils in a mixing bowl or blender.
  • Blend or whisk until combined.
  • Slowly whisk or blend in the oils until fully emulsified.
  • Adjust the seasoning if you want.
  • Store in the fridge or use straight away.

Make the Croutons

  • Tear the sourdough bread into random bite-sized chunks. Do not cut it with a knife. Tearing is way better and makes better croutons.
  • Mix with grated parmesan, olive oil and a touch of salt.
  • Bake at 170°C or 338°F until the croutons are crispy and golden brown.
  • Let it Cool down completely before using.

Make the Salad

  • Arrange the washed lettuce leaves onto a plate. Drizzle with dressing followed by croutons and shaved cheese. Add more sauce and finish with some freshly ground black pepper.

Notes

  • Garlic - It's best to use the roasted garlic. It's magical and takes this caesar to the next level above other versions. Alternatively, replace with 10g of fresh garlic.
  • Anchovies - It's optional but the recipe needs it. I explained why but it's basically because Worcestershire sauce nowadays doesn't have the anchovy flavour it used to have back in the day. So we compensate. The original recipe never used anchovy.
  • Dressing - If you are pressed for time then replace the oil and eggs by weight with ready-made good quality mayonnaise. Adjust the consistency with a touch of water if you need to.
  • Croutons - If you can find good quality store-bought croutons use those if you need to whip it up quickly. Homemade croutons with Parmesan stays the best though.

Nutrition

Serving: 250g Calories: 437kcal Carbohydrates: 34g Protein: 15g Fat: 27g Saturated Fat: 6g Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g Monounsaturated Fat: 16g Trans Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 228mg Sodium: 762mg Potassium: 199mg Fiber: 2g Sugar: 2g Vitamin A: 394IU Vitamin C: 5mg Calcium: 193mg Iron: 3mg
Keywords:classic caesar salad
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Comments

    5 from 8 votes (7 ratings without comment)

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  1. Paul says

    February 02, 2024 at 6:42 pm

    5 stars
    Like so many of the recipes on the site this is excellent and easy to follow. These are now some of my 'go to' recipes alongside Simon Hopkinson and Henry Harris.

    Love the site, the recipes and the YouTube channel.

    Reply
  2. Tylor says

    July 31, 2020 at 3:07 pm

    Simply the best classic Caesar salad recipe out there

    Reply
    • Charlé says

      July 31, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      That's what I said)) So many horrible recipes out there from a bunch of novices. Glad you liked it and keep coming back for more proper recipes!

      Reply
  3. Nora says

    July 31, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    Finally someone made an amazing caesar salad recipe and went through the trouble of showing us how to eat it too)) Great recipe and great blog! Will be back for more! Thanks

    Reply
    • Charlé says

      July 31, 2020 at 3:30 pm

      Nora, you are most welcome! Thanks for your feedback!

      Reply
Charle Visser the chef.

Hey, I'm Charlé!

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Eating and cooking well contribute majorly to a happy life, and it doesn't have to be hard.

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