Before I share the recipe for these delicious Chicken Caesar Wraps recipe with you, I’ve got a bone to pick with 3 folks. Their names are Father Time, Mother Nature, and Old Man Winter. They have gotten on my nerves all week!
Do you know them? Are they getting on your nerves too?
Father Time, you are not nice. Why must the time change? It screws up everything. You have to reset your clocks in the house, in the car, and not to mention the body clock. The body clock is the worst one. In the Fall we set our clocks 1 hour behind. No one ever really complains because it’s an extra hour of sleep and an extra hour of a weekend. I’ve never heard anyone complain about that. Now it’s Spring and we move our clocks ahead an hour and everyone talks about the extra daylight. Yes, it is nice, but no one can function by Wednesday, because they lost an extra hour of sleep and they drag around. I know I’ve been dragging, yawning, tell myself I’ll go to bed early and then don’t.
As if Father Time, wasn’t bad enough what about this wacky weather? Mother Nature is tripping on something. Up here on the mountain, it was cloudy and chilly for about 5 days. We even made a fire in the fireplace one evening this week. Then a day and a half later, the sun came out while we were at work. The temps warmed up to the mid-’70s and then by the time Friday rolled around the temperatures drop and there’s a threatening Nor’easter forming off the east coast and the “S” word was mentioned, by our local weather folks. Old Man Winter, you can go away now. #springfever
If you’re feeling woes from these three folks, then you may be interested in an easy weeknight meal. If you love Caesar salad, then these Chicken Caesar Wraps are perfect. Juicy chicken tenders, wrapped inside a tortilla with crispy romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, feta, and parmesan cheese, then dressed with your favorite Caesar dressing with crumbled pepperonis for extra flavor.
Don’t these Chicken Caesar Wraps sound good?
How to make Chicken Caesar Wraps
Brown the Pepperonis:
In a medium-sized non-stick pan over low heat, add the pepperonis, making sure to separate them into a single layer in the bottom of the pan. The trick is to crisp the pepperonis without burning the oils that come out while cooking. This slow cooking process sometimes can take up to 30 to 45 minutes, but it is worth it for crispy pepperonis.
After about 15 minutes of slow cooking, turn them over. Usually, the pepperonis will start to curl up like bowls. This is usually a good time to flip them over onto the other side. Slow cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. The pepperonis are done, when you notice that the color of the pepperonis have turned to a slightly brownish color and there is a whitish haze where the oils have stopped seeping out of the meat and they have begun to harden and crisp up. The oil may also start to smoke slightly as well. This is also another indicator that the pepperonis are ready.
Once the pepperonis are done, remove the pan from the heat. Using tongs, lift each pepperoni out of the oil coated pan and set them onto some paper towels to drain and cool. You want to get them out of the oil as soon as possible. Allow the pepperonis to cool completely.
Once the pepperonis are cool, ball up the paper towel and crumble the pepperonis into bits; set aside until ready to assemble your wrap.
Cook the Chicken:
Add one tablespoon of the oil to a large cast iron or heavy skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken tenders and sauté (Remember, do not overcrowd the pan). Cook each tender, about 4 minutes on each side. Once done, remove them from the pan and set aside in a warm place, until needed.
Assemble the Wraps:
Prepare the tortilla or wrap over the flame of a gas burner or per package instructions.
Lay the tortilla or wrap on a plate, top with 2 to 3 chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato cheeses, Creamy Caesar Dressing, and pepperoni crumbles. Remember not to overfill the tortilla or wrap, or it is tough to wrap it up.
Now, to wrap it up! Fold the two sides in towards the center, so that they almost touch; use your thumbs to bring up the bottom of the tortilla (it kind of looks like an envelope); keep rolling the bottom up away from you and tuck the ends while rolling. Pull tightly and keep rolling up the tortilla until all of the contents are wrapped inside. Place the wrap seam side down on the plate and cut in two if desired.
Serve with chips or fries.
Well, we made it through this week. I hope next week is better. Please let me know if you see those three folks I am trying to find!
Have a great weekend and enjoy one of these tasty Chicken Caesar Wraps!
Chicken Caesar Wraps
Ingredients
- 15-20 pepperoni slices
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound boneless-skinless chicken tenderloins
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 4 10-inch tortillas or sandwich wraps
- 4 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- 4 ounces cherry tomatoes quartered
- 4 ounces feta cheese crumbled
- 4 ounces parmesan cheese freshly grated
- ½ cup Creamy Caesar Dressing
Instructions
Brown the Pepperonis
- In a medium-sized non-stick pan over low heat, add the pepperonis, making sure to separate them into a single layer in the bottom of the pan. The trick is to crisp the pepperonis without burning the oils that come out while cooking. This slow cooking process sometimes can take up to 30 to 45 minutes, but it is worth it for crispy pepperonis.
- After about 15 minutes of slow cooking, turn them over. Usually, the pepperonis will start to curl up like bowls. This is usually a good time to flip them over onto the other side. Slow cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. The pepperonis are done, when you notice that the color of the pepperonis have turned to a slight brownish color and there is a whitish haze where the oils have stopped seeping out of the meat and they have begun to harden and crisp up. The oil may also start to smoke slightly as well. This is also another indicator that the pepperonis are ready.
- Once the pepperonis are done, remove the pan from the heat. Using tongs, lift each pepperoni out of the oily pan and set them onto some paper towels to drain and cool. You want to get them out of the oil as soon as possible. Allow the pepperonis to cool completely.
- Once the pepperonis are cool, ball up the paper towel and crumble the pepperonis into bits; set aside until ready to assemble your wrap.
Cook the Chicken
- Add one tablespoon of oil to a large cast iron or heavy skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken tenders and sauté (do not overcrowd the pan). Cook each tender, about 4 minutes on each side. Once done, remove them from the pan and set aside in a warm place, until needed.
Assembly the wraps
- Prepare the tortilla/wrap over the flame of a gas burner or per package instructions.
- Lay the tortilla/wrap on a plate, top with 2 to 3 chicken tenders, lettuce, tomato cheeses, dressing and pepperoni crumbles. Remember not to overfill the tortilla/wrap or it is very difficult to wrap it up.
- Now, to wrap it up! Fold the two sides in towards the center, so that they almost touch; use your thumbs to bring up the bottom of the tortilla (it kind of looks like an envelope); keep rolling the bottom up away from you and tuck the ends while rolling. Pull tightly and keep rolling up the tortilla until all of the contents are wrapped inside. Place the wrap seam side down on the plate and cut in two if desired.
- Serve with chips or fries.
Sarah says
Yum! I love a good caesar wrap, and your version looks AMAZING!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thanks, Sarah. The pepporonis are a little something extra and so good! Have a great weekend!
Dana@IveGotCake says
Mmm mmm!!
The weather has definitely been wacky as hell and now they say we’re supposed to get SNOW?
Like , what??
My motto was that I wasn’t gonna complain because it WASN’T snowing…but now….all bets about to be off
The Mountain Kitchen says
Lol! Yeah it is snowing like crazy. Luckily the ground is too warm. To accept a lot of it. Hopefully it will be a conversational snow for us…
Annie @ Givememeatloaf says
You had me at pepperoni! What a great recipe for a weeknight, you’re basically helping me make my grocery list right now! 🙂
The Mountain Kitchen says
You’ll love these, Annie! Glad I could help you out. You can help me out next week! ?