Fusilli Caesar Salad
The best caesar salad ever with a secret ingredient – Hawaiian bread croutons! The croutons are so good, you’ll want to eat all of them first before digging into the salad!
Caesar salad is one of my absolute favorite salads to order when eating out. But I always feel a little silly paying $12 for a salad when it has such few ingredients – romaine lettuce, parmesan cheese, croutons and dressing. So I decided to whip up a super easy, budget-friendly caesar salad right at home, along with a secret ingredient that will knock your socks off .
Yes, I so went there. I croutonified my all-time favorite rolls – King’s Hawaiian. And here’s the best part – making your own croutons is the easiest thing ever! All you have to do is slice up your rolls into cubes, toss them with melted butter and your favorite herbs, and pop them into the oven for 5-6 minutes. That’s it!
And seriously, these are the best croutons I’ve ever had. They were amazingly crunchy but still sweet and tender on the inside, just soaked with all that buttery goodness. I even got the approval from Butters!
Fusilli Caesar Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces fusilli pasta
- 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
for the croutons
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 (12-count) package KING'S HAWAIIAN Original Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls, diced into 1-inch cubes
For the dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ⅓ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 anchovy fillet, rinsed, dried and chopped, optional
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, butter, parsley, oregano, basil and garlic powder.
- Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Stir in olive oil mixture and gently toss to combine. Place into oven and bake until crisp and golden, about 4-5 minutes; set aside.
- To make the dressing, whisk together mayonnaise, Parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire, anchovy, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well and let cool.
- To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with pasta, Parmesan, salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine.
- Serve immediately, garnished with croutons.
Did you make this recipe?
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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by King’s Hawaiian. All opinions expressed are my own.
Been making this for years and love it! I make as written, but sometimes sub the mayo with fat-free Greek yogurt. It’s not quite as good that way (an expected outcome of taking out the mayo) but still hits the spot when I need something a little lighter. Thank you for this recipe!
This was absolutely delicious! My kids loved it. The croutons are a nice addition. I even made the dressing a second time to use on other salads.
Made this for dinner tonight — when I told my BF what I was making I could tell he wasn’t thrilled about having salad for dinner, I topped it with some blackened chicken and he ate three servings of it and wouldn’t stop talking about how good it was! I’m glad I finally found a Cesar dressing recipe that tastes just like my mom’s! :))))))
Have not heard of, hence have no access to the buns in the recipe. What would you recommend as a substitute?
You can substitute day old French bread.
Just made this for lunch with some substitutes … OHHH MAN delicious!! Didn’t use anchovies (preggers!) and added grilled chicken. This is so getting saved for future use as I am obsessed with caesar salad lately, and I also hate paying so much for it at restaurants! Thank you!! (also-found your website because a friend made your one pan enchilada bake … woah.) Can’t wait to try the chicken alfredo roll ups tonight for the game!!
Such a great variation of the original Caesar salad. I use the exact same recipe for my dressing (I often skip the anchovy fillet) and the croutons sound very flavorful and delicious. Pinning!
I substituted grilled chicken for the fusilli, anchovy paste for the fillet and used ciabatta rolls for the croutons. My ridiculously picky family of teenagers LOVED it and came back for seconds and thirds. The dressing was the perfect balance and the croutons sublime. Definitely a keeper in our cache of go-to dinners. Thank you!
I have a tube of anchovy paste in the fridge that lasts forever. Great for this recipe that calls for one anchovy!
Made this and absolutely LOVED it! I left the croutons in for a few extra minutes, since I like them on the extra crispy side. They were DELICIOUS! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe (=
I’m so excited to try out this recipe! I’m 8 months pregnant and Caesar salads are a constant craving of mine, so thank you!
if i dont add anchovy, there is gonna be a big difference in sauce? I saw someone uses anchovy paste for it, but couldnt be able to find it at any store here where I live. thanks!
Nope – you should be fine without it. Sometimes I make it with and without, and I love it both ways!
What a great idea to use pasta in cesar salad ! I’ll try it for sure. And your photography is amazing !
Croutons are my favorite part of any salad. The croutons and the salad look amazingly yummy!
Just made the croutons for a salad I want to seve tonight and they simply will not get crisp. should I have toasted the bread first? HELP??
Carol, did you bake these at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes?
It’s really odd that they didn’t crisp up for you. I almost burnt them and “over-crisped” them by leaving them in the oven for just an extra minute!
If it still does not crisp up, feel free to leave it in the oven a little bit longer than directed.
thanks, I did try leavig them in longer. Now I just put the oven on to lower heat and left them there to hopefully dry out ome. I too think it is strange and the oven I am using is really a “hot” oven. Maybe they were just too fresh to start with. They do taste good so guess that is the point.
The low oven worked! I left the oven on at about 175 for 20 minutes or so then turned it off and just left the croutons in there. They are perfect now. I am on Cape Dod and it is a humid day – waiting for the storm to hit – so that may have had something to do with it too.
I’m so happy to hear that they were saved!
Yah, that so needs to happen asap in our casa. Especially the croutonifcation … haha.
Caesar salad is all time favorite of mine. I am not a purist and I think adding the pasta was an inspired idea. I eat a lot of salad year round. So trying this is high on my list. Often the down fall in restaurant Caesar’s are there absolutely terrible croutons! So if these are THE best, then I am grateful. My croutons—the very times I tried to make them—-were not high quality.
Hawaiian bread croutons sound perfectly fabulous, love that addition!
Oh even the Mr will love this salad! Pasta plus creamy dressing plus delicious croutons, yep, I’m sure he’d be into that 🙂
And if Butters approves it then we can’t argue can we?
If it’s Butters-approved then you know it’s good. Perfect summer salad!
Please pass the fork! I need some of this salad ASAP!