How to Chop Romaine Lettuce for a Caesar Salad

Romaine lettuce is the foundation to all Caesar salads. High in fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, romaine lettuce is one of the most nutritious salad greens. When preparing your lettuce for your salad, you can either tear or chop it into bite size pieces. Once chopped, the lettuce needs to be eaten before it browns.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Take off and discard any damaged or wilting outside leaves if you are starting with a whole head of romaine lettuce. If you purchased romaine hearts, the outer leaves have already been removed.
2. Cut the bottom off of the head of romaine lettuce. Chop approximately 1 inch up the stalk and throw the bottom away.
3. Separate your lettuce leaves and lay them in small stacks of three to five leaves that are close in size.
4. Chop your leaves crosswise starting at the top of the leaves and working your way down. Move your knife approximately 1 to 2 inches down each time, depending on the size of pieces you want.

Tips & Warnings

• The stalk that runs through the center of the romaine lettuce leaf is sometimes called a rib. Leaving the rib in your romaine or removing it is a matter of preference. If you do not like a lot of rib in your Caesar salad, cut the bottom thick part of the rib from each stack of leaves before you chop the leaves for your salad.
• Cut lettuce turns brown if stored because the knife damages the lettuce. If you want to prepare your lettuce in advance and store it after cutting, either tear the leaves with your hand, or use a plastic lettuce knife to chop it.