Caesar Salad Chicken Recipe with a Twist

If you're like me and are a fan of Caesar salad as a meal itself rather than as an appetizer, then you may find this recipe interesting.  I do my own Caesar salad a little different than most.  I include the usual ingredients like Parmesan cheese, chicken, croutons, bacon and Caesar salad dressing; though I also use cucumbers, tomatoes and spring mix rather than romaine lettuce. 

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
• 5-6 slices Bacon
• Spring mix (half of the tub)
• Cucumber, big (half)
• 1 Tomato, big 
• Caesar Salad dressing (varies on preference)
• Croutons (garlic butter, cup)
• Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese (shred/grate)
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Chicken Marinade: (1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1 tbsp. chopped garlic, salt and pepper, herbs (optional) thyme, dried

Try also: How to Roast a Top Sirloin Beef

Watch how I Make the Chicken Caesar Salad with a Twist:

How I made is as follows:

1. Starting with the chicken, I prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken breast as it requires little work.  
2. Take the chicken breast, rinse it and then take a fork to poke holes all over the breasts.  
3. Put the chicken in a Ziploc bag with some garlic powder, some chopped garlic and some lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.   You can do this in the morning before work, or even the night before. 
4. When you want to start cooking, you preheat the oven to 400 degrees and then put the chicken on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Since the oven is going to be used for the chicken you can also use it for the bacon, so use another baking sheet lined with parchment paper for the bacon.  
5. When the oven reached the desired temperature,  place the bacon and chicken in the oven for between 20 and 25 minutes (depending on how you like the bacon, you may need to keep an eye on it). I prefer it to be crispy. 
6. While the bacon and chicken are in the oven, you make the rest of the salad.  Rinse the spring mix, put it in a salad spinner to remove the excess water and then place the spring mix in a mixing/salad bowl. 
7. Now, grab the cucumber and tomatoes, chop the cucumber and tomato into cubes and add them to the spring mix.
8. Then, add the croutons (I use garlic and butter flavor croutons but to each their own).
9. When the bacon is done (it will likely be done before the chicken) grab some paper towels and put the bacon in between a few sheets to get the oil off of it.  
10. After that, to put the bacon in the salad, you can use a pair of scissors to cut up the bacon and drop it in the bowl or you can crush it with your fingers if you make it crispy enough to be able to use your hands.
11. When the chicken is done, place it on a cutting board and start cutting it into slices.  
12. Now here there is a choice, you take the slices of chicken and put them in the salad or you can sear the chicken a little to give a little charred look/texture and taste (which I myself prefer). 
13. If you want to give it a char, heat up a pan high on the stovetop, when you remove the bacon from the oven would be a good time to start. When the pan is hot enough put a little oil in and place the chicken in the pan and watch because it only takes a minute or two to get a good char. 
14. Once you put the chicken in the bowl, you shred some Parmesan cheese on top of the salad.
15. Now it is time for the dressing ( I prefer using Rene's Mighty Caesar dressing but you can also use any available Caesar salad dressing available in your store).  The amount of dressing you put depends on how creamy you want the salad to be.
16. Mix, serve and enjoy.