This Caesar salad with tender chicken, crispy bacon, crunchy homemade croutons and my easy caesar dressing makes a lovely summer dinner, packed with flavour.
It’s filling, but not too heavy, so it makes a great lunch too!
Fresh, crunchy lettuce with savoury salty morsels of chicken and bacon, all topped with a creamy, tangy dressing and crusty-herby croutons. What more could you want in a salad?
Made fresh, with all those flavours combined, it makes the perfect summer lunch or dinner.
📋 Ingredients
Lettuce – We use romaine lettuce for this recipe because it’s quite sweet and combines perfectly with the dressing. You can use whatever variety of sweet lettuce you like as long as the prepared amount is about the same.
Caesar Dressing – Click here to go to the recipe.
Crispy Croutons – Click here to go to the recipe.
How to make it:
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First, cook the bacon in a pan until crispy. Once cooked, put aside on a chopping board.
- Then, season and cook the chicken until lightly golden and cooked through. Once cooked, put aside on the chopping board with the bacon.
- Chop up the bacon and chicken into bite-sized pieces and allow to cool before tossing all the salad ingredients together.
- Serve topped with shaved parmesan and extra dressing.
Pro Tip
Washing the lettuce in ice-cold water, then patting dry with kitchen towels will help to preserve its fresh crispiness.
It only takes 20 minutes to whip up and packs a mighty flavour punch.
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- While this is a fantastic dish on its own, it serves particularly well as a side with these dishes:
- Summer Tomato Pizza
- Crispy Chicken Burger
- Easy Baked Pesto Chicken
My teenagers, who usually need a bit of persuasion to eat salad, will very happily wolf this down for their lunch.
🍲 More fantastic Summer Dishes
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Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tsp oil
- 6 rashers streaky bacon
- 2 chicken breasts about 175g (6.2oz) each, sliced in half lengthways, to make four flat fillets
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 heads Romaine lettuce washed, dried and sliced into strips (see note on how to do this)
- 100 g (3.5oz) crispy croutons – store bought or make your own using my crouton recipe
- 4 tbsp Caesar dressing – store bought or make your own using my Caesar dressing recipe
To Serve:
- 4 tbsp shaved Parmesan
- extra Caesar dressing
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, over a medium-high heat.2 tsp oil
- Add the bacon and fry for 5-6 minutes, turning a couple of times, until the bacon is browned and crispy.6 rashers streaky bacon
- Remove the bacon from the pan and place on a chopping board.
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the salt and pepper.2 chicken breasts, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Add the chicken to the pan you fried the bacon in.
- Fry over a medium-high heat, for 6-7 minutes, turning once, until the chicken is lightly golden and cooked through.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and place on a chopping board.
- Chop the bacon and chicken into chunky pieces and allow to cool slightly.
- Add the chopped lettuce, chicken, bacon, croutons and caesar dressing to a large bowl.2 heads Romaine lettuce, 100 g (3.5oz) crispy croutons, 4 tbsp Caesar dressing
- Toss together until everything is evenly coated in the dressing.
- Divide between four bowl and sprinkle on the shaved Parmesan. Serve with extra Caesar dressing.4 tbsp shaved Parmesan, extra Caesar dressing
Notes
Slicing the Romaine
Slice the end of the romaine lettuce and discard. Separate the leaves and place in a colander. Rinse well under cold water, then give the colander a shake to remove the excess water. Place the leaves on pieces of kitchen paper and pat dry. Layer the leaves on top of each other and slice into strips (I slice mine into 1½cm – 2 cm thick strips).Can you air-fry the chicken & bacon?
Yes, place the chicken and bacon in the air frier basket with the bacon on top of the chicken and air fry for 15-20 minutes at 180c. Remove the bacon when it is crisp (usually at the 15-18 minute mark) then place the chicken back in and allow to cook for an additional 5-10 minutes, until piping hot throughout and no longer pink in the middle.Can I make it ahead?
I don’t recommend making this ahead fully as the dressing can make the lettuce and croutons quite soggy. However, you can make the chicken and bacon ahead to refrigerate, just cool and store them in an air-tight container.How to scale up and scale down this recipe
This recipe can be doubled up for a crowd or halved for two people, sticking to the same ingredient ratios.The nutritional info is approximate per serving, this recipe serves 4, including one serving of crispy croutons, and 1 tbsp of Caesar dressing per serving. It does not include the serving suggestions of shaved parmesan and extra dressing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
A couple of swops to make this gluten free, even making my own caesar dressing. Loved this classic salad.