For A Deliciously Cohesive Caesar Salad, Marinate Chicken In The Dressing

The chicken Caesar salad is the king of salads. Though the salad part is a simple amalgamation of lettuce, croutons, chicken, and parmesan, the dressing is a certified umami bomb, packing anchovies, cheese, oil, lemon juice, and egg yolks into a divinely creamy mix. If the best part of the salad is the dressing, why aren't we doubling down on this signature flavor? This is easy to accomplish by incorporating it into another element of the dish, namely in marinating the chicken breasts. 

All of the ingredients in Caesar dressing are ideally suited to giving our poultry a perfectly flavorful exterior. The saltiness found in the parmesan and anchovies seasons the chicken, while acidic lemon juice also helps add a dose of tangy flavor. You don't even need to marinate it for long. Simply coat each piece thoroughly with Caesar dressing and then cook until done. Whether you're roasting or grilling your chicken, you'll have the cut primed for adorning your Caesar salad. 

For this meal, store-bought Caesar dressing will work well but a homemade version would bring a particularly powerful flavor punch. Just make sure to assemble your dressing well in advance so it has time to properly meld all the flavors together. Next, consider your poultry and how you'd like to cook it. As mentioned before, this hack is flexible for both the grill and the oven and it also works with both boneless thighs and chicken breasts. So you have plenty of options, just make sure to temp your bird as it cooks, to ensure you don't dry it out. 

One final tip? Make sure to hold back at least half of the dressing so that you can also have some for your salad because the dressing that comes in contact with the raw chicken isn't safe for consumption. If you love the results of this salad, consider using this hack with your other favorite dressing and salad combos, like bleu cheese dressing or Thousand Island. Consider the Caesar just the gateway dressing to plenty of possibilities.