A Traditional Caesar Dressing that will upgrade your salad with a homemade flavorful addition! Top it off with some parmesan flakes and croutons for a Caesar salad better than any restaurant will ever serve you in under 15 minutes!
Homemade Dressings
A traditional caesar dressing made by your own hands is a great addition to any salad. Well, not ANY salad. It's great for a caesar salad. I feel like once you put the caesar dressing on the salad, it becomes a caesar salad. But maybe I'm wrong. Either way, this dressing is so fresh and creamy with a classic caesar salad.
I stopped buying dressings pretty much altogether in college. I was so broke that it made no sense to spend an extra $4 on ranch or Italian dressing just for a salad. It was so much more cost-effective to use olive oil and vinegar. Now, I just really don't like eating salad dressings because 9 times out of 10 they have like a bunch of added sugars and nonsense.
Don't get me wrong, I still love some Hidden Valley and some Kraft French dressing, but I just don't need that to make the salad. My preferences have just changed and there's something about a homemade lemon basil vinaigrette, Cilantro Lime Ranch, or in this case, a caesar dressing that just works on the daily for me and the family.
Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 anchovies, chopped
- ½ tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
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Whipping Together a Traditional Caesar Dressing
Step 1: Add 2 egg yolks to a bowl and whisk until creamy, about 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil and whisk until well combined and emulsified.
Step 2: Stir in the anchovies, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and lemon juice until completely combined. Then add the salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Serve with romaine lettuce, Homemade Italian Parmesan Croutons, and shaved parmesan cheese.
Pro-Tips
- Use a food processor if you're not confident in your whisking skills. You really need to whisk the olive oil fast and hard to get an emulsified dressing. The food processor will make this a lot easier for most people.
- Adjust the thickness of the dressing by adding a tablespoon of water if it is too thick.
This is the easiest recipe ever and it's so tasty. Yes, it's a little more work than glopping on some dressing you like, but the flavor depth of the ingredients is so much more worth it. You will actually taste all of the flavors instead of the typical "caesar" flavor.
Don't sleep on a traditional caesar dressing. Put in that little bit of extra work and try this dressing. you won't be disappointed.
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📖 Recipe
Traditional Caesar Dressing
Equipment
- 1 food processor you could use a whisk instead
Ingredients
- 2 egg yolks
- ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 anchovies, chopped
- ½ tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Add 2 egg yolks to a bowl and vigorously whisk or add to a food processor and mix until creamy.
- If continuing with the food processor, slowly add the olive oil and process until creamy. Then add the remaining ingredients and combine. If whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil into the bowl as you intensely whisk it and emulsify the fat to become creamy. Once creamy, add the anchovies, garlic, worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and lemon juice until completely combined.
- Whisk in salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Serve with romaine lettuce, croutons and shaved parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Whisking is incredibly hard. You have to pour in the olive oil EXTRA slowly and whisk vigorously to be able to emulsify the fat. It takes practice. If you try it and it doesn't work though, just pour the whole mixture into the food processor and combine. It will emulsify it just fine.
Diana VK says
First time ever making traditional Caesar dressing. Mine turn a little bit bitter and didn’t thicken as much as I would have liked it to, but I’m sure it had to do with my amateur whisking.
The recipe is so clear and easy to follow. Overall my dressing turned out so good and flavorful. Will try again with a processor next time.
Vincent DelGiudice says
Bitterness typically comes from the olive oil you're using. I wonder if you tried a different olive oil if you'd get a better experience. With dressings, I usually splurge on a higher quality olive oil to get the smoother flavor!
Rachel Turnbow says
I think this is probably a pretty true version of the original. For my own taste, I needed a bit more flavor and viscosity. I punched it up with a tad more dijon, but ended up adding about 1/2 tbs mayo and about as much whole grain mustard as well. Really delicious. The great thing about home made dressing is that you can make it to taste -- my American taste buds are, of course, tuned to turn up the amps. Thanks for this!
Vinny says
I love that you were able to use this recipe to help make it your own!!
Ingrid says
There was an italian lady on the island many years ago who made this salad, and finally with your great recipe I taste hers again!
Laurie Ann says
Excellent recipe. Thank you for posting, my husband loves it. Making my second batch tonight.
Marty says
So happy to find a REAL Caesar Salad Dressing Recipe.
Everyone is so afraid of raw egg yolks and strong flavors of anchovies. Almost all the recipes omit the anchovies and replace the egg yolks & olive oil with mayonaise. What a glop of no flavor ingredients. This is the real deal.
Tara says
First time making this dressing and halved the recipe. It was super easy to make by hand and it omg was bomb! I think half this recipe will be able to dress about 4-5 side salads. Thank you!
Lea says
By far the best and most authentic Caesar dressing recipe. If you like it more garliky - I double the garlic. If you want less fishy I use anchovy paste.
Jim W says
I suggest using a whisk and put the oil in a few drops to a 1/4 tsp at a time to start. Once the egg/oil starts to emulsify you can add oil more quickly.
Use white pepper so you don’t get the black spots, add salt AFTER the Parmesan cheese, instead of water consider more lemon juice, and lastly, a few drops of Tabasco if you like it a bit spicier than the raw garlic and pepper provided.
Beatrice Paneto says
Question, how long would you store the dressing for ?
Vinny says
about 3-4 days before the garlic will start to become very overpowering. Technically it should last for a week or 2.
Grace Lau says
I used an immersion blender and it didn’t thicken so then I put it into small food processor. Still very liquidy.
It was only 2 yolks and avocado oil. No other ingredients.
What did I do wrong?
Vinny says
Sounds like you put all of the oil in at once? I would slowly drizzle instead. You will get a better emulsification.
Cambo says
Read the Recipe!!! And follow the directions!!!
Maryann says
This Caesar Recipe is a PERFECT "10"! DELIZIOSO!!!!