Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons is a hearty and delicious main dish salad that’s way better than a traditional Caesar salad—and it’s topped with crispy homemade croutons!
Lately I’ve been all about salads (my waist is thanking me). Now that Mother Nature has started to realize it IS actually spring, she’s brought the warm weather to us. Hallelujah! Plus, I keep reminding myself that swimsuit season is just around the corner…and I’m NOT ready. For the warm weather? Yes. For the actual putting on my swimsuit and going to the pool where people would like…see me? Not so much. In fact, we just played the Yellow Polka Dot Bikini song for our girls yesterday because they think it’s funny. I’d never paid attention to the lyrics before: “She was afraid to come out of the locker…” Yeah, I can totally relate.
So salads it is. I had a Caesar salad for lunch today and we had this Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons for dinner last night. THIS salad, friends. It is, quite honestly, the heartiest, most delicious Chicken Caesar Salad I’ve ever had. You know how you have the traditional Caesar salad fixins, like romaine, Parmesan, croutons, and dressing? And sometimes you throw a few strips of chicken on it? Well, I’m here to tell you there’s a better way. There are so many other yummy things you can (and should) throw in your Caesar salad to amp up the flavor, textures, and overall freaking yumminess. Like fresh snipped basil, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, and bacon. Could it get any better? Oh, and the croutons? Forget the packaged, fakey stuff full of who knows what kind of ingredients you can’t pronounce. These homemade garlic and herb croutons are amazing and super simple to make—and you know exactly what’s in them.
So next time you get a hankering for a delicious main dish salad, you gotta try this Chicken Caesar Salad with Homemade Croutons. In fact, I’m already craving another one… 
- Garlic and Herb Croutons
- 4½-inch slices French bread, halved then cut into thirds
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
- ⅓ tsp salt
- Caesar Salad
- 1 head romaine, rinsed and torn
- ¼ cup shaved or shredded Parmesan, divided
- ½ cup matchstick carrots
- ¼ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cucumber, peeled and sliced, then quartered
- ¼ large red onion, diced
- Caesar dressing of your choice
- 1 cup cubed, cooked chicken (I used Tyson frozen grilled strips and zapped them in the microwave for 3 minutes)
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- ⅛ cup snipped fresh basil
- MAKE THE CROUTONS. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and add bread chunks, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and salt. Toss until chunks are lightly coated with butter. (You can spray with cooking spray if you need any more).
- Place chunks in a 13x9-inch baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Stir chunks and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove from pan and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- ASSEMBLE THE SALAD. In a large bowl, combine romaine, ⅛ cup of the Parmesan, carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion. Drizzle with Caesar dressing. Toss everything together until well combined.
- Separate salad mixture onto two plates. Top each salad with chicken, bacon, basil, and remaining ⅛ cup Parmesan. Enjoy!
