Gordon Ramsay’s caesar salad recipe is crisp lettuce with a proper anchovy and egg yolk dressing, cheesy Parmesan croutons and griddled chicken. It’s ready in about 30 minutes. It’s the Big Caesar Salad from Ultimate Home Cooking, and it earns the name.
In the book, Ramsay grates Parmesan onto the croutons while they’re still sizzling in the pan. He then coats them in a spoonful of dressing before they meet the leaves, creating what he calls “explosions of flavour throughout.” He also cooks this salad on YouTube, calling it “the ultimate American lunch.” The book and video don’t fully agree with each other, which I’ll get into below.
The whole recipe stands or falls on the emulsion. Egg yolk binds the oil and vinegar into a dressing thick enough to cling to every leaf. Every photo on this page is from my own cook of this exact recipe, mistakes included.
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Gordon Ramsay Caesar Salad Recipe
Course: Salads, LunchCuisine: American, BritishDifficulty: Medium4
servings15
minutes15
minutes760
kcal30 minutes
Adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking (2013), this big caesar salad pairs a classic egg yolk and anchovy emulsion with Parmesan-crusted croutons and griddled butterflied chicken. A three-book Ramsay recipe, each version with a different dressing base.
Ingredients
- For the croutons and salad:
150g (5 oz) day-old sourdough bread, torn into 2cm (¾ in) chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
50g (2 oz) Parmesan cheese
2 cos (romaine) lettuce or 4 baby gem, washed and sliced, not too thinly
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, butterflied
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the dressing:
2 free-range egg yolks
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar
150ml (⅔ cup) olive oil
1 x 50g (2 oz) tin best-quality anchovies in olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely crushed
75g (3 oz) Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
Directions
- Make the croutons: Toss the bread chunks with the olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper. Fry in a large pan over medium heat until golden and crisp. Grate three-quarters of the 50g Parmesan over the hot croutons, toss in the pan so the cheese melts on, then transfer to a plate.
- Build the dressing: Whisk the egg yolks, Dijon and vinegar together. Drizzle in the olive oil slowly, whisking non-stop, until it thickens like double cream (heavy cream). Chop the anchovies and garlic into a rough paste, stir it through, then add the Parmesan, lemon juice and a splash of water to loosen.
- Cook the chicken first: Season the butterflied breasts on both sides. Cook on a hot griddle (grill pan) for 3-4 minutes each side, until golden and cooked through. Watch any thinner pieces, they finish first.
- Dress the resting chicken: Transfer the chicken to a plate and spoon some of the remaining dressing over while it rests for 5 minutes. As it cools, the anchovy, garlic and Parmesan seep right into the meat.
- Assemble the salad last: Put the lettuce in a serving bowl with a squeeze of lemon and half the dressing. Sprinkle over half the croutons and mix well. Top with the remaining croutons and the last of the Parmesan.
- Slice and serve: Cut the chicken into diagonal strips and serve warm, either mixed through the salad or alongside in its own dish with extra dressing spooned over.
Notes
- A few of these are British names, so if you are in the US here are the British to American ingredient names.
FAQs
What makes Gordon Ramsay’s caesar dressing different?
He builds a proper egg yolk emulsion with red wine or sherry vinegar alongside the lemon, not just lemon like most online recipes. He also mashes the anchovies and garlic into a paste first, so the savoury hit spreads evenly instead of arriving in salty chunks. His punchy anchovy dip uses the same trick as a starter.
A word of honesty on the whisking. I whisked by hand for five full minutes and never reached the double cream texture he gets on screen. An electric hand mixer got me there in two, and faster beating actually makes the emulsion harder to split. For most home cooks the mixer shouldn’t be the backup plan, it should be the plan.
Why is my caesar dressing too salty?
Mine was, and here’s exactly how it happened. My shop sells anchovies loose by the gram, sitting in olive oil, so they look like the mild tinned ones. They’re not, they’re salt-cured underneath. I even tasted one beforehand and clocked the salt, then forgot all about it in the cooking rush and stirred the full amount straight in.
The recipe adds no salt to the dressing at all, because the anchovies and Parmesan carry it, so the wrong anchovy breaks the whole balance. Next time I’ll rinse the fillets under cold water, or soak them in milk for ten minutes and pat dry. Safer still, stir in half the paste, taste, and only then commit the rest.
Can you make this without raw eggs?
In Quick and Delicious, Ramsay himself makes a caesar with a mayonnaise base instead of an emulsion. Whisk good mayo with crushed garlic, chopped anchovies, grated Parmesan, lemon juice and a teaspoon of Dijon. His YouTube version works the same way, mayonnaise first, then a splash of water turns it into what he calls an “amazing delicious light dressing.”
It’s heavier than the yolk version but far simpler, and it works well on a crunchy broccoli salad too.
How does Ramsay grill the chicken for this salad?
He butterflies the breasts so they cook “twice as quick,” then grills them 3-4 minutes a side for charred stripes and a “gorgeous smoky flavour.” The book and video actually butterfly differently. The book slices horizontally, opens the breast like a book and flattens it with a rolling pin. On camera he just slices from the thin end, opens it up and cooks. I used the video way and it worked fine.
No griddle pan? I cooked mine in a plain stainless frying pan. You lose the stripes but not the juiciness, just wait for a proper golden-brown colour. Expect uneven pieces after butterflying too: my thin strip finished before the big one, so pull the small pieces early rather than trusting the clock. Slicing his crispy chicken tenders on top works as a crunchier swap.
Should the chicken go in the salad or on the side?
The book says either works, mixed through or alongside. In the video Ramsay is firmer. He serves the chicken warm in a separate bowl “so it doesn’t wilt the salad,” with dressing spooned over as it rests. I served mine his video way and the leaves stayed crisp to the last bite.
One honest note on portions. Ramsay adds chicken “to make it stretch further,” and even then I’d call this a side or a light lunch rather than a filling dinner. Small portions next to a main is where it shines, unless you’re watching calories, in which case it’s a perfect plate on its own.
Why do the croutons go soggy and how should you store this?
I found out the hard way, and it wasn’t storage that got me, it was order. I assembled the salad before cooking the chicken, so the croutons sat in dressed leaves the whole time I griddled and plated. Some went soft. Cook the chicken first, assemble last, always.
For leftovers, dressing keeps in a jar in the fridge for up to two days and croutons stay crunchy in a dry container. Only toss everything when you’re ready to eat. On the bread, I couldn’t find sourdough and used a seeded brown loaf. The croutons came out crunchy and the Parmesan melted on fine, so use what your bakery has.
What if you can’t find romaine lettuce?
My market had none, so I used batavia, the curly-leafed one, and it held the dressing just as well. Any lettuce with real crunch does the job. The only rule is that leaves stand up to a thick dressing, and don’t slice them too thinly.
Ramsay’s own sturdy swap is kale, which he uses in both Quick and Delicious and Ultimate Fit Food. Massage the raw leaves with olive oil and a pinch of salt for two minutes first. Kale versions travel far better, like his crunchy coleslaw, and for the full lineup browse his cookbook salad recipes.
How does this compare to Jamie Oliver’s caesar salad?
Jamie skips raw egg yolks entirely and uses yoghurt as his base, making his version lighter and faster. He also roasts chicken legs with rosemary and calls breasts “dry.” Ramsay’s emulsion is richer, more traditional, and clings better to the leaves.
Both work, they just chase different goals. For another light option alongside, his classic caprese salad pairs well.
Watch Me Cook This Caesar Salad
The whole cook in 80 seconds, from the ingredients to the two plates. Watch the dressing thicken on the spoon and the croutons take their Parmesan coat in the pan.
