The Easiest Substitute For Raw Egg Yolk In Caesar Dressing

While you may have graduated from the bottled Caesar dressing from the shelf-stable grocery store aisle to making your very own from scratch, including that golden egg yolk can still be intimidating. The combination of the puréed anchovy and raw egg is a lot to take on, especially if you find yourself a bit squeamish around eggs. We have a perfect workaround for you that will help you to save on time and hopefully reduce any ick factor you may get from a traditional recipe. 

When you're making Caesar dressing from scratch, the egg yolk is used to help emulsify the oils and vinegar together, which it's particularly adept at thanks to a protein called lecithin, notes FOOD52. This gives dressing that special frothed thickness that makes it different from just drizzling oil and vinegar over your salad. To give you the same rich, delicious results of the raw egg, the test kitchen at Bon Appétit found the perfect shortcut that won't have you missing the traditional recipe at all. 

The emulsification process used while making Caesar dressing from scratch is very similar to when you make another condiment — mayonnaise! Mayo is made from oil, acid, and you guessed it, egg yolk. So when you're mixing up that sumptuous dressing, you can actually add a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise in place of a raw egg. It will whip up similarly to a yolk, without having to break a few eggs, says Bon Appétit. It should be noted that if you're looking for an egg substitute for your Caesar salad because you or someone you're cooking for has an egg allergy or dietary restriction, the mayo hack won't work for you, as it still contains eggs.

This method has the added benefit of already having broken down the egg yolk, which means less wrist power, making this an ideal substitute for chefs who get hand and wrist pain while whisking. Better yet, just toss the entire mixture in a bowl and let your immersion blender or food processor take care of the rest. The rotating blades and speed of the electric blenders will make quick work of the emulsification process, per Cook's Illustrated.