This amazing Caesar Salad features a flavorful (egg-free!) dressing, garlicky homemade croutons, and fresh shaved Parmesan atop crunchy hearts of romaine!
Course Salad
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 0 minutesminutes
Total Time 20 minutesminutes
Servings 12(2-tablespoon) servings dressing; approximately 1 ½ cups dressing
Prepare the dressing by placing the garlic in a small food processor (or blender) and pulsing until minced. Add the Parmesan, anchovy paste, lemon juice, Dijon, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Puree until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary. Add the extra-virgin olive oil (stream it in while running, if your food processor/blender opens on top) and blend on high until emulsified. Taste and adjust seasonings, adding more salt and pepper, if desired. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate until ready to use.
Just before serving, tear or chop the romaine into bite-sized pieces and place in a very large bowl. Shake the dressing well and drizzle about half of it over the romaine; toss to coat. Top with desired amount of croutons, shaved Parmesan, and additional dressing, to taste. Season with fresh ground pepper, toss to combine, and serve immediately.
Notes
You may use a (5-ounce) tub of freshly shaved Parmesan or shave a small block of Parmesan with a vegetable peeler. Add the croutons, Parmesan, and dressing to the salad to taste...it's okay to have some leftover if your salad has enough.
Some Caesar Salad aficionados swear by leaving the romaine leaves whole, so feel free to do so if you wish. I find the salad cumbersome to eat with whole leaves (particularly for my kids), so I prefer chopping or tearing my romaine.
This recipe can easily be halved. When entertaining, I make an entire recipe of this salad to serve at once. But when making it for a family dinner, I prepare an entire recipe of the dressing and then just drizzle it over individual servings of salad.
The dressing keeps in the refrigerator for about a week and we enjoy the leftover dressing over more salads on subsequent nights. Sometimes I even add grilled or baked sliced chicken for a main dish of Chicken Caesar Salad.
The nutrition facts below have been calculated for a 2-tablespoon serving of dressing. The romaine, croutons, and extra shaved Parmesan are not included in these nutrition facts since the amounts used may be variable.