Easy Classic Caesar Salad Dressing in 5 Minutes + Quick Homemade Croutons

This homemade caesar salad dressing is creamy, tangy, and packed with real ingredients like garlic, parmesan, and olive oil for classic flavor. With just a few pantry staples, you can whip it up in minutes and enjoy a fresh, authentic dressing that makes any salad taste restaurant-worthy, especially with the quick homemade croutons!

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We love Caesar salad at our house- I think it may be Brian’s and the kid’s favorite salad (mine? probably chef’s salads or this roasted beet salad…), so you can guess we have it regularly.

There are lots of Caesar salad dressing recipes out there and I feel like I’ve tried most of them over the years when I was trying to find the “perfect” Caesar. There was always something about them that just wasn’t “right.” Too oily, too sweet (store-bought bottles, I’m looking at you…), too creamy, or just not enough “Caesar” flavor.

I keep coming back to one I created that seems close to the original (or what’s thought to be the original). In doing my research, I found that there are two issues with creating a Caesar dressing that mimics the original recipe:

Raw or Coddled Eggs

The original used a coddled egg (an egg submersed in boiling water for 1 minute) which most people, including me, don’t want to deal with. Some recipes use sour cream or yogurt to try and recreate the creaminess from the eggs, which is why the flavor always seemed “off” to me – those don’t taste like egg. I chose to use our homemade mayonnaise, which is egg-based so seemed closer to the original idea, without needing to coddle an egg.

Anchovies vs. Worcestershire

Reading the history of the dressing and salad’s origins revealed that Caesar Cardini used Worcestershire sauce for a hint of anchovy flavor when he developed the recipe, but that his brother expanded the recipe a few years later to include actual anchovies filets.

I don’t particularly like that Worcestershire sauce includes sugar and natural flavor so I usually add real anchovies to the dressing. TIP: buy a tube of anchovy paste so you can add the amount needed and not have to worry about leftovers from a can.

This is personal preference, though, and the recipe I’ve come up with allows for either– just in case you’re in the mood for Caesar Salad and don’t have anchovies in the house!

Recipe Ingredients

• Mayonnaise: homemade mayo or one with minimal ingredients.
• Lemon juice and garlic: classic dressing ingredients.
• Anchovies, anchovy paste, or Worcestershire sauce – choose which you like best.
• Parmesan cheese: adding some to the dressing helps create body, but you can leave it out if you prefer.
• Olive oil: TIP: some olive oils are more bitter than others and it will come through in the dressing – if this happens to you, you can add a bit of honey to counteract the bitterness.
• Sweet onion – optional but my favorite addition.

Make Caesar Salad Dressing

I’ve talked about how simple salad dressings are, and this is Caesar salad dressing no exception.

1. Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced and everything blended.

2. Then add the oil in a slow stream as the motor is running to emulsify the dressing together.

ALTERNATE METHOD: I now simply add all the ingredients to a wide-mouth pint jar and use a hand-held immersion blender to mix right in the jar – so easy!

Bottle and use. Yep. That’s it.

It will store for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator, though it never lasts that long for us.

Quick Homemade Croutons (You’ll never go back to bought)

Why make your own croutons? It’s not because it’s cheaper (though it is), or to control the ingredients (though that’s great) – it’s simply because they TASTE AMAZING.

Seriously, homemade croutons are nothing like the dry, hard-to-eat bread squares sold in bags (which are also often loaded with questionable flavors – and lots of salt).

Croutons are also crazy-easy to make and are a great way to use up older bread that’s too dry for fresh eating (homemade artisan bread or sourdough are incredible as croutons, but any bread makes better croutons than you can buy).

Steps for Homemade Croutons in Minutes

1. Cut 2 pieces (or more) of bread into cubes and place in a small bowl (2 minutes).
2. Drizzle about a teaspoon of olive oil (or garlic olive oil) over the cubes (or use a spray olive oil) and sprinkle with a seasoning – we like our basic spice rub (1 minute).
3. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes (less for more chewy croutons, more for more crunchy – you get to choose!) – 10 min. OR air fry at 350-400 degrees for 4-6 minutes, tossing at the halfway mark.
4. Cool and toss on salad!

So, do you have 3 minutes of time to make croutons that are WAY better than store bought? Yeah, me, too!

Ideas for Serving Caesar Salad Dressing

• Coat romaine lettuce, parmesan, sweet onion, and croutons for a classic Caesar salad.
• Bacon Caesar Slaw
• Quick & Easy Caesar Chicken Salad – for Wraps, Sandwiches and More

I hope you like this caesar salad dressing as much as we do – please leave a review and rating so we can all know how you like it!

More Easy Salad Dressing Recipes

• Best Homemade Ranch Dressing and dip
• Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
• 5-minute Easy Vinaigrette Salad Dressing- 1 recipe 4 ways!

This recipe was originally published in 2011.

 

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