Chicken Caesar Salad
There’s so much to love about a Caesar salad. There’s something about this salad that just hits differently than other salads do. Maybe it’s the crunch of crisp, fresh romaine paired with little other than a lemony, salty dressing. Maybe it’s the salty, briny parmesan cheese mixed throughout. Maybe it’s just the sweet simplicity that you can achieve from salads with only a few ingredients. Whatever it is, we know we’re not the only ones who dig it - as you can find this salad on the majority of restaurant menus (Italian or not!).
The struggle with traditional Caesar salads when you’re trying to lose weight and eat healthier is the dressing can be heavy and calorie-dense - and there’s usually altogether too much of it! In our lighted version, we’re incorporating an already healthier, lighter pre-packaged Caesar dressing (that’s right, you don’t have to make your own from scratch) and making it a little brighter and more nutritious with healthy oils rich in omegas that nourish the body. We’ve also taken the carb heavy croutons and swapped them for crumbled crackers in a more reasonable serving size that still delivers crunch without quite as many carbs. With the right balance of dressing to cheese to vegetables to croutons/crunch, you can have a salad that’s as delicious as it is good for you!
Our recipe below is written for 1 serving for convenience, but you can easily adapt this recipe to feed 4 or make 4 servings at a time! The cooking instructions are the same whether you are cooking for 1 or for 4. Keep in mind you may need a larger bowl to toss your salad in or toss your salad in batches. Ingredients for 4 can be found at the bottom of this recipe!
Some fun variations for this one:
- We used coconut oil in our recipe today, but this one tastes excellent with extra virgin olive oil
- Our recipe is all romaine, but if that's too much for you, you could do a mix of romaine and tomatoes
- Chicken is our protein of choice, but you could also swap it for a serving of grilled shrimp or tofu
- Skip the meat/meat-alternative altogether and go "all cheese" by doubling the cheese amount
Salad Ingredients:
- 1-1.5 oz. Parmesan cheese, shaved or grated*
- 2-3 oz. chicken breast, cooked*
- 8 oz. romaine lettuce, washed and chooped
- 50 calories saltines, melba toasts, or other hard cracker
*MRC Clients: refer to your menu for exact protein portion size. This recipe uses 1/2 serving hard cheese and 1/2 serving chicken breast.
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 TBSP Bolthouse Farms Caesar dressing
- 1 TBSP oil
- 1 TBSP water
- Juice from one quarter of a lemon (about 1/2 TBSP)
- Optional: 1 clove garlic, grated
Instructions:
- Place washed, chopped lettuce in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients until emulsified and then toss with the lettuce.
- Top with cooked chicken, parmesan cheese, a sprinkle of salt and cracked black pepper, and additional lemon juice if desired. Crumble crackers overtop and enjoy!
Makes 1 Serving | Serving Size: entire recipe | One Serving Replaces: 1 protein, 1 healthy fat, 1 carbohydrte, and 1 vegetable
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Making this recipe for more than one? Here's ingredients sized up to feed four! Follow the same instruction steps as above, and split your dressed salads equally among four bowls intead of one!
Salad Ingredients for 4:
- 4-6 oz. Parmesan cheese, shaved or grated*
- 8-12 oz. chicken breast, cooked*
- 1.5 pounds (24 oz.) romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
- 200 calories saltines, melba toasts, or other hard cracker
*MRC Clients: refer to your menu for exact protein portion size. This 4x recipe uses 2 servings hard cheese and 2 servings chicken breast.
Dressing Ingredients for 4:
- 1 3/4 TBSP Bolthouse Farms Caesar dressing
- 1/4 C. oil
- 1/4 C. water
- Juice from one lemon (about 2 TBSP)
- Optional: 2 cloves garlic, grated
