A hearty kale caesar salad is something you can keep coming back to. That’s why this recipe made it into our Back Pocket.
We all have recipes that we keep coming back to. They’re the ones we lean on for dinner parties or potlucks. The ones we make when we aren’t feeling ambitious, but still want impressive results. We make them over and over again and always get rave reviews. At OXO, we like to call them our back pocket recipes.
These recipes are too good not to share, and that’s what inspired us to start collecting them. So we’re getting back pocket recipes from our favorite chefs, influencers, cookbook authors and OXOnians, so you too can have a back pocket recipe to rely on.
OXO Engineer Mack (you might recognize him from our Facebook Live videos) is making a modified kale caesar salad from Serious Eats. He makes a few alterations to make it his own:
Instead of the breadcrumbs, I make my own croutons from bread cubes. I throw some garlic powder on the croutons for added flavor. Since I rely so heavily on this salad, I like to sub out some of the mayo for a healthy option – 2% Greek yogurt. I do ⅓ cup of mayo and ½ cup of yogurt and it’s still creamy and delicious. If I’m making the salad as a main dish, I add chicken breast. This fills out the salad and makes it a staple dinner of mine.
Kale Caesar Salad
Adapted from Serious Eats
Ingredients:
1 pound (about 2 bunches) Tuscan or curly kale, tough stems removed, leaves roughly chopped (about 4 quarts loosely packed leaves)
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 slices of bread croutons
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup mayonnaise
½ cup of 2% Greek yogurt
6 anchovy fillets
1 medium clove garlic
¾ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
1 small white onion or 2 shallots
2 cooked chicken breasts (optional)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Strip kale off of stems.
2. In a large bowl, massage kale with 3 tablespoons olive oil. This helps to break down tougher pieces.
3. Tear up bread into small cubes (about 1-2 inches). Toss with olive oil and garlic powder, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet and place in oven for about 20 minutes. They should crisp up and turn a golden color.
4. While croutons bake, add mayonnaise, yogurt, anchovies, garlic, cheese, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice to the manual food processor bowl. Process until smooth. Season with additional salt and pepper.
5. Add onions, croutons and dressing to the wilted kale. Toss with hands. Serve with cooked chicken breasts on top, if using.
