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Southwest Chicken Salad
Marinated chicken, colorful Tex-Mex toppings, and a creamy Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette top a bed of crispy lettuce for this mouthwatering Southwest Chicken Salad. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and packed with all the good things your body craves. Prep ingredients ahead and enjoy all week long.
Ingredients
- 2 cooked large chicken breasts, diced or sliced (approximately 2 1/2 cups diced) (Tip: Use our Southwest Chicken or Cilantro Lime Chicken recipes for amazing flavor!)
- 8 cups chopped lettuce (recommend: Green Leaf or Romaine lettuce)
- 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn (cut fresh off the ear or drained and rinsed from the can)
- 1/2 cup finely diced red onion
- 1 large ripe avocado, diced
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 batch of Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette (or Southwest Ranch Dressing)
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
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Instructions
Note: Before beginning, make sure all ingredients are prepped and ready to go. The weekend is a great time to do this!
To Make a Large Salad:
- To a large serving platter, add the lettuce, black beans, corn, red onion, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and diced or sliced chicken.
- Either drizzle most of the dressing over the top and toss OR serve the dressing on the side.
- Serve each individual salad with a lime wedge to squeeze over the top.
To Make an Individual Salad:
Add the following to a bowl:
-
- 2 cups chopped lettuce
- 1/4 cup black beans
- 1/4 cup corn
- 1/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 tablespoons diced red onion
- 1/4 of a diced avocado
- 1/2 of a diced/sliced chicken breast or about 3/4 cup diced chicken
- 3-4 tablespoons Cilantro Lime Dressing
- 1 lime wedge (squeeze over the top, if desired)
Notes/Tips
Short Cuts: Use bagged salad and rotisserie chicken from the store.
Additional Topping Ideas: tortilla strips, shredded cheddar cheese or cotija cheese, roasted red peppers, pickled red onion, sliced radishes (see more ideas in article above).
Where We Get Our Chicken: We get our meat from ButcherBox. The chicken is organic and curated from small, trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef–and have used it for years ourselves.Â
Find it online: https://thrivinghomeblog.com/southwest-chicken-salad/