I can very clearly remember the salad we had almost every other night while I was growing up. It was iceberg lettuce with thick diced tomatoes, shredded carrots from a bag, some sort of shredded mixed cheddar, and then a thick ranch or blue cheese dressing. This salad was SO common that I developed a hatred for all boring, crunchy, generic salads {as well as ranch and blue cheese dressing} and I probably went at least 10 years without ever making a salad myself. But I’ve since grown out of my “salad is rabbit food” phase and have found several salads that are undeniably delicious and so fun to make at home!
This particular Mexican Salad with Chicken is my absolute favorite of all time. It’s extremely filling, has a lot of flavors {probably because it has over a dozen ingredients}, and the dressing is just UNBELIEVABLY amazing. We make a ton of the dressing so that I can toss it on practically everything we eat for days after the salad. It makes a delicious dip for veggies and crackers. And I even love it served simply on toast and covered with sunny side up eggs! You’ll see that the salad has a lot of ingredients and several steps to it, but the only cooking you’re really doing is to the chicken. Everything is so easy and I promise, you won’t regret the effort you put into this meal.
Mexican Salad with Chicken and Creamy Lime-Avocado Dressing
Yield 4-6 servings
Recipe adapted from "Salad for Dinner" by Jeanne Kelley.
Ingredients
Creamy Lime-Avocado Dressing
- 1 large avocado
- 1/2 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro
- 1/2 cup pepitas or sunflower seeds
- 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 6 tablespoons lime juice {plus extra if you prefer more lime taste}
- 1 jalapeño chiles {seeded, finely chopped}
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Mexican Salad with Chicken
- 1 pound chicken breast, cut into 1 inch strips
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon basil
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- bag of tortilla chips {I love Late July's Organic Tortilla Chips}
- 12 cups lettuce {I prefer mixed salad blends}
- 1/2 jicama, peeled and either cubed or shredded {I use the shredded blade on my food processor}
- 1 bunch radishes, trimmed and either sliced or shredded {I use the shredded blade on my food processor}
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes {halved or quartered}
- 1 can black beans {drained and rinsed}
- 1 can corn {drained}
- 1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
- 8 ounce crumbled queso fresco {or feta}
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
Make sure you have the following prepped and ready:
- Combine all of the dressing ingredients together in a food processor until it’s all smooth. If it seems too thick, thin it out with additional lime juice or olive oil. Cover and refrigerate it until everything else is ready.
- Is your lettuce rinsed and ready? Store it in the refrigerator until everything else is done.
- Is your jicama peeled and either cubed or shredded?
- What about your radishes? Are they trimmed and either sliced or shredded?
- Did you drain your can of corn?
- Did you drain and rinse your can of black beans?
- Have you sliced your red onion into thin half moons?
- Did you cut your cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters?
- Do you have your queso fresco drained and crumbled in a bowl?
- Is your 1/3 cup of cilantro chopped and waiting to go on top of your salad?
- Are your tortilla chips nearby and ready?
Once you have all of your prep done, season and cook the chicken:
- Slice the chicken into 1 inch pieces.
- Place the chicken in a medium bowl and pour in 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add the basil, oregano, minced garlic, chili powder, and salt and toss it all to thoroughly coat the chicken.
- Pour in the other teaspoon of oil into a medium frying pan. Cook the chicken until no longer pink.
Now that everything is ready {nice work!}, build your salad! This is the order of how I prefer mine:
- Tortilla chips
- Lettuce
- Shredded jicama
- Shredded radishes
- Corn and black beans
- Cherry tomatoes
- Red onion slices
- Crumbled queso fresco
- Chicken
- Cilantro
- Creamy Lime-Avocado Dressing