Lemon Pepper Chicken Caesar Wrap
An overloaded tortilla wrap filled with crispy fried lemon pepper chicken, a lemon pepper caesar dressing, lettuce, parmesan, and toasted breadcrumbs! The flavors and textures in this wrap are amazing! Crispy, creamy, chewy, and so tasty! It is a decadent and indulgent twist on a caesar salad wrap!
The inspiration for this recipe
A lot of times the inspiration for my recipes comes from what Georgina and I want to eat for dinner. She suggested a lemon pepper caesar wrap and I ran with it! I made a version for us where I cooked the chicken in a pan instead of frying it, to have a more sensible and balanced dinner. Then I made the fried over the top version here for you all!
Lemon pepper wet caesar dressing
Lemon pepper wet is a style of wing sauce here in Atlanta that is at its most basic, just lemon pepper seasoning with buffalo sauce. Buffalo sauce is at its most basic, just louisiana style hot sauce mixed with butter. Since there was enough fat in the caesar dressing already, I decided to just mix the lemon pepper seasoning and Louisiana hot sauce into it to form the lemon pepper wet flavor in the caesar dressing! There is also lemon juice, worcestershire, dijon, garlic, and parm in there.
Dredge and fry the chicken
Flour, cornstarch, lemon pepper, and paprika in the dredge. The chicken was marinated with pickle juice, lemon, and lemon pepper seasoning. I also added vodka to the marinade, because it helps the chicken coating get extra crispy when frying.
Fry for about 5 minutes, flipping occasionally, until crispy and cooked through! Add some more lemon pepper when they come out of the fryer.
Make the lemon pepper chicken caesar wrap
Dress the lettuce, then put some on the bottom, followed by the chicken. The breadcrumb / croutons are just ripped sourdough pan fried in some butter and seasonings. Then top with parm and more dressed lettuce.
Then roll it up! I have a good rolling technique cause I worked t a burrito shop for a while.
Serving the lemon pepper chicken caesar wrap
I saved a little of that caesar dressing for on the side. So good!
I love how loaded up these lemon pepper chicken caesar wraps are. So full and so full of flavor!
Twists on this recipe
When making any wrap at home It’s important to get the biggest tortillas you can find. I usually go to a specialty store, restaurant supply, or Mexican store to buy them. Or you can order them here. That way you can load up the fillings and get a proper filling ratio!
If you wanted to make these lemon pepper chicken caesar wraps without frying like I mentioned in the beginning of the post, just make everything the same but keep the vodka out of the marinade, and instead add a little oil and grated garlic. Then dump the marinade bag into a frying pan and cook on medium high heat for about 15 minutes. Finish with more lemon pepper seasoning.
If you love lemon pepper like I do, check out my LP ramen, LP parm, or this lemon pepper wet fried chicken sandwich.
Lemon Pepper Chicken Caesar Wrap
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken and marinade
- 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- juice of one lemon
- 2 tablespoons pickle juice
- 2 tablespoons vodka
Lemon pepper wet caesar
- 1/2 cup mayo
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Louisiana style hot sauce
- pinch of salt if needed, to taste
Chicken frying
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning plus more for dusting
- pinch of salt and pepper
- peanut oil for frying
Crouton breadcrumbs
- 3 slices sourdough bread dried in the oven at 200 for 15 minutes.
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes
Make the wraps
- 2 heads romaine shredded
- parmesan cheese
- 12 inch tortillas
Instructions
- Mix the chicken with the marinade ingredients. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use. Do not marinate more than about 2 hours because it is an acidic marinade that will start to "cook" the chicken like ceviche
- Mix the caesar dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside until ready to use.
- Mix the flour, cornstarch, and seasonings. Bring the oil to 375. Dredge the chicken in the flour mix and add it to the oil. Cook in the hot oil, flipping once, until browned and cooked through. About 5 minutes. Transfer to a drying rack and sprinkle with lemon pepper seasoning. Slice after cooled.
- Crumble the bread into small crouton/large breadcrumb shapes. Add the bread to a frying pan with the butter and seasonings. Cook over medium heat, tossing often, until browned and crispy.
- Mix the lettuce with 3/4 of the dressing.
- Steam a tortilla and put it onto a sheet of foil. I steam mine in the microwave wrapped in a damp towel for 15 – 20 seconds.
- Top with some dressed lettuce, then chicken slices. Top with parm, toasted breadcrumbs, then more lettuce. It will seem too full to close but the lettuce is easy to crush down.
- Wrap the tortilla bringing one edge over the top to the other edge and squeezing in the fillings, then folding up the sides, and then rolling it the rest of the way. See photos for help.
- Wrap in foil and serve with the remaining dressing