Southwest Chicken Salad

This easy Southwest Chicken Salad is a great way to use up leftover chicken in a recipe that only takes minutes to throw together. Serve it as a lunch or dinner entree or smaller portions as a side dish.

I am all about balance when it comes to food. I try to eat healthy. There are some days that I’m great all day, and some days that I totally blow it. Let’s just say that self control and I don’t get along so well when it comes to food.

Lately, it’s been pretty funny, though. My husband will come home from work one day and we’ll be having something super healthy for dinner. And then the next night, I’ll surprise him with something totally not healthy. It’s been going back and forth like that for a couple of weeks now. Literally every other day.

I think a lot of the time, what I make for dinner reflects what I have eaten during the day. I may have passed up the pancakes for breakfast and eaten something nutritious for lunch, and then I don’t feel quite so bad about eating something a little heavier on the calories for dinner.

But sometimes, I will eat a cupcake for breakfast. And another for lunch. On those days, we have salad for dinner.

MY LATEST RECIPES

(True story, by the way. And those cupcakes are coming up next week. You don’t want to miss them.)

It’s a good thing I love me a good salad. And it’s a good thing I can convince my family that a salad, and only a salad, is a good idea for dinner. It doesn’t hurt when it’s loaded up with all kinds of goodies like chicken, avocados, black beans and squash. And as much as I was tempted to serve this up with my favorite Avocado Ranch Salad Dressing, I remembered those cupcakes and opted for a lighter lime dressing that packs a good southwest punch.

This Southwest Chicken Salad is super filling, as well, so it works well as an entree salad. As I was making it, I crossed my fingers that it would make enough to feed my whole family and not leave them hungry. We actually ended up having a little bit leftover because it was so filling. But it would also make a great side dish – perfect to go alongside tacos or tostadas. Either way, this is one chicken salad that you’ll love!

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Southwest Chicken Salad

This easy Southwest Chicken Salad is a great way to use up leftover chicken in a recipe that only takes minutes to throw together. Serve it as a lunch or dinner entree or smaller portions as a side dish.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 dinner servings or 8 side dish servings

Ingredients

Dressing

• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Salad

• 8 cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 3 cups cubed or shredded cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled and cubed
• 1 small yellow summer squash, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can or home cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

Instructions

1. To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake until well combined.
2. To make the salad, combine all of the ingredients and toss to combine. Add the dressing and toss again to coat the salad.

Notes

adapted from Betty Crocker’s Quick and Easy Cookbook

More filling dinner salads:

Red Raspberry Spinach Salad

Italian Chopped Salad

Asian Beef and Cabbage Salad

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Apple Cranberry Quinoa Salad from Chef in Training
BLT Salad from Your Homebased Mom