Chicken Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken Thighs Recipe
To make a salad more filling, cooks often add meat, poultry or seafood to the greens, herbs and vegetables. A familiar simple salad very often takes on a new flavor and look, and the addition only makes the dish better: it stays recognizable yet becomes something quite special. Chicken Caesar salad is one of these variations.
The famous classic American Caesar salad is the immortal creation of Caesar Cardini from Tijuana, who brought together wheat croutons, romaine leaves and Parmesan. A special dressing of coddled egg, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and a few other ingredients crowned the masterpiece. The version considered classic has no anchovies, no chicken and no hard-boiled eggs. On the menus of good restaurants the version with chicken is called just that, chicken Caesar salad, while simpler places may add almost anything to it.
Chicken Caesar is made almost the same way as the classic salad, although cooks stray from the original and adjust the recipe to their taste, and the changes only make a salad with fried chicken better. Most often they change the dressing, or use other kinds of lettuce instead of romaine. The chicken salad is served slightly warm so that the seared pieces of chicken stay tender.
We'll make our chicken Caesar our own way without straying far from the classic. For the chicken we use dark thigh meat. You can use chicken breast if you like, but it's a bit drier. We'll prepare the chicken and cook it through the way you make a grilled chicken cutlet, with no breading. Cooked this way, the chicken salad with herbs turns out tasty and fragrant.
Chicken Caesar salad can be served as an appetizer at room temperature, and it's a great way to start a meal. With more chicken, the salad works as a main course too.
The main components can be made ahead, so that when the time comes you just toss everything together, add the dressing and serve. All the ingredients for chicken Caesar keep for a short while: the chicken and croutons will have time to cool, and the greens are best covered with plastic wrap and put in the fridge. It's important to dress the salad right before serving so the croutons don't go soggy.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Romaine lettuce 1 bunch
- French baguette 0.5
- Chicken thighs 3
- Parmesan 50 g
- Mixed herbs (parsley, basil, cilantro) 0.5 bunch
- Olive oil 50 ml
- Worcestershire sauce 0.5 tsp
- Lemon juice 1 tbsp
- Salt, black pepper, sweet paprika to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- I'm not a fan of white chicken meat, I just don't like it, so I prefer to make chicken Caesar with chicken thighs. They have enough meat to make the salad filling. In season, when all the vegetables are available, we use romaine, and in winter almost always leaf lettuce or oak leaf. For variety we add quite a lot of mixed herbs, mostly basil and parsley, and often cilantro.
- Toasting the croutons
- We get the best toasted croutons from a French baguette. Very fresh bread can be tricky to toast, so the baguette should sit for about a day. It dries out a little and the croutons come out perfect. Cut the crust off the baguette and cut the crumb into cubes, the size you'd cut bread for garlic rye croutons to go with beer.
- Brush the bottom of a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil, heat it and add the bread cubes. Stirring constantly, toast the bread until golden and dry. Tip the hot croutons onto a plate and cover with a paper towel until completely cool.
- Preparing the chicken
- Thaw the chicken thighs if they were frozen. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Carefully cut out the bone and all the cartilage from each thigh; it's unpleasant to bite into in a salad. Remove the skin and trim any visible fat. Pound the meat very lightly. The goal isn't to make it thinner or break the fibers, only to even out the thickness of the pieces.
- Salt the chicken lightly and sprinkle with a pinch of sweet paprika and black pepper. Brush a grill pan with a little vegetable oil and heat it well. Put the chicken thigh pieces in the pan and cook on both sides until done. Chicken cooks quickly, but remember that the meat for chicken Caesar must be fully cooked. Let the cooked chicken cool completely.
- Dressing
- Unlike the original Caesar dressing, we decided not to use a coddled egg or garlic. In a small bowl, mix the olive oil left from toasting the bread, lemon juice and a little Worcestershire sauce. Add a pinch of salt, some pepper and a pinch of paprika. Whisk the mixture with a fork; it emulsifies well. The dressing is ready. By the way, it's best to make the dressing right before serving the salad.
- Instructions
- Wash the romaine leaves and all the herbs and dry them thoroughly. No moisture should get into the salad. Then tear the lettuce into pieces with your fingers, not too big and not too small. Don't cut it with a knife: it loses juice and the chicken salad gets soggy. Do the same with the herbs. Remove the tough stems and tear the leaves with your fingers; these can be small. Mix the romaine with the herbs and season with a pinch of salt. Toss gently.
- Cut the cooled fried chicken into thick strips across the grain. A very sharp knife works best so the chicken doesn't fall apart. Add the sliced grilled chicken to the lettuce and herbs and toss gently. Get salad bowls or plates ready for serving.
- Serving the salad
- Put the green salad with fried chicken on each plate. By the way, the salad doesn't stick to your hands, so you can move it without a spoon. It's best to pile it in the center of the plate. Drizzle the chicken Caesar with the dressing. No need to toss. Add the croutons around the edge of the plate and sprinkle the whole salad with finely grated Parmesan.
- The salad is ready to serve as an appetizer. With more meat, chicken Caesar can easily be served as a main course. The salad doesn't need chilling, and the chicken in it can be slightly warm.
| Serves: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 178 |
| Prep: | 30 mins |
| Cook: | 15 mins |
| Total: | 45 mins |
| Category: | Salads |
| Cuisine: | American cuisine |
| Rating: |
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4.7
(8)
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