Chicken Caesar salad is a favorite of mine. Today I will walk you through making it along with homemade croutons. this recipe uses basic ingredients from your pantry. I use chicken breast for this recipe but breast tenders will work as well. Key to having great tasting chicken is to marinate it a day or at least an hour before cooking it.
Best chicken Caesar salad with homemade croutons
Course: MainDifficulty: Easy4
servings20
minutes15
minutes35
minutesIn our household dinners are usually set up self serve buffet style! For this meal I set up large bowls with salad mix, chicken and croutons. There are usually no leftovers! You can use more lettuce but with homemade croutons this salad is quite filling so one head of lettuce is plenty! Please let me know in comments if you’ve tried this recipe and I hope you love it as much as we do! Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts cut up into bite size pieces
1 cup of Caesar salad dressing divided(1/2 cup used to marinate chicken)
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 large head of Romaine lettuce
1 rustic bread baguette, enough to make about 4 cups when cubed (bit less or more is fine)
1/4 cup of olive oil for croutons (the kind used for cooking, do not use extra virgin olive oil)
1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix for croutons
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil for cooking chicken, skip if using nonstick cookware
Directions
- Wash and cut chicken breast meat into bite size pieces, place in a lidded container.
- Pour 1/2 cup of Caesar dressing over chicken and stir to get pieces evenly coated. Cover, refrigerate for at least 1 hour for better flavor marinate in the fridge overnight. I let it marinate for 2 days this time and it turned out so flavorful and delicious!
- Preheat the oven to 400F and line baking sheet with foil.
- Slice bread baguette and cut into cubes (crouton size).
- Mix dry Italian herb mix with olive oil in small bowl, set aside.
- Place bread cubes in 1 gallon ziplock bag or a lidded container, drizzle oil-herb mixture over bread, close bag tightly and shake carefully but vigorously to get bread pieces evenly coated.
- Spread coated bread cubes onto baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes. Let cool. I like my croutons crunchy on the outside but softer on the inside. If you like them crunchy bake few min longer checking often.
- Wash and slice Romaine lettuce and place in a large serving bowl.
- Add Caesar dressing and shredded parmesan to the lettuce and mix well. Set aside.
- Preheat large frying pan or a pot, add olive oil(if using)and chicken.
- Cook chicken on high until you see golden-brown edges, turn heat down and cook until done. I cook it in two batches. Transfer it to a serving bowl. Dinner is done!
- Tips below!⬇️⬇️⬇️
- I use kitchen shears to trim and cut chicken breast.
- You can skip Italian herbs and use only olive oil to season croutons.
- I use deep nonstick pot to cook chicken to avoid splatter and make clean up easier! I love my T-Fal cookware and been using it for many years!
