Chipotle Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons

Caesar Salad is everyone’s favorite but sometimes it needs a kick in the butt!  This not too spicy version will give ya a nice little change up from your everyday caesar!

How to kick up your everyday caesar salad?  Add a little chipotle to the dressing and toss a bit more into the crunchy croutons!

This is, without question, the best salad I have ever made!  The dressing is so easy.  It starts with a mayo base rather than a raw egg caesar dressing.  Skinny girls can sub half the mayo with greek yogurt without to much trouble…but this chubby girl is going full fat for this recipe!

I added anchovy paste to the dressing because I really like the flavor it adds, but did you know the original caesar didn’t have anchovy in it?  Little food trivia there for ya.

With or without anchovy this dressing is creamy and has a ton of flavor with just a enough smoky kick from the chipotle to make it fabulous!

How to Make Chipotle Caesar Salad

Lets start with the dressing!  The base is just good quality mayo.  You can go light with this.  Add some fresh ingredients and a little bit of heat from pureed chipotle and you and an amazing dressing with a bit of a zing!

So the the dressing is fabulous,  but the croutons steal the show!  I used ciabatta because I like the texture, but any bread will do.  Stale bread is best.  I tossed the cubes of bread in a mixture of melted butter and chipotle… another apology to the skinny girls.

I finished it off with roasted corn, avocado, black beans and a sprinkle of cotija cheese!  (feta is a great sub for cotija by the way).    You can add chicken for a full meal.  The croutons will last more than a few days in a sealed baggie and the dressing will too, since it doesn’t have that scary raw egg in it.

Tips to Make this Chipotle Caesar Salad:

• I used roasted corn that I grilled but you can easily sub fresh shucked corn.  Just cut it off the cob and toss it in. The crunchy texture of the uncooked corn is super good with this salad!
• If you are not used to working with chipotle in adobo sauce, let it be known that it packs some heat.  This recipe might be considered on the mild side if you are a lover of spicy food. You can easily kick this up by adding additional chipotle to the dressing and croutons. I’d suggest no more than a teaspoon at a time, tasting in between additions to be sure you don’t over do.
• I usually use this brand but there are others that will work just as well.  You can find it in the mexican food aisle.

• I like to puree the entire can in a blender or food processor, use what I need and freeze the rest.  Or you can just chop it up really fine…keep those fingers out of your eyes after you work with this stuff!

To kicking an old recipes butt!

Clink!

Kathi

Still craving spicy salads?  Check out this amazing Thai Chicken Salad with Honey Peanut Dressing that uses store bought rotisserie chicken!

Chipotle Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons

A kicked up version of an old classic!  This salad uses store bought mayo with a few fresh ingredients but he croutons steal the show!

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 5

Ingredients

Salad

• 1 heads of romaine lettuce - rinsed dried and torn into bite size
• 1 avocado sliced
• 1/2 cup black beans drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup cojita cheese or feta
• 1/2 cup roasted fresh corn uncooked corn removed from the cob will work as well

Dressing

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons chipotle - that has been finely minced or pureed in food processor
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice - about one lemon
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste - optional
• 2 cloves garlic finely minced
• 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons milk

Spicy Croutons

• 1 loaf ciabatta bread
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons Chipotle that has been finely minced or pureed in a food processor
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Melt butter in microwave.
• Add chipotle, garlic powder, salt and pepper to melted butter.
• On large sheet pan, toss cubed ciabatta and melted butter mixture together.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges of croutons are nicely browned, turning once.
• Cool for 15 minutes before tossing with salad.
• Combine all dressing ingredients with a whisk.
• Taste for seasonings.
• Store in fridge until ready to use.
• Arrange salad ingredients in large bowl. Top with croutons and dressing and serve!

Nutrition

Calories: 487kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 1048mg | Potassium: 347mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1220IU | Vitamin C: 6.2mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1.1mg