Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
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This is the best Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad! Romaine lettuce gets tossed with tender chicken, healthy Caesar dressing & homemade croutons.
We’ve perfected the best low calorie Caesar salad that tastes so delicious you’d never know it was healthy! It is packed with flavor and protein, making it a satisfying choice for lunch or dinner.
Juicy grilled chicken, fresh romaine, tangy homemade Caesar dressing, freshly shredded parmesan, and crunchy croutons come together for a restaurant-quality salad that’s surprisingly simple to make.
You can even prep the chicken, croutons, and dressing in advance, so when it’s time to eat, all that’s left to do is toss everything together and dig in.
Liz’s tips for the best caesar salad
- Use Freshly Grated Parmesan: For the best flavor, always grate your Parmesan cheese. Pre-grated cheeses often contain additives that can affect taste.
- Use Fresh Lemon Juice: Using freshly squeezed lemon juice will make the dressing taste so much better than a store-bought alternative.
- Prep Ingredients Separately for Meal Prep: To keep your salad fresh for meal prep, store the grilled chicken, dressing, and croutons in separate containers. Assemble just before serving to maintain the optimal texture and taste.
Ingredients for the dressing:
We love to use a mini food processor to make the dressing. This is one of my most used kitchen items!
Ingredients for the salad
We like to grill our chicken on a gas grill, but you can use this grill pan if you’re indoors, or pan sear the chicken.
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we really recommend extra virgin olive oil
Greek Yogurt: Whole Greek milk yogurt will work. I have only tried this with Greek yogurt, but I think regular yogurt would also work. Make sure it’s unsweetened.
Dairy Free: I have not tried this with dairy free yogurt or cheese, but I think it would work.
Dijon Mustard: Even if you don’t like mustard, I really encourage you to use it in the dressing. You can’t tell it’s in there!
Lemon Juice: Use fresh squeezed lemon juice, not pre-bottled.
Parmesan Cheese: Always always always use freshly grated cheese! Even parmesan! I promise it’s so much better. Pre-grated cheese has stabilizers added to it to prevent it from growing mold, so it never tastes as good (or melts as well!)
Honey: You can use maple syrup in place of honey
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute with boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders. I think chicken thighs would be a little too fatty/greasy with the dressing but it will work! You can also use Greek Yogurt Grilled Chicken.
Romaine: I haven’t made this with other greens, but I think spring mix or even kale would work well.
Sodium: This is a higher sodium recipe. You can omit the salt from the chicken breasts, or cut back on the amount of parmesan cheese you add.
Anchovies: Caesar salad is traditionally made with anchovies, but we skipped them in this recipe. Feel free to add them! Some people like to add anchovy paste to their dressing. It is very salty, just beware!
How to Make Caesar Dressing
- Add all dressing ingredients in a small food processor.
- Blend until smooth.
How to Grill Chicken for a Caesar Salad
- Evenly coat the chicken breasts with the dried seasoning and let the chicken sit for 5-10 minutes while the grill is preheating to medium high heat.
- Spray grill with cooking oil and place chicken on the grill. Cook for 5 minutes on each side, until internal temperature reaches 165°. Let rest for 5 minutes before assembling the salad.
What to Serve with this Recipe:
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad is a complete meal in itself! If you are looking for other proteins to add on top of it, try our Balsamic Chicken or Chili Lime Shrimp.
If you want more veggies on the side, it goes well with Greek Pasta Salad or Greek Orzo Salad.
Storage
Storing: We recommend storing all the components of the healthy Caesar salad separately.
The dressing and chicken will both last in separate airtight containers for up to 4 days.
We don’t recommend assembling Caesar salad until you’re ready to eat.
Other healthy salad recipes:
Here are some of our favorite other salad recipes
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (fat trimmed and tenderized)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1.5 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice – juice of half lemon
- 2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 3 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon honey
For the salad:
- 8 cups romaine lettuce washed and chopped (about 3 heads)
- 1 cup Caesar dressing
- 2 cup croutons
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
- ⅓ cup shaved parmesan cheese use a vegetable peeler to make large shavings!
Instructions
- Remove chicken from packaging and clean excess fat. Lay the chicken on plastic wrap or parchment paper and gently tenderize using a meat mallet. You want to keep the chicken intact, so don’t use too much force when tenderizing. Place your chicken on a large plate in an even layer.
- Mix together dried seasonings and coat the chicken evenly on both sides. I like to let the dry rub sit on the chicken for 5-10 minutes before putting it on the grill.
- Preheat your grill to medium high heat, (Should take 7-10 minutes to heat). You can also pan sear this chicken on your stovetop, follow the same directions as the grill instructions if cooking the chicken in a pan.
- Spray your grill with cooking oil (olive oil, vegetable oil, coconut oil etc)
- Place your chicken on the grill. Cook for 5 minutes on one side, then flip your chicken and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Depending on your grill and the temp, you may need a few extra minutes to get to an internal temperature of 165. Use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of the chicken. Let the chicken rest for at least 5 minutes while you prepare your dressing.
- To make the dressing, mix together all the ingredients in a small food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Wash and chop your romaine lettuce. Add to a large bowl.
- Add the parmesan cheese and dressing to the bowl with the lettuce. Toss together until the lettuce is coated in 1 cup of dressing (You can also use less dressing!) Add to bowls and evenly distribute the croutons on top (you can toss them with the dressing but they do get soggy!)
- Slice your chicken into 1 ⁄ 2 inch thick strips. Place on top of your salad and enjoy!
Video
Recipe was great! Dressing too think though. Any suggestions on how to thin it out? Thanks.
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Caesar dressing is usually pretty thick! You could add a teaspoon of water if you like to thin it out!
Chefs kiss to the healthy cesar dressing! This is a great recipe- lemon 🍋 is the perfect brightness!
Would you share the brand name & place to order the grill pan you used in grilling the chicken for this Caesar salad please?
Sure! Here’s a link to the grill pan