What's So Special About TikTok's Viral Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad
Caesar salad got its start in Mexico in the 1920s, and it has become one of the country's most popular salads since then. It's on menus from coast to coast, and a relatively new riff on this classic has become a sensation on TikTok. It's seemingly impossible to determine who first kicked off this trend, but there are dozens of videos of people trying this fusion of pasta salad and Caesar salad. One early version of this delicious hybrid landed on TikTok in August 2022. It comes from Chris Collins, an award-winning food blogger.
More than 4 million people have liked a TikTok video of this salad since it was posted in April 2023. Bacon is one of the elements that cooks include in most of these videos to take the dish to the next level. It's easy to see why this salad has developed such a devoted following.
Better than the original Caesar
The original Caesar salad has only a few ingredients, and it was reportedly created to feed customers at a restaurant running short of food. It started as lettuce with parmesan cheese, and croutons served with a creamy dressing. The TikTok viral twist on the classic has these ingredients, too, plus pieces of chicken and chopped bacon and pasta. The saltiness of the bacon is a great swap for the anchovies usually found in a traditional Caesar salad, and it brings its own distinctive smokiness to this dish. The pasta varieties in this twist seem to be rotini or fusilli, both of which hold the dressing in spiral curls. Some versions use penne or farfalle instead. You just want to use a pasta shape that's easy to coat with the dressing.
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The combination of chicken and bacon makes it more hearty, becoming more of a main course than a side dish. The cheeses used in the chicken Caesar pasta salad play a supporting role in making the dish both substantial and craveable. The choice of cheese ranges from parmesan to other shredded cheeses, which adds some tang to the plate.
A recipe for deliciousness
Why have so many people been inspired to make this TikTok salad themselves? It's the impressive combination of ingredients that make this dish so craveable — smoky bacon, juicy chicken, sharp cheeses, tender pasta, crisp lettuce, crunchy croutons, and creamy dressing. The dish also has a remarkable range of textures, so you never get bored eating it. And if it weren't enough, many TikTok chefs look to spice up the dish's seasoning even more.
While some cooks use store-bought Caesar salad dressing, others mix Caesar with ranch dressing. Seeking to spice up the taste, they incorporate other seasonings. In addition to the standard salt and pepper, you can add some crushed red pepper to bring some heat to the salad. Some like to give the dish a flavor boost using a premade seasoning mix called Salad Supreme, which has black pepper, red pepper, paprika, and celery seed, as well as other spices and powdered cheese. All these ingredients make for one delicious salad.