Tournament of Salads</a> winner, in Salad Bowl 2024!</em><br /><br />This salad's genius starts with a double-duty dressing-slash-marinade (that you don’t have to let marinade, or even wipe off before cooking), but doesn't stop there. It's fitting that in her new cookbook, <em>I Dream of Dinner</em>, Ali Slagle called this Not Just Another Caesar Salad, because it redefined what I want in the classic—and gave me a crunchy crouton trick that means I'll never skip making them again. <br /> <br />As Ali writes in <em>I Dream of Dinner</em>, “It’s hard to resist a good Caesar salad, so step right up.”<br /><br />A few more tips: Ali says that this recipe is also excellent on the grill for both the chicken and the croutons, with similar timing. Because the croutons are a mix of crisp sides and fluffy middles and don’t have a hard outer shell on all sides (a good thing), scatter them on top rather than tossing them through with the dressing, so they stay crisp longer. <br /><br />Recipe adapted very slightly from <strong><em><a href=https://food52.com/recipes/"https://amzn.to/3K0dyW6">I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To): Low Effort, High Reward Recipes</a></em></strong> (Clarkson Potter, April 2022).<br /><br /><em>This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.</em><br /><br /><em>Hear more about this recipe from Ali herself on our podcast <a href=https://food52.com/recipes/"https://food52.pod.link/the-genius-recipe-tapes.auto?pdst_key=ba2c4b157119471fa6506fa42f231f76&pdst_group=367e8e8d273b4beca12ae31ad77989db&pdst_label=bvgddLkf%22>The Genius Recipe Tapes</a>.<br />"> Tournament of Salads</a> winner, in Salad Bowl 2024!</em><br /><br />This salad's genius starts with a double-duty dressing-slash-marinade (that you don’t have to let marinade, or even wipe off before cooking), but doesn't stop there. It's fitting that in her new cookbook, <em>I Dream of Dinner</em>, Ali Slagle called this Not Just Another Caesar Salad, because it redefined what I want in the classic—and gave me a crunchy crouton trick that means I'll never skip making them again. <br /> <br />As Ali writes in <em>I Dream of Dinner</em>, “It’s hard to resist a good Caesar salad, so step right up.”<br /><br />A few more tips: Ali says that this recipe is also excellent on the grill for both the chicken and the croutons, with similar timing. Because the croutons are a mix of crisp sides and fluffy middles and don’t have a hard outer shell on all sides (a good thing), scatter them on top rather than tossing them through with the dressing, so they stay crisp longer. <br /><br />Recipe adapted very slightly from <strong><em><a href=https://food52.com/recipes/"https://amzn.to/3K0dyW6">I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To): Low Effort, High Reward Recipes</a></em></strong> (Clarkson Potter, April 2022).<br /><br /><em>This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.</em><br /><br /><em>Hear more about this recipe from Ali herself on our podcast <a href=https://food52.com/recipes/"https://food52.pod.link/the-genius-recipe-tapes.auto?pdst_key=ba2c4b157119471fa6506fa42f231f76&pdst_group=367e8e8d273b4beca12ae31ad77989db&pdst_label=bvgddLkf%22>The Genius Recipe Tapes</a>.<br />">

Quick and Easy

Not Just Another Chicken Caesar Salad From Ali Slagle

by:
April 19, 2022
4.7
49 Ratings
Not Just Another Chicken Caesar Salad From Ali Slagle
Photo by Bobbi Lin. Prop Stylist: Brooke Deonarine. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog.
  • Prep time 30 minutes
  • Cook time 10 minutes
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

Ali's salad was our Tournament of Salads winner, in Salad Bowl 2024!

This salad's genius starts with a double-duty dressing-slash-marinade (that you don’t have to let marinade, or even wipe off before cooking), but doesn't stop there. It's fitting that in her new cookbook, I Dream of Dinner, Ali Slagle called this Not Just Another Caesar Salad, because it redefined what I want in the classic—and gave me a crunchy crouton trick that means I'll never skip making them again.

As Ali writes in I Dream of Dinner, “It’s hard to resist a good Caesar salad, so step right up.”

A few more tips: Ali says that this recipe is also excellent on the grill for both the chicken and the croutons, with similar timing. Because the croutons are a mix of crisp sides and fluffy middles and don’t have a hard outer shell on all sides (a good thing), scatter them on top rather than tossing them through with the dressing, so they stay crisp longer.

Recipe adapted very slightly from I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To): Low Effort, High Reward Recipes (Clarkson Potter, April 2022).

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

Hear more about this recipe from Ali herself on our podcast The Genius Recipe Tapes.
 —Genius Recipes

What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
Not Just Another Chicken Caesar Salad From Ali Slagle
Ingredients
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 4 anchovies
  • 1 1/2 ounces Parmesan, divided
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 cup mayo
  • 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • Few heads crisp lettuces (like Little Gem, romaine, or chicories)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional, for croutons)
  • 2 thick slices of crusty bread (optional, for croutons)
Directions
  1. Finely chop and smash together the garlic cloves and anchovies until a coarse paste forms. Transfer to a medium bowl. Finely grate ¾ cup Parmesan (about 1½ ounces) and add ½ cup to the bowl. Zest half of the lemon into the bowl. Stir in the mayo, soy sauce, and Dijon mustard.
  2. Transfer half the dressing to a shallow dish. Pat the chicken thighs dry, season with salt & pepper, then add to the dish and turn to coat.
  3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown and juices run clear, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board.
  4. Separate the leaves of the lettuces and toss into a big bowl. Squeeze half the lemon (about 1½ tablespoons) over the greens, sprinkle with salt, then toss to combine. Add the remaining dressing and remaining ¼ cup Parm and toss to combine. Thinly slice the chicken. Add to the salad and season to taste with salt and pepper, lemon, and Parm.
  5. (Optional) For croutons, after step 2, heat the olive oil in the skillet over medium-high. Add the slices of crusty bread and toast until golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a cutting board and season with salt. Cut into croutons and sprinkle over the salad.
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39 Reviews

KDH9966
KDH9966 May 23, 2024
oh wow…this was amazing and even the couple weird little steps was worth it! this will be my go-to ceasar from now on!!
 
Linsey S.
Linsey S. April 30, 2024
This MIGHT, MIGHT be the best Caesar Dressing I have made. My reigning champ is from Jonathan Waxman and is far more traditional. I say that it MIGHT be better, because it's possible I loved Ali's so much because I splurged on a new brand of anchovies, and they were pretty spectacular. So rather than the couple buck cheapies I typically grab I spent a whopping $8 on the ones from Fishwife Tinned Fish Co. and honestly I would do it again! Truly only seems fair to judge Waxman's against Ali's after trying his with the "fancy" anchovies. At any rate, the salad was delicious. While you don't really need to let the chicken marinade in that dressing, I do wish I had left it in a bit longer-- not because the result I got wasn't delicious. It was! But I can only imagine what a little bit more time might have given it. I used chicken breast versus thighs here. My beef with the recipe lies in the lack of detail around the amount of lettuce. "Few Heads"? A bit of a hint on overall volume of greens would have been helpful. I opted for little gem lettuce, and enjoyed that versus plain romaine a great deal! Loved the "quick crouton" as well. Will make again... and again....
 
barb@oliverspecialties.com
[email protected] April 15, 2024
Absolutely love this dish. We coat the chicken thighs in the dressing, and pop on the grill. The caesar salad portion of the dish is on the side. I never thought I'd like chicken thighs until we made this dish. We've made it about five times, and are about to make it for company this coming weekend.
 
Laine.cavazos@gmail.com
[email protected] May 21, 2023
Delicious! No vampires will get me tonight (or maybe for the next couple days).
 
Markop
Markop May 16, 2023
there is only one word to describe adding mayo to a caesar salad: I can’t say it, out of respect to the author
 
judy
judy May 13, 2023
I make a ceasar-type salad just about every night. Throw chicken or shrimp or ham or beef int the mix when I have left over's. I like my dressing with a little mayo, lemon juice, Wooster, dijon, garlic, black cracked pepper. We have moved on from just romain lettuce to whatever mixed leaves we can find. Add in a few tomatoes, croutons and parmesan. the dressing and cheese make the salad, and the rest, as my father said, can be made from stuff one wants to clean out of the fridge. So good. It had become an almost nightly first course. We always add raw chopped air fry veggies to up the nutrition content and crunch factor.
 
Lynn
Lynn April 20, 2023
Absolutely delicious! I cheated and used half a rotisserie chicken, which was a perfect amount. Two days later when I made it again (because had the other half of the chicken) I ran out of mayo and used half Greek yogurt, which was undetectable. Husband loved it!
 
mimolette
mimolette March 29, 2023
Wow, wow, wow! Great genius and keeper of a recipe. Thank you Ali and Kristen.
 
noramaye
noramaye January 30, 2023
This was so good! I love caesar salads but had never made one at home before. I loved everything about it & followed the recipe as written. In the future I'll make it with chicken breasts because after a few days in the fridge, the chicken thighs were a little slimy. I didn't think that coating the chicken in the sauce did much for the chicken (& it made it hard to cook on stainless steel) so in the future I will just season the chicken as I normally would & pan fry it.
 
Lisa T.
Lisa T. January 22, 2023
I made this today and the only substitution was Worcestershire instead of soy sauce. I made my own mayonnaise with avocado oil and otherwise followed both the recipe and the procedure. Tossing the lettuce with lemon juice and salt prior to dressing was a revelation. This is a great iteration of Caesar salad. I loved it!
 
Annie
Annie September 25, 2022
Wonderfully delicious Caesar salad - dressing. Oh my so good. The dressing was tasty on BLT sandwiches the next day, and then slathered on broiled swordfish the day after. And then sadly it was gone. : (
 
MBE
MBE June 13, 2022
Delicious! The only change I would make would be to toast the croutons in the drippings from cooking the chicken. One less skillet to clean and they could soak up all that yumminess! Easy to do while chicken is resting.
 
brushjl
brushjl May 30, 2022
Omg fantastic. I followed the recipe exactly, except for the anchovies (sorry!), and it was still delicious. I used duke's mayonnaise, my favorite. Really really great caesar salad.
 
Marian M.
Marian M. May 11, 2022
My new go-to Caesar dressing. I haven’t tried it with the chicken yet. Oh, don’t worry that’s next. As a previous commenter mentioned, “adding lemon to lettuce, genius!” I had extra lemon juice so I added to the dressing. Oh so delish!. Made the salad for an impromptu dinner party; went together quickly, even with the homemade croutons. The tip for using sliced bread, then cutting into cubes after, genius! Thank you.
 
Clare C.
Clare C. May 1, 2022
I guess I wouldn’t call this marinating the chicken. It’s more like a dipping sauce. Although, given the fat content of chicken thighs, it probably wouldn’t make much difference as far as juiciness of the chicken is concerned.

It would be worthwhile to actually use the dipping sauce as a marinade for chicken breast. I know chicken breasts have fallen out of favor with gourmands, who no longer eat them, but some of us still like them, especially when they have their moisture content increased by marinating.
 
robyn
robyn January 21, 2023
Chicken tenderloins are delicious in this recipe
 
draya3
draya3 May 1, 2022
This salad was just insanely good. That squeeze of lemon on the romaine is truly genius!
 
Noreen
Noreen April 30, 2022
The recipe looks very delicious! What knife are you using? I’m looking for one just like that and would appreciate recommendations(s). Thanks!
 
meli6
meli6 April 28, 2022
When I read this recipe I thought it was brilliant. Easy weeknight dinner. A new take on Ceasar salad. So I purchased the book. Followed the recipe exactly, my family loved it. Looking forward to cooking recipes from my new cookbook.
 
cabirdy
cabirdy April 26, 2022
My husband thought this was of "restaurant quality". I subbed about 1/2 Greek yogurt for the mayo...I felt like that was too much mayo for us and also didn't use all the dressing. Fried up some coarse panko with some olive oil and Old Bay seasoning to add extra crunch, and served extra anchovies on top. Divine.
 
Jane H.
Jane H. May 1, 2022
You pretty much changed the recipe.
 
bryan W.
bryan W. April 26, 2022
This recipe is perfection. I marinated the chicken for a few hours but otherwise followed to the letter. Brilliant