Baked Caesar Chicken
Imagine a tender, juicy chicken breast, Caesar dressing, and plenty of Parmesan cheese all baked up in one easy meal. That’s what this Baked Caesar Chicken is all about, and it’s so good and easy enough for a weeknight dinner!
Ready for chicken like you’ve never had before? This Baked Caesar Chicken is my new favorite – try it yourself and see how easy and delicious it is! And who doesn’t love a dinner that is on the table in less than 45 minutes–and a whole meal in one casserole dish!
Baked Caesar Chicken
Chicken breasts can be hard to cook without drying out, but with this chicken bake recipe, the Caesar dressing locks in all the juiciness and the Parmesan adds lots of flavor and a great texture. I also love that you can pair this with so many sides to build a delicious meal.
And have I told you how amazing it is served with our popular stick of butter rice recipe? Oh my!
Why I love this recipe
- It’s an easy dish to make (simple ingredients).
- Good enough for company – serve with a salad and side dessert!
- On the table in 45 minutes from start to finish.
Gather these ingredients
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Feshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- White pepper
- Creamy Caesar salad dressing (not designed for vinaigrette style caesar dressings)
- Sour cream
- Caesar style croutons (or favorite flavor)
- Butter
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Chopped parsley
How do you make Baked Caesar Chicken
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Prepare: If the breasts are thick, we love to use a meat tenderizer, but you can also pound them to an even ¾-1-inch thickness using a meat pounder (put in a Ziplock bag and pound on a flat surface).
- Mix the white pepper into 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Then sprinkle the breasts on both sides with the cheese and place in the 9×13 baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the Caesar dressing and the sour cream. Pour the mixture over each breasts.
- Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese on top.
- Crush the croutons to crumbs, then melt 1 tbsp of butter and mix the croutons with it to coat.
- Spread the crouton crumbs over the cheese.
- Bake the chicken dish on the middle rack for 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the crumbs are golden brown. If the top of the crumbs become too browned, loosely cover with foil for the remainder of the cook time. [Temp in the middle of the breast should be 165 degrees.]
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.
- Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley an serve with potatoes, rice, cauliflower rice, veggies, polenta, or use the chicken (chop or shred) for Caesar wraps, tacos, etc.
Tips and substitutions:
- Sometimes, chicken breasts are huge! If that’s the case, you can cut them in half horizontally to create two thinner breast pieces from one chicken breast. Not only will they cook faster this way, but it’ll stretch your dollars a bit further.
- If using large chicken breasts, you can cut in half and serve 8. It really depends on the size of the chicken breast and how big you want each serving.
- I buy chicken breasts when they’re on sale, then pop them into the freezer until I’m ready to use them. That way, I have chicken on hand to make delicious dinners any night of the week. And, if you buy boneless skinless breasts, this dish is ready to bake in no time!
- Optional to use Ranch dressing instead of Caesar, but the thicker (better quality), the better the recipe!
- Leftovers are great in a salad or wrap the next day!
Serving
Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley an serve with potatoes, rice, cauliflower rice, veggies, polenta, or use the chicken (chop or shred) for Caesar wraps, tacos, etc.
We also love this served with this house salad, hot garlic bread, and this easy blueberry crunch dessert!
Storage
Store any leftovers in the fridge in covered container for up to 2-3 days. Eat the leftovers in a wrap the next day!
More chicken recipes you may want to try while you are here:
Get the Recipe:
Baked Caesar Chicken
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, (or 2 pounds of chicken breast)
- 1 ¾ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup creamy Caesar salad dressing, not designed for vinaigrette style caesar dressings
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup caesar style croutons, or favorite flavor
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- If the breasts are thick, we love to use a meat tenderizer, but you can also pound them to an even ¾-1-inch thickness using a meat pounder (put in a Ziplock bag and pound on a flat surface).
- Mix the white pepper into 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Then sprinkle the breasts on both sides with the cheese and place in the 9×13 baking dish.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the Caesar dressing and the sour cream. Pour the mixture over each breasts.
- Sprinkle the remaining ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese on top.
- Crush the croutons to crumbs, then melt 1 tbsp of butter and mix the croutons with it to coat.
- Spread the crouton crumbs over the cheese.
- Bake the chicken dish on the middle rack for 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the crumbs are golden brown. If the top of the crumbs become too browned, loosely cover with foil for the remainder of the cook time. [Temp in the middle of the breast should be 165 degrees.]
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley an serve with potatoes, rice, cauliflower rice, veggies, polenta, or use the chicken (chop or shred) for Caesar wraps, tacos, etc.
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I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Re: Baked Caesar Chicken. This recipe looks delicious, I can’t wait to try it. You mention combining the Caesar dressing and salsa, but salsa is not listed in the ingredients. Did you mean the sour cream instead? Hoping for a reply. Thanks.
Yes, sour cream!
You mention whisking the creamy Ceasar dressing with salsa, but I don’t see salsa listed with the ingredients?
Yes, sour cream!
The directions say to mix the salad dressing and salsa, but there is no salsa in the ingredient list. Can you please clarify? Thank you.
Sour cream – thanks!
When you say add salsa to the Ceasar dressing…did you mean add sour cream?
Sour cream!
It step number 4 it says to mix Caesar dressing with the salsa but I do not see salsa listed as an ingredient. What kind and how much?
Just sour cream! :)
kinda curious… in the recipe you said to add dressing with salsa? don’t you mean sour cream???? little confusing here.. sorry… but all through the articles it says salsa>? thanks I want to try this but… ummmm….. gonna try and think that is what you mean. thank you for the idea.
Sorry about that – only sour cream, no salsa.
This looks delicious. In step 4 the instructions say to mix the Caesar dressing with salsa. Can I assume that this is an error and the dressing should be mixed with the sour cream? Otherwise the instructions seem very clear.
Mix the dressing and sour cream (no salsa).
You say in the directions to mix the dressing with the salsa. I don’t see salsa in the ingredients. Am I assuming that you mean mix it with the sour cream?
sour cream only!
Salsa?
No salsa – just sour cream! Enjoy!
This looks delicious and I plan to try it.
Note: You need to make an edit to step #4. You are saying to mix the dressing with salsa instead of the sour cream.
Thanks,
Patty
just sour cream!