Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing ♥

Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing, another easy, DIY salad dressing ♥ A Veggie Venture. Low Carb. Weight Watchers Friendly. Gluten Free.
How to make Caesar Salad dressing, a quick and easy mix of mostly pantry ingredients plus anchovies! If you love Caesar salads out, it's super-easy to get "good" at making them at home.


For cooks, the possibilities for virgin culinary experiences are endless. The first roast chicken, the handmade pasta, the first pizza at home, the first pie crust — and now for me, the first Caesar salad.

For all the times I've raved about vegetables with anchovies — asparagus with anchovies? cauliflower with anchovies? roasted peppers with anchovies? slow-roasted tomato and lamb stew with anchovies? — it's thus no surprise that my first-time experience with Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing left me half speechless, with strength only to beg, "Will you pass the salad, please?" All that goodness in 15 minutes flat. Call me Caesar's bride.

I kinda sorta almost followed a recipe or two — well, except that those recipes called for up to a cup of olive oil. I used only two tablespoons — still, this felt perfectly balanced to me, maybe a tad tart but not unpleasingly. Since then, I've boosted the oil up to four tablespoons (that's my taste, you do yours, naturally) but my goodness, what is up with a f-r-e-a-k-i-n-g cup of oil?

But now that seminal Caesar has happened, can a seminal Green Goddess be far behind?



HOMEMADE CAESAR SALAD DRESSING

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time to table: 15 minutes
Makes 3/4 cup

DRESSING
2 cloves garlic
4 anchovies (don't even think about skipping these! without anchovies it might be salad dressing but it's not Caesar salad dressing)
2 tablespoons lemon juice (apple cider vinegar works too)
1 large egg (if you don't eat raw eggs, don't!)
1 teaspoon coarse Dijon mustard
1/4 cup (18g) freshly grated Parmesan
2 - 4 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt if needed

Romaine lettuce leaves, preferably crisp center leaves
Additional grated Parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper

DRESSING In a mini food processor, combine the garlic and anchovies until both are super fine, doing them together first gives the blade something to grab onto. Add the lemon juice, egg and 1/4 cup Parmesan and process until smooth. If you can, drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil through the opening, letting it incorporate slowly; if you can't, don't worry, just chuck in the oil and process until the dressing becomes thick and creamy. Take a quick taste, add a little more lemon juice, mustard, Parmesan or olive oil until the dressing tastes good to you.

TO SERVE Drizzle each leaf with a bit of dressing, just enough to coat (some times it's easier to just move the dressing to a bowl and then dip the leaves into the dressing). Arrange the leaves on a pretty plate, sprinkle a little extra Parmesan at the base, sprinkle the fresh pepper. Enjoy!

ALANNA's TIPS Choose another dressing for meal prep, perhaps the wonderful My Everyday Creamy Herb Salad Dressing? A Caesar dressing should be used up right away, that's because of the raw egg.






A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Must try! Already saved to del.icio.us!

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  2. Dear Caesar's wife, Lovely salad most worthy of a Caesar!

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  3. Have you tried using anchovy paste (the kind that comes in a tube) in place of anchovies? Sometimes it's a good alternative for folks who are squeamish about anchovies. And you're right, you absolutely cannot make Caesar salad without the anchovy flavor! Thanks for this lovely recipe.

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  4. I am so grateful to Kalyn for having me led over here, what a great food blog, I get vegetable cravings for breakfast already!
    Had to chuckle about the idea of adding up to one cup of olive oil to that wonderful spinach salad. As much as I love olive oil, I'm with you, less is more here. :-)
    Looking forward to future visits,
    Merisi

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  5. I *love* Caesar salads but have been too afraid to try making it at home. Your's sounds wonderful!

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  6. I am definitely having this for lunch tomorrow, thanks!

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  7. I thought I would share my version, for readers who are vegetarians and also for those who want to try a version closer to the "original" which was reportedly anchovy-free:

    Use red wine vinegar instead of cider vinegar
    add 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
    increase olive oil up to 1/2 cup (to your own liking)
    add 1/4 cup grated parmesan
    omit anchovies and egg

    Prepare as in the Veggie Venture recipe, except after oil is blended in blend in the parmesan.

    I "fried" parmesan slivers in a cast iron pan until they are crunchy and tossed a few on top of the dressed greens for crunch.

    My husband (a meat eater) couldn't tell this was anchovy-less!

    Seashell

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  8. Fabulous dressing!! Loved it. From now on this is going to be my standard caesar dressing. (I thought I had eggs in the house, but didn't, so I used a couple tsp. of water instead...not ideal, but it was fine and next time with the egg it will be even better.)

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  9. To really make this "traditional", try making it by hand. It's fun to see how all the ingredients come together.

    First, mash the garlic, chopped, with the anchovies and a pinch of salt. Then, add the egg and beat in lemon juice from 1/2 a large lemon with a fork. The egg proteins break up and you get a wonderfully smelling and looking yellow mass of delicious. Add mustard, then add oil at a drizzle while whisking in with a fork. You can use more or less oil depending on the thickness desired. Season with parmesan and pepper after tossing with lettuce.

    I do not use vinegar, but prefer using lemon juice, and leave out anchovies sometimes - still delicious. The lemon keeps the egg from going bad and I have kept the dressing for up to 3 days in the fridge.

    I can whip this up in about 5 minutes and love how fresh it tastes. I will never buy caesar dressing again.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna