5 from 49 votes
112 comments
November 30, 2018
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This Southwest Chicken Salad is a crunchy, fresh, salty, sweet, and creamy salad perfect for dinner, parties, or by itself!
Southwest Salad Recipe
The other day I thought I’d experiment with some leftover black beans and roasted chicken I had in my fridge. Best decision ever. The results are a tasty Southwest Salad with a little something for everyone! Plus, there was no cooking involved! BONUS.
Main Ingredients Needed
You should expect 20 minutes of work time, I’d say. Besides that, you should be good to go. This is a really straight forward Southwest Salad recipe and superly awesomely amazing tasting. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Corn, Avocado, Tomatoes, Green Peppers, and Romaine Lettuce –all of this fresh produce makes up the filling of this salad and helps make it southwestern.
- Chicken and Black Beans –IF you’re vegetarian or just don’t have chicken on hand, don’t worry about it and just add in the black beans.
- Scallions and Cilantro – these make the salad so much more flavorful!
- Tortillas Chips – pick your favorite brand and add them in. They give the most wonderful crunch to this chopped salad.
- Southwest Salad Dressing – This is made from ranch mix, taco seasoning, sour cream, and mayo. It’s beyond delicious, I promise.
If you’re looking for other salads, don’t look far, here are a couple of favorites: macaroni salad,cucumber salad,classic coleslaw, chicken salad with grapes or broccoli salad.
How to Make Southwest Chicken Salad
- Prepare or chop the chicken, green pepper, black beans, corn, tomatoes, scallions, lettuce, and cilantro.
- In a large bowl, stir all ingredients together, excluding the tortilla chips and avocado.
- Make Southwest Salad Dressing (outlined below).
- When ready to serve, toss the salad with dressing then gently stir in avocado and tortilla chips.
Southwest Salad Dressing
- For the dressing, take equal parts of mayo and sour cream and stir together with some taco seasonings, ranch dip mix, and pepper and salt to taste.
- Stir it up and voila! Creamy Southwest Salad Dressing.
Note: Pour just enough dressing over the salad to moisten everything and toss.
Make-Ahead
To make this recipe ahead of time, simply chop and combine everything except the avocados, tortilla chips, and dressing. Refrigerate the dressing and salad separately, then when ready to serve, top with the dressing andstir in some crushed tortilla chips with that ripe avocados.
If you let the salad, tortilla chips, and dressing mingle too long together in the fridge things tend to get soggy, that’s why it’s best to wait until you’re ready to devour this salad.
Leftovers
Any leftover Southwest Chicken Salad can be refrigerated, in an airtight container, for up to 2 days. After that things tend to get soggy and gross.
More Salads To Try!
- BLT Chopped Salad with Basil Green Goddess Dressing
- Super Greens Southwest Kale Salad
- California Club Blue Cheese Chop Salad
- Epic Chicken Salad
Once you stir it all together you can see how yummy and colorful this Southwest Salad looks! Mmmm…
I hope you like this one, guys! Have a great day!
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5 from 49 votes
Southwest Salad Recipe with Chicken
This Southwest Salad Recipe is a crunchy, fresh, salty, sweet, and creamy salad perfect for dinner, parties or by itself!
servings 4 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Total Time 20 minutes mins
Ingredients
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1 cup black beans
- 1 cup sweet yellow corn canned or frozen and defrosted
- 2 roma tomatoes diced
- 4 scallions washed and sliced, white and green parts
- 1 large romaine heart washed and chopped
- 1/2 bunch cilantro washed and chopped
- 2 just under ripe avocados diced
- 2 cups tortilla chips crushed
for the dressing-
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 tablespoon ranch seasoning
- 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1/2 tablespoon lime juice optional
- salt & pepper to taste
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
In a large bowl, stir all salad ingredients together, excluding the tortilla chips and avocado.
In a small bowl, stir all dressing ingredients together until smooth.
When ready to serve, toss salad with dressing then gently stir in avocado and tortilla chips.
Nutrition
Calories: 912kcal | Carbohydrates: 71g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 60g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 819mg | Potassium: 1279mg | Fiber: 16g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 3465IU | Vitamin C: 44.6mg | Calcium: 188mg | Iron: 4mg
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Southwestern
Keyword: southwest chicken salad, southwest salad, southwest salad recipe
