Get my Cookbooks! Homemade Caesar Dressing (No Mayo!)
Anchovies? -Just a little bit. Mayo? Not a chance. This classic Caesar Dressing recipe tastes like it’s from a Gourmet restaurant. Use it in salads, pastas, marinades, and more!
Be sure to use this in my One Pot Chicken Caesar Pasta and my Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad recipes!
Homemade Caesar Dressing
My favorite part about this Homemade Caesar Dressing recipe is that it has no mayo.
I’m always leery about ordering Caesar salads at a restaurant if I haven’t tried the dressing before. Sometimes I swear they give me a ramekin of straight mayo. Which is why I love making this recipe from scratch.
There are tons of ways to use Caesar Salad dressing too. Read on!
Ingredients
- High-quality Olive Oil- see below for my recommendations
- Romano Cheese- shredded from a block at home
- White Vinegar
- Egg Yolk
- Lemon Juice
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Garlic- Fresh garlic, not the jarred stuff.
- 1 Anchovy Filet
Don’t be afraid of the anchovy filet. You can’t even tell it’s in there, except that really adds a nice depth of flavor.
What Do You Eat Caesar Dressing With?
Aside from putting Caesar Dressing on Salad, it also tastes great in:
- Chicken Caesar Pasta (a delicious one pot meal.)
- Cold Pasta Salads
- It makes a great chicken marinade
- Put it on a warm burger or on chicken wings before baking
- Use it as a binder for tuna or chicken salad instead of mayo
Check out a complete list of options from TheKitchn.
Best Olive Oil for Salad Dressing
-Make sure you use high quality extra virgin olive oil when making this recipe. You’ll have a high-quality salad dressing that will remain in liquid form when refrigerated. (Cheap olive oil can actually solidify in the fridge.)
–Lucini olive oil is a high-quality brand that I like to use.
-For more information about picking the highest quality olive oil that you can, check these guys out.
Raw Egg Yolks in Salad Dressing
The USDA considers it safe to consume raw egg yolks from pasteurized eggs as there is a low risk of an egg being contaminated. Of course, the decision is always up to you.
This article contains more information about raw egg yolk consumption.
Storage
- Homemade Caesar Dressing should be stored in an airtight container for up to one week.
- These mason jars make perfect storage containers. (This is the jar featured in these recipe images.)
Serve with Homemade Croutons
- Try my homemade crouton recipe with this delicious dressing for a real gourmet flair!
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- Food Processor: If you don’t have a mini food processor, I really love this one.
- Box Cheese Grater: This box cheese grater is super sharp and has every size of grate that you need. Buying blocks of cheese and grating it at home will always yield a better result.
- Garlic Peeler: This garlic peeler will remove the super thin skin from a garlic clove in a second.
Try These Next
-
- Creamy Chicken Pasta
-
- Shrimp Scampi
-
- Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
-
- Chicken in White Wine Sauce
-
- Spinach Salad
-
- Chicken and Broccoli Pasta
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Homemade Caesar Dressing
Ingredients
- ½ cup high-quality olive oil, see notes
- 1/3 cup Romano Cheese, finely shredded
- 1 Tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 dash salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 small cloves garlic
- 1 whole anchovy filet,, or 1/2 tsp anchovy paste
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients except for the garlic cloves and anchovy filet. Whisk for a good 60 seconds, until well combined.
- Add the combined mixture to a food processor along with the garlic cloves and anchovy filet. Blend until completely smooth.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of one hour prior to serving, it will thicken upon standing.
- Store the dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week
Notes
If the salad dressing is thicker than you’d prefer, add one teaspoon of water and stir well to combine. Repeat until you’ve attained your desired consistency. (Just tread lightly and add small amounts at a time.) These mason jars make perfect storage containers for homemade dressing.
Nutritional information is per tablespoon, this recipe makes about 14 tablespoons.
Easy to make, extremely authentic (IMO) and always a hit. I’ve been making it for 5+ years. Not going by science but taste – this is not mayo based.
Someone will tell me how bad it is to keep over a week, but I commonly do.
Happy to hear you’re enjoying this Tammy! I always have this in my fridge!🩷
Delicious and a Keeper Caesar salad dressing !
I’m so happy that you loved the dressing Angie! Thank you so much for the review!! -Stephanie
What is the measurement of the nutritional information? Is it 2 Tablespoons? Thanks.
Hi Murph! I just updated the nutritional information so that it is per tablespoon. (This recipe makes about 14 tablespoons total, or slightly less than 1 cup.)
This was excellent. I’ve been looking for a Caesar dressing that’s not super thick. This hits that note. I doubled it and added 1-2 teaspoons (eyeballed it) of both Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce. I threw it all in a mini food processor and whizzed it all together. Very happy with this.
I’m so happy you liked the dressing Erin, sounds like you nailed it! Thanks so much for the great review!💕
Loved it! First time making a Caesar Dressing and it turned out exactly as what I was looking for!
Nice work Irene! I’m so happy you loved it so much, thanks for the great review!💖
Absolutely love this recipe. I added more anchovies and added a few tablespoons of cold water to thin it out. It was super easy to make with a hand blender!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe Emilie, thanks so much for the great review!❤️
You know that raw egg yolks and olive oil and lemon juice mixed together makes Mayo right…
Did you know that you have to emulsify it to actually create mayo? Which we don’t do in this recipe? Thus, it’s not actually mayo based. Funny… but true. 😉
Hate to break it to you but you make an emulsion when you throw it in the food processor this is a mayo based sauce you are just making the mayo and adding stuff too it at the same time.
Good recipe still has mayo in it though
I’ve made homemade mayo many times, this isn’t it 😉
Yes, but the issue with store-bought mayo (which many recipes call for) is they are made with unhealthy seed oils that are terrible for your health (canola, vegetable, soybean, etc.). This is a heart-healthy recipe because it uses olive oil and other “clean” ingredients. I know, because I’m a holistic nutritionist. Great recipe!
Thank you so much for weighing in! 🙂 So glad that you love the recipe!
Excellent comment, that is why I sought out a no-mayo recipe 😏 Wanted to mention that I blended mine, no resemblance to mayo whatsoever 😊 It has a nice tang to it. Thanks for sharing, will make again!
I’m so happy that you loved it Sarah!!! I appreciate your review!!!
Hello Stephanie; I tried your recipe for Cesar Salad Dressing and it was a big hit ! The straight up mayo members of our family started swapping out regular mayo on their burgers 🍔 for your recipe. Since I don’t have a food processor, I used a blender. Thank you for posting this recipe 😋
I’m so happy this was a hit Susan! I’m so glad you converted the straight up mayo member of the family, nice work!😂🙌 Thanks so much for the great comments and review!
I would like to try this recipe but I’m concerned about the raw egg yolk. What do you say?
Hi Pat! This is what if have in the blog post about the raw egg-
Raw Egg Yolks in Salad Dressing
The USDA considers it safe to consume raw egg yolks from pasteurized eggs as there is a low risk of an egg being contaminated. Of course, the decision is always up to you.
THE REAL DEAL!!! I tried three Cesar dressing recipes and didn’t like them much, and when I finally found this one I was surprised by how relatively easy it was and how authentic and delicious! my only modification was throwing in two extra anchovies fillets because I wanted the flavor to come through stronger. I also didn’t have Romano so used Parmesan instead – I’m sure it’s fantastic either way. Highly recommend!
I’m happy to hear you liked this one Jade! I love easy and I don’t like mayo so that was my inspiration for this one lol. Thanks so much for the review!😃