Pepper Me Up

Some foods should never touch. Pesto and Caesar dressing, however, have my full permission to go all the way. If you ever have both on hand, mix them up, I beg of you. Then make this pesto caesar salad.

I started combining pesto sauce and Caesar dressing when I worked at Noodles & Company in college. After a couple years of eating the same pasta and salad dishes on repeat, you either accept your fate of redundancy or start getting funky with the concoctions. While blue cheese on spicy Korean ramen wasn’t necessarily a winner, pesto caesar has never let me down.

This pesto spin on Caesar salad has a restaurant-level taste but requires TV-dinner level effort, especially if you lean on quality store-bought shortcuts (which, for the record, I fully support). Give this condiment hybrid a try next time you have oodles of leafy greens in your fridge or a dinner party on the horizon, then bask in the glow of all its tastiness.

Why you’ll love this recipe

What’s not to love? People love pesto. People love Caesar salad. They have a natural link via mutual inclusion of parmesan cheese and greenery. This salad invites us into a world where lovers of both get to experience them in harmony. It’s familiar enough for our more particular eaters and interesting enough for people who are prone to side-eyeing salads. 

Preparing this pesto caesar salad is essentially booking a ticket to umami central station. You’ve got nutty parmesan, garlic, olive oil, anchovy-packed Caesar dressing, basil, toasted bread, and cracked pepper, so every bite hits home for salty/savory lovers. 

Also, just like the two condiments we’re combining, this salad plays very nicely with others. You can serve it alongside grilled pork, salmon, roast chicken, pasta dishes, tomato soup, turkey sandwiches, or basically anything that you think would sound good with either pesto or caesar salad. 

This pesto caesar dish is super flexible in terms of pairings and leftover spin-offs, so if you end up loving it, congratulations—you have a new meal planning staple on your hands! You don’t need much pesto or dressing to make this salad, and you’ll likely have extra greens afterward as well. You can take those leftovers and eat another salad, or you can switch it up. Stuff them into spicy caesar wraps. Use them as greenery on a burger or sandwich. Toss with grilled chicken and quinoa to make a grain bowl for lunch. So many options!

Ingredients you need

Pesto

Homemade pesto is wonderful (especially when you have basil and other herbs threatening to die in your fridge drawer). Store-bought is also wonderful (especially if there’s one you really love). Either one works, but if you’re looking for an easy homemade recipe, check out my basil spinach walnut pesto recipe!

Caesar dressing

Again: homemade or store-bought will be great. Just be sure to use one you genuinely enjoy because the flavor really shines through. A super tangy Caesar will make the salad brighter; a richer one will make it extra decadent.

Greens: romaine and spinach

Romaine is classic, and spinach is something I always tend to have in the fridge. I love a mix of both here because you get crunch and softness. Plus, we’re already mixing sauces, so why not mix greens? If you want to make this leafy twosome a threesome, kale is great. Heartier and more textured, it’s a great green that’ll add some extra intrigue.

Sourdough bread

You cannot have pesto nor caesar salad without some sort of carb. Tear some sourdough (bonus points if you have some that’s starting to turn stale) into craggy little pieces, toss some olive oil on them, and toast them in the oven or air fryer until golden. You can go full crouton-crunchy or keep them slightly chewy in the center like rustic toast shards. Heck, you don’t even have to tear the bread. Serve whole slices of toasty bread alongside your salad to use as an extra fork. All are excellent choices. 

Parmesan cheese, lemon, and black pepper

These are your garnishes! The finishing touches that make the whole thing come together. Since parmesan is already in most pestos and caesar dressings, you may not need extra cheese for topping, but I do. Fresh parm is one of my favorite things on this planet, so a wedge is always in my fridge, ready to be grated anytime I need her. Lemon and black pepper help wake the salty umami party that the pesto and caesar are throwing, so even though they’re also optional, I wouldn’t skip those either.

How to make pesto caesar salad

1. Toast the bread

Toss torn sourdough with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then bake until golden and crisp around the edges. Your kitchen should smell aggressively inviting at this point.

2. Mix the dressing

Combine pesto and Caesar dressing until smooth and creamy. Taste it before adding to the salad because this is where you get to decide what kind of person you are. More pesto? Greener and herbier. More Caesar? Richer and punchier. You can also add some drops/teaspoons of cool water while mixing to make the merge more succinct and loosen the texture a bit. 

3. Toss the salad

Add your greens to a large bowl and coat lightly with the dressing mixture. Fold in the toasted bread so it catches all the little pockets of dressing instead of sitting there dry and disconnected.

4. Garnish and serve

Serve immediately while the bread still has texture and everyone nearby starts asking what smells so good. Finish individual bowls with shaved parmesan, cracked black pepper, and lemon wedges or slices, or place your garnishes on the table for any guests to personalize. 

Ways to spin this salad

The pesto-Caesar combination does a lot of heavy lifting flavor-wise, which means you can riff on the textures, vegetables, proteins, and add-ins depending on what you have hanging around your kitchen. It’s forgiving, flexible, and honestly kind of hard to mess up.

• Switch up the greens:  Play around with different proportions or embrace whatever you have on hand.  Some arugula would add some bitter or peppery notes which would fit nicely with our creamy/salty sauces. Spring mix, cabbage, bib lettuce, green leaf, etc. can all make themselves at home here.You can also toss in blanched peas or broccoli for extra texture and sweetness—just shock them in an ice bath after cooking so they stay vibrant and cool.
• Lean into the bread: Turn your torn sourdough into crispy croutons, grill thick slices and pile the salad over top, or rub warm toasted bread with garlic before adding it in. Carbs deserve joy too.
• Add extra brightness: If your pesto or Caesar dressing leans especially rich, a little acid balances everything beautifully. Try balsamic vinegar, cherry tomatoes, pickled onions, or extra lemon juice.
• Make it more filling: Cannellini beans, chickpeas, edamame, almonds, walnuts, quinoa, couscous, or farro all bulk this salad up without overpowering the flavors. For more protein, I’d suggest incorporating salmon, shrimp, grilled chicken, crispy tofu, steak, or anchovies. This salad has range, so don’t be shy with experimenting. 
• Turn it into something else entirely: Wrap it in a tortilla, stuff it into pita bread, layer it onto sandwiches, or swap the bread for some cooked-and-cooled pasta for a pesto caesar pasta salad.

Food and drink pairing suggestions

This pesto caesar salad has the power to upgrade most any meal. It can sit next to something smoky off the grill, round out a cozy soup-and-sandwich dinner, or complement any citrusy or tomato-sauced pasta. Here some ideas for what to serve it with:

• Smoked rack of pork: Pork might be my favorite pairing for both pesto and Caesar salad, so it’s definitely top of the list here for pesto caesar salad pairings. The smoky, rich pork with the garlicky, herby salad is wildly good together, especially with a nice white wine to brighten everything up.
  • Pair with a bright, high-acid Sauvignon Blanc
• Salmon burgers: The herbal notes in the pesto mirror the salmon beautifully, while the Caesar adds enough salt and richness to make the whole plate feel cohesive. It’s especially good if the bun situation is toasted and a little buttery.
  • Enjoy with a slightly fruity Hefeweizen
• Butternut squash ravioli: The sweetness of the squash and the browned butter or sage situation plays really nicely against the salty, creamy salad. It turns a pasta dish into full meal composition.
  • Pair with an unoaked Chardonnay
• Chicken noodle soup: Soup and salad simply belong together. Chicken noodle soup is warm, brothy, and nostalgic; our pesto caesar salad is cold, creamy, and punchy. Together, they create that perfect temperature and texture contrast.
  • Enjoy with a dry Riesling
• Shrimp skewers or blackened shrimp: The char and spice from the shrimp paired with the cool, creamy greens creates a strong and complementary contrast. Hit everything with a mini downpour of lemon wedge juice before digging in.
  • Pair with a peppery, citrusy Saison