Yes, you can make Caesar dressing without the egg yolk

If you’re worried about making classic Caesar dressing with raw egg yolks, you’re not alone. A lot of people are allergic to the idea of eating raw eggs in general, and on top of that, making mayonnaise or aioli from scratch – which you’re basically doing in this case – can be tricky for beginners. At best, it’s an arm exercise to get the oil, acid, and egg whites fully emulsify; At worst, you end up with a broken, sweaty, mucousy (sorry), and inedible emulsion.

But here’s a secret: If you’re not striving for authenticity when it comes to your Caesar’s, you’re not going to miss out on much at all by substituting a bar of store-bought mayonnaise for a raw egg yolk. You probably won’t be able to tell the difference, and this essential refrigerator shortcut makes dressing fast and stress-free.

Take, for example, this Tomato Caesar recipe in the height of summer. We took the easy route and called for using a tablespoon of mayonnaise to replace the egg yolks in the sauce. It imparts just the right amount of richness and incorporates into the sauce more easily than egg yolks—remember that crushed mayonnaise is just a firm emulsion of eggs and oil—and you don’t miss it at all when you’re rich, vibrant, fresh heirloom tomatoes, basil, and slivers of hazelnut Parmesan cheese.

Have this dressing in your back pocket is a Caesar hack when a bottled dressing is out of the question but dealing with raw eggs seems too difficult. Moreover, you can mix all the ingredients together in a blender when whisking by hand seems like a lot.

Listen, if you’re really a big fan of the super cute “egg yolk” that raw eggs bring to the party, you’re, of course, welcome to go the authentic route. But let’s be real, the other flavors in Caesar dressing—like delicious Parmesan, anchovies, sparkling lemon juice, and garlic—are the real stars of the Caesar experience.

a Simple and quick salad Tomatoes made from beautiful, high season tomatoes should be the epitome of easy summer cooking – stressing over dressing shouldn’t be part of this process.