Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

This post may contain affiliate sales links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad is just as tasty as a classic Caesar Salad but with a smokey flavor that cannot be beaten! Super yummy and relatively healthy as long as you don’t go crazy on the dressing.

How to Make Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

For full recipe details on how to make this Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, see the recipe card down below 🙂

Marinate the Chicken

Start out by grabbing some boneless and skinless chicken breasts. Slice them into long strips. Add it into a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir it up to marinate and set aside.

Grill Romaine Lettuce and Garlic

Now onto the main event! We’re going to take some hearts of romaine lettuce and slice them right down the center lengthwise.

Now comes the grilling! You’re going to want to get your outdoor or indoor grill hot. Really really hot. The idea is to char the lettuce as quickly as possible to reduce the wilting. Cooked, wilted lettuce is gross, but a quick grill to get that smokey flavor and grill marks is delicious!

Also, you’re going to want to slice a whole head of garlic in half and get that grilling too. This will be used in the dressing. Oh yes, it’s going to be good. Once everything looks good and charred, take it off the grill to cool.

Cook and Crumble Bacon

Meanwhile, cook some bacon. I used precooked bacon because I generally don’t like doing more dishes than I have to. And this way my kitchen stays splatter-free! #winning Feel free to pan-fry your bacon or even use this super easy oven method for cooking bacon.

Chop all of your bacon up and set it aside.

Grill Chicken

Because your grill pan is still hot from cooking the lettuce, throw on that chicken that has been marinating in that garlicky goodness. Because we cut these thin, they will cook in no time at all.

Make Caesar Dressing

Chop up a bunch of that grilled garlic and stir it together with some mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Caesar dressing = done.

How to Assemble a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

To assemble, chop up charred lettuce into bite-size pieces or leave leaves large and place them in the bottom of a serving platter. Toss together with chicken, bacon, dressing, parmesan cheese, and chives if desired. Serve cold.

Can I Use an Indoor Grill?

The beauty of this recipe is that you can use either an outdoor or indoor grill to make it! So if you’ve packed away your grill for the winter you can still make this dish year-round. A cast iron grill pan also works just as well and worst case scenario, you can brown the chicken in a nonstick skillet with a little nonstick cooking spray. It won’t have that smokey flavor you get from a grill, but its still really flavorful.

What Do I Serve with Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad?

This grilled chicken caesar salad would make a great lunch all by itself. But if you’re looking to serve it alongside another side dish or even a main course, here are some suggestions:

• Fettuccine Alfredo
• Browned Butter Alfredo Pasta
• Margherita Pizza
• Simple Bruschetta
• Homemade Garlic Bread
• Focaccia

More Caesar Salad Recipes to Try!

• Macro Friendly Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
• Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
• Caesar Avocado Dressing
• Brussel Sprout Caesar Salad
• Classic Caesar Salad

Anyways, hope you enjoy this fun recipe and have a wonderful day! The printable recipe card for grilled chicken caesar salad is below. Enjoy, friends!

PrintPrint Pin ItPin It

5 from 2 votes

Grilled Romaine Caesar Salad with Chicken

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad is just as tasty as a classic Caesar Salad but with a smoky flavor that cannot be beaten!

servings 4 servings

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

for the salad-

• ▢ 3 heads romaine hearts
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil for brushing
• ▢ 1 lb chicken breasts
• ▢ 10 slices bacon cooked and roughly chopped
• ▢ 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese shaved, optional

for the chicken marinade-

• ▢ 1/4 cup olive oil
• ▢ 1 lemon zested and juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
• ▢ 1 clove garlic minced
• ▢ salt to taste
• ▢ black pepper to taste

for the dressing-

• ▢ 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• ▢ 3 tablespoons lemon juice juice of about 1 whole lemon
• ▢ 2 whole anchovy filets* canned, or anchovy paste
• ▢ 1/2 head** garlic will only use 4 cloves in dressing
• ▢ 1/4 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon black pepper freshly cracked + more to taste

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt and black pepper.
  
• Trim chicken breasts of any excess fat and cut into thin strips. Place in bowl with marinade ingredients and set aside while preparing other recipe elements.
• Preheat indoor or outdoor grill to high.
• Slice 3 hearts of romaine in half lengthwise, brush with some olive oil, season with a little salt, and set aside.
  
• Place hearts of romaine onto the grill and char quickly on each side. Remove from grill and set aside.
  
• Reduce the heat of the grill. Slice the head of garlic in half to reveal cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and black pepper. Place onto the grill, cut side down to char and soften, about 7-10 minutes.
• Remove garlic from grill when it has sufficient grill marks and has somewhat softened. Squeeze out 4 cloves and set aside for dressing.
• Add the chicken to the grill and cook about 1-2 minutes per side or until internal temperature reaches 165° F. Remove chicken from the grill and cut into bite-size pieces.
  

for the dressing-

• Add all dressing ingredients to a small blender and blend until smooth. (You can also whisk all ingredients in a small bowl if you don't have a blender.)
  

to assemble-

• Separate the romaine leaves (optional) and place them on a large serving platter. Add grilled chicken, bacon, parmesan cheese shavings, and drizzle with the caesar dressing. Season with more freshly cracked black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately and enjoy!
  

Notes

*If you are allergic to anchovies, you can leave these out of the recipe, but be sure to add salt (to taste). Anchovies have a high salt content, which is why I left salt out of the dressing ingredients. If you think you won’t like the taste, don’t worry – you can’t even tell they’re in there. They just give this dressing the essential umami, salty flavoring.

**You can skip grilling the garlic if you don’t want to take the time for this step. You only need 4 cloves of garlic for the dressing and can use raw, if desired. If you do grill your garlic head, you can save the rest for another recipe like garlic mashed potatoes or homemade bone broth. 

Nutrition

Calories: 784kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 69g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 19g | Monounsaturated Fat: 31g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 127mg | Sodium: 876mg | Potassium: 605mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 226IU | Vitamin C: 20mg | Calcium: 142mg | Iron: 1mg

Course: Lunch, Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Caesar Salad, grilled caesar salad, Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad