You’ll love this Southwest chicken salad with marinated chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce, topped w/ a creamy lime cilantro dressing!You'll love this Southwest-inspired salad with marinated chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce, topped w/ a creamy lime cilantro dressing!

If you enjoy flavor-filled main dish salads, you will love this Southwest Chicken Salad. It is a wonderful main dish salad, full of flavor!

I found this recipe for Southwest chicken salad on Pinterest, and it not only sounded HEALTHY, but DELICIOUS!  The original recipe serves 4, but I very slightly modified it to make two servings, for my husband and I to enjoy! OH MY GOODNESS- the salad is amazing, like “we ate every single bite” amazing!

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Making The Marinade

I made the marinade early in the day, and let the chicken “bathe” in it for hours, to soak up great flavor! When I was ready to fix dinner, all I had to do was grill the chicken on my stove top and assemble the salad. EASY!  Here’s how to make it:

In a medium sized bowl, combine all the marinade/salad dressing ingredients EXCEPT FOR THE YOGURT! Mix together until all are well blended. Pour HALF of the marinade (set aside the other half) into a rimmed dish and add the chicken.

Ingredients for the chicken marinade are combined in a bowl.

Marinate The Chicken

Turn pieces over, to coat well. Cover chicken and place in refrigerator for 2 hours (or more, if time allows). Cover remaining marinade and refrigerate until ready to use.

The chicken is marinated in the refrigerator to add flavor.

When ready to assemble salad for your meal, remove reserved marinade from refrigerator. Blend in the Greek yogurt, until completely incorporated and creamy.

Greek yogurt is added to reserved marinade for the salad dressing.

Creamy salad dressing is ready to drizzle on the Southwest chicken salad.

Cook The Marinated Chicken

After the chicken has fully marinated, remove it from the refrigerator.  Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet or on a grill on medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Sear chicken on first side until bottom is golden brown and crispy, then flip and cook other side until chicken is fully done (internal temp. of 165°F).  I use an indoor cast iron grill and it takes about 10 minutes per side.

Once done, remove the chicken, and let it rest, so the juices can redistribute internally. After the chicken rests for 5 minutes, cut each piece into thin slices, and discard the chicken marinade.

Marinated chicken is grilled until browned and cooked through.

The chicken pieces are fully cooked before slicing and adding to the salad.

Assemble The Southwest Chicken Salad

When you are ready to assemble salad, fill individual bowls or plates with chopped romaine. Divide corn, beans, and cherry tomato halves between servings. Top with avocado and chicken slices (fanning them out slightly, for a decorative look). My husband wanted an entire half an avocado sliced on his salad, as you can tell from the 2nd photo below… ha ha!

Building the Southwest chicken salad with lettuce, corn, black beans and cherry tomatoes.

Grilled chicken strips and sliced avocados are added to the salad.

Drizzle the salad with the prepared cilantro lime salad dressing. Serve, and enjoy this absolutely amazing tasting meal! NOTE: I made 2 large entree size salads for us. If making 4 salads, increase chicken to 4 pieces, and double the amount of corn, beans, cherry tomatoes, and add additional lettuce. You will not need to double the marinade.

The Southwest chicken salad is drizzled with salad dressing, and is ready to eat.

A close up view of this delicious salad, with grilled chicken and avocados.

We absolutely LOVED this Southwest chicken salad; we were very full and completely satisfied after eating!  The grilled chicken had great flavor, thanks  to the lime cilantro marinade, and the low fat flavor-filled dressing made this dish shine!

I sincerely hope you will consider trying this recipe… it is totally delicious, filling, and very colorful! Have a fantastic day!

Looking for More MAIN COURSE SALAD Recipes?

You can find ALL my recipes in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. I have a nice variety of main course salads you might want to check out, including:

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Recipe Adapted From: Karina, at https://cafedelites.com/southwestern-chicken-salad/

0 from 0 votes
Southwest Chicken Salad
Prep Time
2 hrs
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
2 hrs 20 mins
 

You'll love this Southwest chicken salad with marinated chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce, topped w/ a creamy lime cilantro dressing!

Category: Dinner
Cuisine: Southwest
Keyword: Southwest chicken salad
Servings: 2
Calories Per Serving: 468 kcal
Author: JB @ The Grateful Girl Cooks!
Ingredients
  • 2 large chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)
For Marinade/Salad Dressing:
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (approx. 2 large limes)
  • 1 teaspoon lime zest
  • 4 Tablespoons fresh cilantro (finely chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 2 garlic cloves , minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin (ground)
  • 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (THIS IS USED FOR DRESSING ONLY!!!)
For Salad:
  • 4 cups romaine lettuce (torn or chopped)
  • 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
  • 1/2 avocado , thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup canned black beans (drained, rinsed)
  • 1/2 cup canned whole kernel corn (drained, rinsed)
Instructions
  1. In a medium sized bowl, combine all marinade/salad dressing ingredients EXCEPT FOR THE YOGURT! Mix together until well blended. Pour HALF of the marinade (set aside the other half) into a rimmed shallow dish and add the chicken. Toss to coat well. Cover chicken and place in refrigerator for 2 hours (or more, if time allows). Cover remaining marinade and refrigerate until ready to use.
  2. After chicken has fully marinated, remove it from refrigerator. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet or on a grill on medium-high heat until very hot, but not smoking. Cook chicken on first side until bottom is golden brown and crispy, then flip and cook other side until chicken is fully cooked throughout. (I used an indoor cast iron grill and it took about 10 minutes per side). Once done, remove chicken, and let it rest so juices can settle internally. After chicken has rested for 5 minutes, cut each piece into thin slices. Discard chicken marinade.
  3. When ready to assemble salad, remove reserved marinade from refrigerator. Blend in the Greek yogurt, until completely incorporated and creamy.
  4. To assemble salads, fill individual bowls or plates with chopped romaine. Divide corn, beans, and cherry tomato halves between servings. Place avocado and chicken slices decoratively on top of salad. Drizzle each salad with reserved creamy cilantro lime dressing. Serve, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes

*NOTE: I made 2 large salads for us. If making 4 servings, increase chicken to 4 pieces, and double the amount of corn, beans, cherry tomatoes, and add additional lettuce, as desired. (Use same amounts written for marinade/dressing).

Nutrition Facts
Southwest Chicken Salad
Amount Per Serving (1 main course salad)
Calories 468 Calories from Fat 243
% Daily Value*
Fat 27g42%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Cholesterol 108mg36%
Sodium 1525mg66%
Potassium 1092mg31%
Carbohydrates 28g9%
Fiber 8g33%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 30g60%
Vitamin A 8670IU173%
Vitamin C 32.1mg39%
Calcium 101mg10%
Iron 3.5mg19%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!You'll love this Southwest chicken salad with marinated chicken, beans, corn, tomatoes, avocados, and lettuce, topped w/ a creamy lime cilantro dressing!

Southwest Chicken Salad

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