Low Carb Caesar Salad with Chicken

This delicious low carb Caesar salad with chicken and bacon is made with a homemade Caesar salad dressing and homemade gluten free garlic croutons.

I love making salads with generous amounts of toppings.  I absolutely hate it when I go to a restaurant and they only give you lettuce leaves with no other vegetables whatsoever and barely enough dressing.  For me, that is not a salad.  My salads need to be filling, delicious and full of healthy vegetables and fats.

I always love making my own salad dressings.  Some can be super simple and some can be very complicated.  I have amassed quite a bit of salad recipes on this blog.  If you feel like making different kinds of salads, here are a few of my favourite recipes:

• Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad with Shrimp
• Chicken Fajita Salad
• Paleo Cobb Salad
• Greek Salad
• Avocado Cucumber Tomato Salad

What goes into a Caesar salad?

A Caesar salad consists of chopped romaine lettuce with crispy croutons dressed in a cheesy Parmesan dressing made with olive oil, lemon juice, anchovies, garlic and black pepper.  That is the traditional way to make it, but nowadays, many recipes include different cuts of meat and sliced vegetables.

I think that Caesar salads have become a staple in the every day kitchen and restaurants.  You're guaranteed to be able to order a side Caesar salad or full sized one at any restaurants or fast food chains in North America.  It's definitely one of my favourite salads to order at restaurants, but it's actually incredibly easy to make at home and tastes so much better!

I much prefer making it at home that way I can customize the ingredients the way I want.  I've always loved to have tomatoes, cucumbers, bacon, chicken, boiled eggs and croutons in my low carb Caesar salad, but restaurants don't usually offer it this way. When I want a change of protein, I switch this chicken Caesar salad for a shrimp Caesar salad one.

Since this chicken caesar salad can be served as is or as a side dish, I suggest pairing it with my amazing cauliflower au gratin recipe made with heavy cream instead of milk!

Carbs in Caesar Salad

The carbs in Caesar salad are usually on the lower side, but it does depend on the ingredients used in the dressing and the Caesar salad croutons.  A Caesar salad should technically not have a lot of carbs because the salad is mostly dressing and some vegetables.  Since the dressing is mostly fat, there shouldn't be lots of carbs in there.  My homemade Caesar salad dressing that I used for this low carb Caesar salad recipe only uses healthy ingredients.

Whatever type of meat you add won't matter because meat has no carbs, but if you decided to add seafood or fish, the carb count will slowly increase.   The Caesar salad dressing, whether homemade or store bought, should also not have many carbs.  However, this entirely depends on whether the store bought ones have added sugar, artificial or real, or not.

What really changes the carb count in a Caesar salad is the croutons.  Just a single cup of wheat croutons will have around 20g of carbs so you really do need to be careful!  If you order a Caesar salad at a restaurant, make sure to order one without croutons so that you'll stay low carb and gluten free!

Caesar Salad Croutons

Speaking of Caesar salad croutons, how can you have a Caesar salad without croutons, right?  My latest recipe for garlic croutons was made solely for this recipe.  I knew that I wanted to have some crunch in my salad, but I didn't want to sacrifice my carb allowance for the day by eating gluten-filled croutons.

This low carb croutons recipe uses the 90 second bread recipe so you can make homemade croutons under 20 minutes right at home without gluten!  You just need a microwave and a toaster oven or oven and you'll have homemade croutons in no time.

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5 from 14 votes

Low Carb Caesar Salad with Chicken

A delicious Caesar salad with grilled chicken, bacon and homemade croutons!

Course Appetizer, Lunch

Cuisine American

Keyword caesar salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 servings

NET Carbs 2.93g

calories 345kcal

Protein 23.09g

Fat 26.42g

Cook Ashley

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ recipe (0.5 recipe) gluten free garlic croutons (skip parmesan for paleo)
• ▢ 4 tbsp (4 tbsp) homemade Caesar salad dressing (skip parmesan for paleo)
• ▢ 1 (1 ) boneless skinless chicken breast
• ▢ ½ tsp (½ tsp) salt
• ▢ ½ tsp (½ tsp) pepper
• ▢ 3 slices (3 slices) bacon
• ▢ 1 (1 ) tomato
• ▢ ½ (0.5 ) cucumber
• ▢ ½ head (½ head) romaine lettuce
• ▢ 2 (2 ) hard boiled eggs

Instructions

• Make the recipe for the croutons.  Microwave 90 seconds instead of 3 minutes.   Make the Caesar dressing.  You can keep the leftover dressing for more salads!
• In a skillet, add the bacon slices and cook until crispy.  Save the bacon fat in the frying pan for later use.  Take the bacon slices out of the skillet and chop into small pieces on a cutting board.
• Slice the chicken breast in half horizontally.  Sprinkle the salt and pepper all over.  Add the chicken breasts into the previous skillet with the bacon fat and cook 3-4 minutes on each side until perfectly cooked through. Take out of the skillet and slice.
• Chop the romaine, dice the tomato and cucumber, and cut the hard boiled eggs in half.
• Add all of your salad ingredients, including the croutons, into a large bowl, add the Caesar dressing and toss. 

  It's now ready to serve!

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Nutrition Facts

Low Carb Caesar Salad with Chicken

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 345 Calories from Fat 238

% Daily Value*

Fat 26.42g41%

Saturated Fat 7.73g48%

Polyunsaturated Fat 2.99g

Monounsaturated Fat 10.95g

Cholesterol 214mg71%

Sodium 796mg35%

Potassium 336mg10%

Carbohydrates 4.73g2%

Fiber 1.8g8%

Sugar 1.63g2%

Protein 23.09g46%

NET CARBS 2.93g6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional information is provided through calculations made on fatsecret.com. They are approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on mypcoskitchen.com. Sugar alcohols are included in the fiber count. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber (which include sugar alcohols).

 

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