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We’re Sprinkling This Umami-Packed Caesar Dust on *All* of Our Snacks

Serious Eats / Two Bites

An extremely underappreciated food category is dust. The nacho cheese dust you lick off your fingers after you polish off a bag of Doritos. The cinnamon-sugar dust that coats the pads of your thumbs after you’ve enjoyed some mall pretzel bites. In college, when I was craving homemade Indian food, my friend would serve me up dosas with her mom’s homemade gunpowder, or podi—a dry powder made from lentils and spices—that you could sprinkle with abandon over just about anything.   

Serious Eats / Two Bites

If you’re a dust-lover like I am, might I suggest trying out Caesar dust at home? The tangy-savory craveability of our favorite salad is begging to meet the finger licking–good quality of our favorite snack foods. This recipe for Caesar dust accomplishes just this. Plus it comes together in just a few minutes with only six main ingredients that, if not in your pantry already, are available at most large supermarkets. 

Serious Eats / Two Bites

Each ingredient does some serious heavy lifting in standing in for the flavor pillars of a classic Caesar dressing. They’re all also shelf-stable, pantry-friendly ingredients that make the wonders of Caesar dust available to you any time the craving strikes. Some are obvious: Garlic powder and mustard powder stand in for raw garlic and prepared mustard. But in the pursuit of a shelf-stable Caesar, some ingredients are creative interpretations (that are pretty spot-on flavor-wise). Here’s a look at some of the key ingredients that make up this culinary dust:

Serious Eats / Two Bites

The possibilities for this dust are limitless: Sprinkle over popcorn or hard-boiled eggs. Pour into a bag of kettle chips and give it a shake. Toss sturdy veggies like potatoes, peppers, or squash with oil and a sprinkling of Caesar dust before roasting. Season rice or buttered noodles. Or, go meta: crisp up Caesar dust–coated chickpeas in the oven or air fryer to use as a crunchy topping for your next Caesar salad. You’ll find that once you have a stockpile of Caesar dust, you’ll look for an excuse to add it to just about anything—and lick your fingers afterward.

Serious Eats / Two Bites

Open package of seaweed snacks, and cut the sheets in half. In three batches, blend the seaweed in an electric spice grinder until they are small flakes. Pour into a small bowl.

Serious Eats / Two Bites

To the small bowl, add Parmesan cheese powder, nutritional yeast, lemon pepper seasoning, garlic powder, and mustard powder. Mix well, using a fork. Use the tines of the fork to break up clumps, and fluff until the powder is well-combined and the texture of coarse sand. Taste and adjust salt, as needed. 

Serious Eats / Two Bites

Special Equipment

Spice Grinder

Notes

1 teaspoon (4g) anchovy powder can be substituted for the seaweed snacks. If using the anchovy powder, omit the salt. Note the total yield when substituting with anchovy powder will be reduced by about half.

When purchasing seaweed snacks, make sure to buy plain, toasted, and salted seaweed—stay away from strong flavors like wasabi or sesame.

This recipe can be easily halved, or doubled as needed.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Caesar Dust can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for two weeks, or two months in the freezer. 

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