If you know me, you know that I am a huge fan of anything with avocado, black beans, and the overall ‘southwest’ feel. Most restaurants have their own version of a ‘Southwest Chicken Salad’ and it’s often on my list of go-to meals. Though, most restaurants load them up with a ton of cheese and sour cream in order to pack in a lot of flavor. In my opinion, you can just as much flavor with just a little healthier ingredients.
Last week, I had a craving for one of these salads. I found myself with leftover barbecue chicken from a previous night and decided it would be a delicious way to add some protein with a little extra ‘kick’. I love that this salad is cold and refreshing, yet combines the warm chicken to make it more of a comfort meal. My husband and I made our (large!) salads and sat down to some Thursday Night Football. You can’t have football night without a good meal to go with it. 🙂
- 1 Lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 4 cups romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup frozen baby corn
- 1/2 cup black beans
- 1/2 cup canned green chiles
- 1/2 cup diced roma tomatoes
- 1 avocado
- 8 tbs tortilla strips
- 8 tbs yogurt based ranch dressing
- 1. Marinate chicken breasts in barbecue sauce in a large Ziploc bag and place in the refrigerator for a few hours.
- 2. Bake Chicken for 45 minutes on 400 degrees.
- 3. Place baby corn, black beans, and green chiles in a small pot and cook for 8-10 minutes on low-medium heat.
- 4. For each salad, top 1 cup of romaine lettuce with 2 oz. of barbcue chicken, 1/4 of bean and corn mixture, 1/4 of diced roma tomatoes, 1/4 of avocado, 2 tbs of tortilla strips, and 2 tbs of the ranch dressing. Serves 4.