Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches (Air Fryer or Oven)
These Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches have restaurant-quality flavor that’s lightened up and easy to make at home! I honestly said “OMG, these are so good” out loud when I bit into the first of these sandwiches, so I cannot wait for you to try them. The chicken can be cooked in the air fryer or oven, though if you have an air fryer I recommend it. The chicken gets so crispy on the outside and stays so juicy on the inside! The shredded parmesan cheese in the breading gives the chicken so much nutty, cheesy flavor, and the creamy Caesar salad topping and crispy garlic toasted bun just make this sandwich perfection. Not only are these Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches easy to make and full of delicious flavor, each one is just 376 calories or 7 WW Points on Weight Watchers. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here.
Air Fryer or Oven?
I’ve provided directions for making these Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches in both the air fryer and the oven in the recipe instructions below. If you have both options available, I recommend cooking the chicken in your air fryer because the outside gets crispier, which I prefer. If you don’t have an air fryer, the oven is still a great option and will make delicious chicken.
Do I need to pre-heat my air fryer?
I’ve seen lots of mixed information about this. Some sources say you absolutely must pre-heat your air fryer and some say you needn’t bother. I think it probably depends on the brand of air fryer you own, so you may want to check your manual. I have a COSORI brand air fryer and do not pre-heat for this recipe. I see that Philips (another popular brand) also says you don’t need to pre-heat. If you’re not sure about your particular model, feel free to just run it for a few minutes before you add the chicken to be sure.
Recipe Notes
- Caesar Dressing: I used Marzetti Simply Creamy Caesar dressing, which is only 50 calories for two tablespoons and is really tasty. I definitely recommend it! If you can’t find that one of have another light Caesar dressing you prefer (like Ken’s), feel free to use that instead!
- Sandwich Rolls: I used Martin’s Potato Sandwich Rolls and they are super tasty in this recipe! These are one of the sandwich rolls/hamburger buns my family buys often. Once they are toasted up with a little garlic salt per the recipe instructions the flavor really mimics that of a crouton you’d get in a Caesar salad!
- Parmesan: I buy a wedge of Parmesan cheese and shred it myself with a box grater for this recipe for maximum flavor. If you buy shredded Parmesan in a tub at your grocery store you can also use that and it should work fine. I do recommend shredding it yourself if you have the time though! It’s delicious!
- Lemon: I love the bright, fresh, tart citrus flavor that squeezing the lemon wedge over the top before adding the bun lid gives this sandwich. If you make this without lemon I’m sure it will still be delicious, but I really think the lemon squeeze is worthwhile!
- Salad: Even though you’ll use two cups of lettuce to make the salad topping, once it is dressed it will be more like a bit over 1 ½ cups. Dressing just weighs it down a bit. That’s why the recipe says to put a rounded 1/3 cup of salad topping on each sandwich. It’s more than 1/3 cup, but less than ½ cup per sandwich.
- Re-heating: To re-heat my chicken cutlets when there’s leftovers I usually just transfer a cutlet from the refrigerator right back into my air fryer and heat it up at 350 for about 5 minutes until it’s crispy on the outside and heated through again.
Chicken Cutlets
Thinly cut chicken cutlets are sold in the meat section of most grocery stores, so definitely feel free to just grab those for this recipe. I often buy big bulk packs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts at my grocery store and then use kitchen shears to trim them down into the shapes and sizes I use frequently in recipes. It’s cheaper to buy the breasts in bulk and since I use chicken breasts a lot in my recipes it makes sense for me! I generally cut the big chicken breasts widthwise into cutlets (usually 4 oz – 6 oz each) like the ones used in this recipe. Any chicken that is cut off to make those I then cut into small chunks to make chicken bites. It’s easy to weigh out 1 lb or more of chicken chunks or tenders and some 4, 5, or 6 oz cutlets and freeze them for later in quart size freezer bags. That way, I always have some cutlets and some chicken bites on hand to use in my recipes! I recommend cutting the chicken down using kitchen shears rather than a knife, it just works more quickly and easily, in my opinion.
More Tasty Lightened Up Chicken Recipes:
Looking for more tasty, lightened up recipes using chicken breasts? Check out my Spicy Chicken Sandwiches, Air Fryer Chicken Tenders, Cheesy Garden Vegetable Baked Chicken, Barbecue Rubbed Chicken Bites, Mexican Street Corn Chicken, Cheesy Broccoli Stuffed Chicken, Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites, Baked Chicken Tenders, Crispy Onion Dip Chicken, Nashville Hot Chicken Bites, Crispy Chicken Parmesan, Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken, Maple Dijon Chicken and Squash Skillet, Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken, Blackened Chicken Bites, Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Bake, Lemon Garlic Chicken and Beans Skillet, Cream Cheese and Herb Stuffed Chicken, Tuscan Olive Chicken, Barbecue Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders, Pimento Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Cream Cheese Stuffed Everything Chicken, and many more in the Chicken section of my recipe index!
Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 4 (4 ounce each) thin uncooked boneless skinless chicken breast cutlets, (1 lb total)
- 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 2 large egg whites, beaten
- 1 ½ oz finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- ½ cup plain panko breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 2 tablespoons light Caesar dressing, (I used Marzetti Simply Creamy Caesar dressing)
- 4 sandwich rolls or hamburger buns, (I used Martin’s Potato Sandwich Rolls)
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- 4 lemon wedges
Instructions
- Place the chicken cutlets into a mixing bowl. In a small dish, mix together the flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Add the seasoning mix to the chicken cutlets. Stir the contents of the bowl until the chicken cutlets are coated with the spices.
- In a shallow dish, beat the egg whites thoroughly. In a separate shallow dish, stir together one ounce of the shredded Parmesan cheese, the panko bread crumbs, and parsley until mixed.
- One at a time, take the seasoning-coated chicken cutlets and coat them in the egg white mixture. Allow any excess egg to drip off and then press the chicken cutlet into the bread crumb mix and flip so that both sides are coated in crumbs.
- Air Fryer (recommended): Transfer the crumb-coated chicken to the basket of your air fryer in a single layer without the cutlets touching each other. Lightly mist the tops of the chicken with cooking spray. Set the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and cook for 6 minutes. Flip the cutlets over and mist the tops with cooking spray. Continue to air fry your cutlets for another 6 minutes until cooked through. Oven: Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When the chicken cutlets are crumb-coated, transfer them to the baking sheet and lightly mist the tops with cooking spray. Place the tray in the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Flip the cutlets and mist again with cooking spray. Return them to the oven for another 8 minutes or until cooked through.
- While the chicken is cooking, place the chopped romaine lettuce into a mixing bowl with the remaining ½ ounce of shredded Parmesan cheese. Drizzle the Caesar dressing over the top and then toss to coat the lettuce.
- Lightly mist the inside (cut side) of the sandwich rolls with cooking spray and then sprinkle with the garlic salt. Bring a griddle pan or skillet to medium heat and place the rolls cut side down on the heated pan. Let them brown for 1-3 minutes until the undersides of the rolls are crispy and golden/toasted. Remove from the pan.
- To build each sandwich, place a cooked chicken cutlet on the bottom half of one of the toasted sandwich rolls. Scoop a rounded 1/3 cup of the Caesar salad lettuce mix onto the top of the chicken and spread a bit. Squeeze a lemon wedge over the top and then cover with the top half of the toasted bun. Repeat to make four sandwiches (if you aren’t serving all four at once, keep the ingredients separate and build the sandwiches as needed). Serve immediately.
Notes
376 calories, 35 g carbs, 6 g sugar, 9 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 38 g protein, 2 g fiber, 653 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
9 per sandwich (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition information below)
good recipe! I like chicken
These were delicious Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. I couldn’t find the buns you used so I used the Oroweat Keto Hamburger Buns for 2 points. They worked great. I used some of the leftover chicken breasts in a salad the next day. Yummy!