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Enjoy a lightened-up version of your favorite salad dressing with this Healthy Caesar Dressing recipe. It has the traditional flavors of lemon, garlic, and parmesan cheese, but it’s made with Greek yogurt. This keeps it light while it’s still creamy and delicious. Plus there are no anchovies!
Healthy Caesar Dressing
Caesar salad dressing is such a classic. And while I love a good restaurant salad, I don’t love that oftentimes the dressing takes a nice, healthy pile of greens and turns them into the equivalent of a bacon cheeseburger. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I need a bacon cheeseburger. But when I’m digging in to veggies, I want it to be good for me!
I love to use Greek yogurt to make lighterer versions of everything from Honey Mustard Dip to Peruvian Aji Sauce. And, of course, salad dressing. So it was time to give Caesar a healthier update. And I think you’re going to love it!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
And there are a number of reasons to make this your new go-to salad dressing.
- Classic flavors. Just like most typical recipes, this one also contains lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese to give it that familiar savory flavor you love.
- No eggs or mayo. Whether you don’t like mayo, have an egg allergy, are concerned about using raw eggs, or just want to lighten things up, Greek yogurt is the perfect substitute for that creamy consistency.
- No anchovies either. This is the ingredient that usually gives Caesar its characteristic umami flavor. But you can get that from Worcestershire, and not have to deal with little fishies. And if you avoid all seafood, coconut or liquid aminos can be substituted.
What’s in Caesar Dressing?
While this recipe skips the heavier ingredients, it still is simple to make with pantry staples. Here’s a quick overview, but you can find the full amounts and detailed instructions.
- Plain Greek yogurt. Use nonfat, lowfat, or whole milk yogurt depending on whether you want to cut calories or make a keto-friendly salad dressing.
- Fresh lemon juice. Fresh is preferred. You can use bottled, but start with a little less because it can become bitter.
- Olive oil. Just a little adds richness.
- Worcestershire sauce. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in the United States is gluten free, but may not be in other countries. So be sure to check the brands available where you live to be sure it doesn’t have any gluten-containing ingredients, if that is an issue for you.
- Garlic. A couple of cloves, or the equivalent if you use the kind from a jar.
- Salt. As needed.
How to Make Caesar Dressing
All you have to do is stir or shake all of the ingredients together in a bowl or jar and pour it over your salad. I love shaking up my favorite salad dressings in the OXO Salad Dressing Shaker!
How to Use It
Nothing surprising here, you can use this Caesar dressing recipe to make delicious Healthy Chicken Caesar Salads. Don’t forget the Baked Polenta Croutons for a gluten free option! But there are other things you can do with it too.
- Use it as a marinade. Follow the same process as this Lemon Yogurt-Marinated Chicken, but marinate the chicken in the dressing.
- Drizzle as a sauce. Spoon it over some spaghetti squash, or wrap up that grilled chicken in gluten free naan and dollop on the Caesar.
- Dunk as a dip. Whether you set out a platter of veggies or need something for dipping Chicken Tenders or even a slice of Supreme Pizza, this is perfect.
Storage Instructions
Be sure to keep your Caesar salad dressing tightly sealed in a container or jar and stored in the refrigerator. It will keep for several days.
Do not freeze the Caesar dressing. Because of the yogurt, it will separate upon thawing and will have a watery consistency.
More salad dressing recipes
Just like this healthy Caesar dressing, recipe, many of your favorite creamy dressings are easy to lighten up by using Greek yogurt. Reinvent the classics in a healthier way by trying these salad dressing recipes.
Healthy Caesar Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons Worcesteshire sauce
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, parmesan cheese, garlic, Kosher salt, and pepper in a bowl and whisk together. Store in the refrigerator.
Did you make this?
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Is there any way around the Worcestershire sauce? I hate the stuff, and never buy it.
A splash of soy sauce or balsamic vinegar would give it that bit of umami flavor, but you could just skip it or add a little more lemon juice.
Made this tonight and absolutely loved it! It was really easy to make, flavorful, and much lower in fat than typical Caesar (what I was looking for).
Used it tonight on chicken Caesar salad and will be using it on wraps tomorrow!
This is so freakin good!! Tastes amazing :))
Amazing!!! So so soooo good and pretty darn close to the real deal!!! Thanks for sharing and can’t wait to try your others!!!
Awesome, thanks!
I thought this was an easy and tasty recipe! The only thing I added was a bit of black pepper.
Thanks Brianne! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!