Welcome to my salad heaven
Caesar’s salad is my favorite salad. I always order it when I go out to eat. But when you eat out you never know what you are getting. Traditionally Ceasar is made with olive oil but some places use an inflammatory oil like canola or canola mayo because it’s cheaper. And of course those croutons are never gluten-free or Paleo.
So I decided to make a healthier homemade version of this salad using pastured eggs, avocado oil and Paleo croutons. I also added bacon and tomato to make at BLT version of Caesar’s salad! Why not?? It’s my kitchen.
Bacon Lettuce and tomato cAesar salad
CAESAR dressing Ingredients
4 to 5 anchovies plus 1 teaspoon of the oil they’re packed in or use 1 Tablespoon of anchovy paste (this is the Anchovy Paste I recommend)
1 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
2 raw egg yolks
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of avocado oil (use 1/2 cup of olive oil if you don’t have avocado oil, but the avocado oil is great at cutting the olive taste)
Optional: 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Optional: If you have homemade Paleo mayonaise, add a Tablespoon or two to the dressing.
How to
To make the dressing, mix the ingredients in a regular blender or use an immersion blender.
The immersion blender is easier to use because the oil doesn’t need to be slowly poured in (tempered) like it does in the blender. I bought my immersion blender so I could make my own mayo, but ended up using it for everything, including making smoothies, sauces and soups. This is the Immersion Hand Blender I use.
Taste and see if it needs more lemon (acidity) anchovies (salt) or mustard (spice) according to you tastes and add what it needs.
For a traditional Caesars salad pour dressing over chopped romaine lettuce, add croutons (recipe posted below) and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or if you are dairy free, replace Parmesan with cashew “parmesan”.
For a Bacon Lettuce & Tomato CAESAR
Just add cooked, crumbled bacon and sliced tomatoes to the salad.
Chicken caesar salad
If you don’t want to go through the time consuming process of making croutons then distract your taste buds by adding creamy avocado and savory chicken.
The world’s best croutons
Croutons are the hardest part of making this salad. It requires baking some Paleo bread, cutting it in cubes and toasting it for a while. Any Paleo bread could do, but my favorite bread for croutons is made with potato flour. You can freeze the crouton and toast them when you’re ready to use them.
Get the bread recipe here and crouton instructions below.
Cube and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until golden brown.
And serve..
- The dressing
- 4 to 5 anchovies plus 1 teaspoon of the oil they're packed in or use 1 Tablespoon of anchovy paste (this is the Anchovy Paste I recommend)
- 1 Tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard
- 2 raw egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- ¼ cup of avocado oil (use ½ cup of olive oil if you don't have avocado oil, but the avocado oil is great at cutting the olive taste)
- Optional: 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and ½ teaspoon of black pepper
- Optional: If you have homemade Paleo mayonaise, add a Tablespoon or two to the dressing.
- The salad
- Romaine lettuce leaves
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Add ins
- Crumbled cooked bacon
- Tomatoes
- Grilled chicken
- Diced avocado
- To make the dressing, mix the ingredients in a regular blender or use an immersion blender.
- The immersion blender is easier to use because the oil doesn’t need to be slowly poured in (tempered) like it does in the blender. I bought my immersion blender so I could make my own mayo, but ended up using it for everything, including making smoothies, sauces and soups. This is the Immersion Hand Blender I use.
- Taste and see if it needs more lemon (acidity) anchovies (salt) or mustard (spice) according to you tastes and add what it needs.
- For a traditional Caesars salad pour dressing over chopped romaine lettuce, add croutons (recipe posted below) and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- For a Bacon Lettuce & Tomato CAESAR
- Just add cooked, crumbled bacon and sliced tomatoes to the salad.
- Chicken Caesar salad
- If you don’t want to go through the time consuming process of making croutons then distract your taste buds by adding creamy avocado and savory chicken.
