Kale Caesar Salad With Chicken and Homemade Caesar Dressing (No Garlic)

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Easy Kale Caesar Salad with Chicken and Homemade Caesar Dressing Recipe (No Garlic!)

This crispy Kale Caesar Salad with a homemade Caesar Dressing is a delicious way to spice up this classic salad recipe! The salad dressing doesn’t use any garlic, and you probably have everything to make it in your fridge already. This is a delicious quick and easy lunch salad, or a great dinner salad to throw together when you’re short on time or just don’t really feel like cooking.

This Kale Caesar Salad vs. Classic Caesar Salad

Side by side, the main difference between a regular Caesar Salad and this Kale Caesar salad is in the name – kale. It’s normally served using romaine lettuce, but I love kale and wanted to incorporate it into a salad in a subtle way that would cut its inherent bitterness. Caesar dressing is a delicious way to level out the taste of kale because it’s salty, creamy, and a little tangy.

Homemade Caesar Dressing – No Garlic

This specific homemade Caesar Dressing does not have any garlic in it, making it a little different from the classic salad dressing as well. Garlic is a great flavor-amplifier, so if you love the taste then adding in a teaspoon of garlic will give it that additional punch! I created this dressing recipe without it to omit the garlic aftertaste and keep it a lower FODMAP dressing since kale is already a cruciferous vegetable (AKA, I wanted to create a delicious salad that wouldn’t cause too much bloating!).

This caesar salad dressing recipe also calls for olive oil, which is unusual in some cases for this particular salad. I wanted to cut the mayonnaise with something a little lighter, but didn’t omit it completely to keep that classes creamy consistency that caesar dressing is known for. Instead of adding in parmesan cheese, I opted for pecorino to give the dressing a little extra punch so that the flavors balanced even with the substitutions made.

One last little addition that I made to this salad dressing was adding whole grain mustard and honey to the recipe. I love the flavor and crunch that the mustard adds to the salad, while the honey adds a little sweetness to balance the acidity of the lemon juice out! The seedy texture of the mustard also gives the dressing a nice mouth feel that adds crunch to the salad that crouton bits normally would.

Making This Kale Caesar Recipe Your Own

I am a firm believer that cooking is not prescriptive, so if there are certain things you want to add or omit from this recipe – give it a go! I used chicken in the recipe to make it a hearty salad that could be enjoyed as an entree, but it can easily be left out or substituted for roasted garbanzo beans, tofu, steak, or salmon. If you want to make it even heartier, then you can add this salad to a tortilla and enjoy it as a wrap, or layer it between some fresh flatbread bread to enjoy it as an Italian-style piadini.

If you want to make this recipe meal-prep friendly, portion your dressing into smaller dressing containers to enjoy during the time you’re going to eat so that the kale doesn’t get saturated and soggy!

Kale Caesar Salad Ingredients:

• Kale
• Grilled Chicken (optional)
• Mayonnaise
• Olive Oil
• Fresh Lemon
• Anchovy Paste
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Whole Grain Mustard (Seedy Mustard)
• Honey
• Salt
• Pepper
• Pecorino Romano Cheese

How to Make The Kale Caesar Salad and Homemade Caesar Dressing:

Prepare Your Salad Base: Start by washing your kale and chopping it into smaller strips so that it’s easy to eat. Cook your chicken and let it cool then dice it up into cubes as well. Lastly, you’ll want to grate your Pecorino cheese in a bowl and set it aside for your salad and dressing.

Make Your Dressing: In a bowl (preferably one with a spouted top that’s easy to pour) combine your olive oil, mayo, mustard, lemon juice, anchovy paste, Worcestershire sauce, pecorino cheese, honey, salt, and pepper and mix using a whisk or fork until everything is combined. It should look like a creamy, off-white Caesar dressing. Taste and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.

Assemble Your Salad: Add your kale, chicken, and pecorino to a large salad bowl. Pour your homemade caesar salad dressing over the top and toss it using tongs or salad servers until the dressing has lightly coated the entire salad.

Garnish and Serve: Grate some additional pecorino cheese over the top as an added garnish, and enjoy!

Tools:

• Salad Bowl
• Salad Servers

Recipe for Kale Caesar Salad with Chicken and Homemade Caesar Dressing:

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