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healthy chicken caesar salad in a shallow bowl
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Healthy Caesar Salad | Greek Yogurt Caesar Dressing

This tangy, light and refreshing healthy chicken caesar salad has less calories, but tons of flavor!
Course Salad
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 2
Calories 365kcal

Equipment

  • 1 small mixing bowl
  • 1 large salad bowl or mixing bowl

Ingredients

  • 2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 heads romaine lettuce
  • 1 tomato sliced

For the Dressing

  • ¼ cup greek yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp Mayo
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, or 1 clove if you want milder garlic flavor smashed and chopped very finely
  • 2 tsp anchovy paste or two anchovies from a can the anchovies in a tube are great because you can seal it and use it again
  • 2 Tbsp parsley
  • 2 Tbsp pecorino romano cheese (plus more for the crisps below) you can substitute with parmesan cheese
  • salt and freshly cracked black pepper

For the Pecorino Romano crisps

  • 6 Tbsp pecorino romano cheese shredded finely

Instructions

For the Cheese Crisps

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Shred 8 Tbsp of pecorino Romano cheese into 8 circles. Set aside 2 of the little circles for the dressing. Place 6 of the circles on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or you can use a Silpat liner to prevent the cheese crisps from sticking.
    Bake the cheese crisps for 8-10 or until lightly golden brown. Make sure not to burn them! Set aside to let them cool.

For the Chicken

  • While the cheese crisps are baking, in a medium to large skillet (preferably oven safe), heat the pan to medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and feel free to add your favorite seasoning blend (I love Emeril's Essence).
    When the pan is hot, add a little bit of olive oil to the pan and add the chicken breasts. Sear on each side for about 3-5 minutes or until each side has nice color on it.
    If using an oven-safe pan (like cast iron or stainless steel), transfer the pan to the oven to finish cooking the chicken in the center. If you don't have an oven-safe pan, move the chicken to a sheet pan or small baking pan. Skinless chicken breast will take about 15 minutes to cook through, while bone-in skin-on chicken breasts will take about 25-30 minutes.
    When the chicken is done, let the meat rest on the counter for a few minutes to allow the juices to redistribute throughout the meat and prevent the juices from running out of the meat once sliced.

For the dressing

  • While the chicken is cooking, finely chop the parsley and garlic.
  • Add the mayo, Greek yogurt, garlic, olive oil, anchovy paste (or 2 anchovies worth), and 2 Tbsp shredded pecorino Romano cheese to a bowl. Whisk the mixture together until the dressing is combined.
  • Chop the romaine and place in a bowl. Drizzle some of the salad dressing over the greens and toss to coat. This ensures that your salad isn't overdressed and soggy. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Top the two salads with tomato slices and cheese crisps and sliced chicken.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

A substitution for anchovies

If you don't like anchovies you can just leave them out.  I would recommend adding a couple of more dashes of worcestershire sauce since it has that umami flavor.
Or if you happen to have white miso paste, you can add 1/2 tsp of that and it lends such a great flavor to Caesar dressing!

Nutrition

Serving: 2g | Calories: 365kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 36g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 102mg | Sodium: 653mg | Potassium: 754mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3413IU | Vitamin C: 17mg | Calcium: 287mg | Iron: 2mg