If you love a chicken Caesar salad as much as I do, this high-protein Caesar-inspired chicken salad is for you. It’s the ultimate meal prep lunch – creamy, flavor-packed, and loaded with 36g protein per serving. Fab stuffed into a pita, served with crudités, or piled onto toast.
Table of Contents
Quick Look: Caesar-Inspired Chicken Salad
⏰ Time: 15 minutes
🍽️ Serves: 6
💪 Protein: 36g per serving
🛒 Key Ingredients: Chicken, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, parmesan, scallions, mustard
🧠 Skill Level: Easy
💃 Perfect For: Meal prep, quick lunches, sandwiches, wraps, snack plates
🥙 Best Served With: Toasted sourdough, crackers, pita bread, two-ingredient flatbreads, crudites
The Lunch I Can Eat Every Day
Lunch is always the meal I struggle with the most. I’ll often end up grazing on random bits from the fridge, or reaching for something underwhelming because I don’t want to spend time making food in the middle of the day.
That’s exactly why this ridiculously delicious, ridiculously easy Caesar-inspired chicken salad is SO brilliant. It’s the American-style kind of ‘chicken salad’ – a mix of shredded chicken, creamy base, and crunchy add-ins.
I make a batch on Sunday, then all week I can throw together a protein-packed lunch in minutes – something that actually tastes good, keeps me full all afternoon, and definitely doesn’t feel like a sad desk lunch.
- It genuinely tastes like the best grilled chicken Caesar salad, but in creamy chicken salad form.
- It’s endlessly versatile, too. I love it with a big plate of crudités, but it’s equally fab piled onto toast, stuffed into pita bread, rolled into wraps, or scooped up with crackers.
- And when I say it’s meal prep gold, I really mean it. Mix up a batch, pop it in the fridge, and lunch is sorted for the next few days.
The recipe is actually very similar to my creamy chicken Caesar dip (an M&S copycat), so you’ll definitely love that one if you like the sound of this.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Cottage cheese. Any plain cottage cheese works – zero-fat versions too. I prefer whipping my cottage cheese first as I really don’t like the chunky texture, but if you don’t mind, it’s not an essential step.
- Greek yogurt. Like with the cottage cheese, any plain Greek yogurt works. Zero or low-fat versions are great too.
- Chicken. For ease and speed, I like using a rotisserie chicken here. Any cooked chicken will do, though. You can cook the chicken for the salad too – I recommend following the steps in my grilled chicken Caesar salad recipe.
- Fish sauce. This replaces the traditional anchovies in Caesar salad. I prefer fish sauce because it’s a quicker way to add that deep, savory flavor.
- White miso paste. Like the fish sauce, this gives the salad a gorgeously deep, savory flavor that works so well with the other ingredients. I recommend using it if possible.
How to Make the Caesar Chicken Salad
This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the chicken salad – the full recipe with ingredient quantities is at the bottom of the page for you.
- Add all your ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
- Mix everything very well to combine. Taste, then add any extra seasoning as needed.
- You’re done! Store your chicken salad, or enjoy it right away.
Kate’s Top Recipe Tip
I prefer to blitz or whip my cottage cheese before using it in this chicken salad recipe. That’s just because I don’t enjoy the chunky texture of regular cottage cheese.
It’s an optional step, but if you are going to do it, you can also add all the ingredients (except the chicken and bacon) to a food processor or blender and blitz them into the creamy Caesar base.
Then just add the chicken and bacon, and you’re done.
Caesar-Inspired Chicken Salad FAQs
You can! That’s the whole idea of this recipe. It’s perfect for meal prep. Make a batch, then store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
I find it actually gets better over time as the flavors have time to develop.
Any cooked chicken works well here. For ease, I love using a rotisserie chicken, but leftover herby roast chicken, poached chicken breasts, or grilled chicken are great options.
The chicken part of this grilled chicken Caesar salad, or charred chicken Caesar flatbreads, is a great guide to follow if you’re cooking your chicken.
Shredding the chicken gives the best texture, as it can really meld with the other ingredients.
This is SUCH a versatile recipe. I love it piled onto sourdough toast, stuffed into wraps, piled onto two-ingredient garlic flatbreads, spooned into lettuce cups, served with crackers or pita chips, or with a big platter of crudites.
Like this recipe? Try these high-protein ideas next
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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High Protein Caesar-Inspired Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Low Calorie
Description
If you love a chicken Caesar salad as much as I do, this high-protein Caesar-inspired chicken salad is for you. It’s the ultimate meal prep lunch – creamy, flavor-packed, and loaded with 36g protein per serving. Fab stuffed into a pita, served with crudités, or piled onto toast.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese (220g – 250g)
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (125g)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons white miso paste
- Black pepper
- 1 lb (500g) shredded, cooked chicken
- 2 slices of bacon
- 2 scallions, finely sliced
- A big handful of chives, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapenos (optional)
Instructions
- Whip the cottage cheese (optional). I prefer to do this for a smoother texture to the salad – but it’s not essential. If you’re doing it, place your cottage cheese into a blender or food processor, and blitz until super smooth and creamy. You can also do this with an immersion blender in your mixing bowl.
- Cook the bacon. I like doing this in the air fryer – five minutes at 400F (200C) should get it nice and crispy. Otherwise, cook it on the stovetop over medium-high heat until crispy, about 6 or 7 minutes. Once crispy, chop or break it into small pieces.
- Mix the Caesar chicken salad. Transfer the cottage cheese to a large mixing bowl, along with 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, the crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, 2 teaspoons of white miso paste, the shredded chicken, crispy bacon pieces, sliced scallions, chopped chives, the pickled jalapenos if you’re using them, and a very good grind of black pepper. Mix very well to combine, making sure to smooth the miso paste into the mixture.
- Taste, and serve. Taste your chicken salad, then add a little extra fish sauce or Dijon if you like. It’s now ready to enjoy. I love it with sliced cucumber, carrot sticks, baked pita chips, or piled onto sourdough toast.
Notes
If you’re whipping your cottage cheese, you can make the recipe even quicker by blitzing all the ingredients (except the chicken and bacon) in your food processor or blender. Then you’ll have the creamy base that you can simply add the chicken and bacon to.
INGREDIENT NOTES: Any plain cottage cheese and Greek yogurt work here – zero and low-fat too. For ease and speed, I like using a rotisserie chicken for this recipe, but any cooked, shredded chicken will do. I prefer shredded chicken for the best texture, but chopped chicken can work too.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The chicken salad will keep for up to 4 days, stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Give it a little mix before enjoying it after it’s been stored in the fridge.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: meat
- Method: air fryer
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 100g
- Calories: 206
- Sugar: 2.6g
- Sodium: 720mg
- Fat: 4.3g
- Saturated Fat: 1.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 4.2g
- Fiber: 0.4g
- Protein: 36g
- Cholesterol: 74mg
