From-Scratch Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe

Chances are, your experience with Caesar salad dressing comes from a bottle or bistro.

Is it the dressing’s raw egg that home cooks find daunting—or the scratch recipe’s long list of odd ingredients?

Or maybe the anchovy?

Let me assuage your fears. One at a time.

I manage my raw egg-salmonella anxiety by using cage-free eggs. Free roaming chickens are less likely to come in contact with waste and risk contamination.

I also coddle the egg—quick boil to heat it through and kill bacteria—before using it raw. See photos and directions below.



The laundry list of ingredients? Truth is, with the exception of capers and anchovy paste, you very likely have all the dressing’s ingredients in your fridge and cupboards right now.



As for the anchovy, the dressing only needs a dab of anchovy paste for nuanced flavor. Even I—someone with a lifelong distaste for fish and all things fishy—am not put off by the half-teaspoon of anchovy paste that blends with—and is dominated by—the dressing’s mustard, capers, garlic and other strongly flavored ingredients.

Once you’ve assembled the makings, this creamy dressing requires only a few seconds’ whir in your mini-chopper or blender.



I think you’ll find From-Scratch Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe—adapted from The Reluctant Gourmet—well worth its small effort.

How to make your salad a full meal

Caesar Salad is a summer dinner staple here at Copywriters’ Kitchen.

We turn the basic romaine salad into a satisfying meal by serving it topped with strips of grilled or pan-fried grassfed chicken breast: Smear the chicken with a few tablespoons of dressing and let it marinate for a few hours before searing on the grill or in the pan.

Our family’s vegetarians enjoy the salad fortified with sliced hardboiled eggs or chickpeas.

And we toss in plenty of crunchy homemade croutons.

The From-Scratch Caesar Salad Dressing-and-crouton combo is such a hit, sometimes we make it into a stand-on-its-own savory snack.

After you’ve tried it, I bet you’ll want to do as I do: Double this From-Scratch Caesar Salad Dressing recipe. The dressing keeps beautifully for a week or longer when stored covered in the fridge.

From-Scratch Caesar Salad Dressing recipe

1 egg
½-1 teaspoon anchovy paste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Juice of 1 lemon (4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice)
2 medium garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2/3 cup virgin olive oil
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1. To coddle egg, fill a small saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Using a spoon, gently place the egg in the boiling water. Let egg simmer for 50 seconds. Remove the egg from the pan and run cold water over the egg until it’s cool enough to handle. Hold the egg over the bowl of your mini-chopper and slice it in half with a sharp knife. Scoop the egg into the bowl—you’ll notice a thin film of cooked egg adhering to the shell. This is fine—scoop it out as well and blend with the dressing.
2. Add anchovy paste—use as little or as much as you like—and the remaining ingredients to the mini chopper bowl. Whir until blended.

Place dressing in covered container and store in fridge until ready to use.

Makes about 1½ cups.