A caesar sandwich gets its name from the ingredients within it. Made with shredded chicken breast, caesar salad dressing, lettuce, and parmesan cheese, this sandwich is an iconic American dish.
Fresh, lean, and tasty, the caesar salad chicken sandwich is perfect for a quick lunch or dinner.
Today, we’d like to go over the history of this amazing dish, exactly what its recipe is, and share some fun facts! If you’d like to learn more, keep scrolling, as we’re getting into it immediately. If you’re here hungry for your own caesar sandwich, skip to the bottom of the page!
Before we dive into the specifics of the chicken caesar sandwich itself, we have to look at the history of caesar salad!
As with many legendary dishes, the origin of the Caesar salad is a bit murky. However, it’s most probable that it originated in 1924 Tijuana, Mexico. If you thought Julius Caesar was the inventor of this delicious salad, sorry!
Another Caesar is in question, an Italian American named Cesare (Caesar) Cardini.
As Cesare’s daughter Rosa remembers, her father invented the salad on July 4th in 1924. The restaurant was packed, and there weren’t many ingredients left. So, Cesare decided to toss everything he had into a bowl: Romaine lettuce, garlic, croutons, parmesan, olive oil, raw eggs, and Worcestershire sauce – and the Caesar salad was born.
The salad became so popular that many people, including American movie stars, traveled to the Restaurant in Tijuana to try it.
Back in the day, Cesare prepared the salad in front of the guests, making it a spectacle. Acclaimed American chef Julia Child described the experience as an early childhood memory in her cookbook “From Julia Child’s Kitchen.”
The salad’s popularity was immense, so in a very short time, it spread among chefs in North America and all the way to Europe.
As for the Caesar sandwich itself, we don’t know exactly who invented it and when.
As we mentioned before, the base of a chicken caesar sandwich is caesar salad. However, instead of the traditional croutons in the salad, we have sandwich bread that keeps it all in place. Even though some chicken caesar sandwich recipes do include the croutons, you will often find the dish without them.
The prep process for this sandwich is pretty simple and takes about 15 minutes. Your chef usually starts by coating the bread with caesar salad sauce, making it nice and juicy. The filling, consisting of lettuce, shredded cooked chicken, tomatoes, and parmesan cheese comes next.
Of course, the meat is seasoned with salt, black pepper, and sometimes Italian seasoning for flavor. Before being added to the sandwich, the ingredients are tossed in a large bowl.
Chicken caesar sandwiches are always best when made fresh, which is something your chef actually prefers! Restaurants often tend to add their own signature marks to their caesar sandwiches, making each caesar sandwich uniquely delicious.
A classic chicken caesar sandwich can have up to 850 calories. The number of calories is heavily dependent on what is in the chicken caesar salad that fills the sandwich, what type of sauce is used, and so on.
If you stick to restaurants that prefer fresh ingredients and homemade caesar dressings, the calories you take in may be less. Excessive calories often come from store-bought, ready-to-use mixes that may include lots of extra sugars with little nutritional value.
All in all, a chicken caesar salad sandwich isn’t inherently unhealthy and can be a great meal option for many. The sandwiches are usually high in protein because of the meat and fiber because of the veggies. Add to that the carbs from the bread, and you have yourself a complete, nutritious meal!
If you’re hungry for your very own chicken caesar sandwich, we have a few restaurant suggestions for you! If you don’t see your city on our short list, make sure to search our website.
We have enabled searching by dish and by location, so you’ll find a tasty restaurant near you in no time!
In New York, we’d like to highlight Bleecker’s Finest Deli.