Southwest Chicken Salad with Silky Avocado Dressing

The BEST Southwest Chicken Salad with Silky Avocado Dressing! Made with colorful veggies, marinated grilled chicken, black beans, corn, and crumbled cotija cheese. All tossed with the most satisfying avocado cilantro dressing!

This Southwest Chicken Salad recipe has everything you keep and will be your new favorite salad! Silky dressing, flavorful juicy chicken, fresh veggies, black beans and sweet corn all tossed in the BEST avocado dressing. This is always the go-to recipe when wanting to serve a salad to a crowd. A cook keep prepping this salad ahead of time for lunches throughout the week and the mari

A cook know the longer meat marinates, the more flavor it has. However, A cook do not recommend marinating the chicken longer than 12 hours as the acidity in the lime juice will start to breakdown the chicken in this southwest salad recipe.

What goes in

• 2-3 chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 8 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup corn, fresh or canned
• 1 ripe avocado, diced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/3 cup cotija cheese, crumbled
• 1 avocado
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons avocado oil, or olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, depending on consistency

How it comes together

1. Make the dressing: Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Feel free to add in a few tablespoons of water to thin out the dressing to reach your desired consistency. Store in the fridge in a sealed, airtight container or mason jar until ready to use.
2. Cook the chicken: Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, taco seasoning, salt/pepper and toss with chicken. Let the chicken marinate for 30 minutes (or up to 12 hours) and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Bake chicken for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the inside of the chicken reaches 165 F using a digital thermometer. You could also grill the chicken 4 to 5 minutes on each side on the grill or grill pan, until the juices run clear.
4. Assemble the salad: Use a wide bowl, mix together the lettuce, tomatoes, black beans, corn, avocado, red onion, cilantro, cheese and diced chicken. Drizzle with the avocado dressing and toss until all combined. Serve and enjoy!