This Southwest Chicken Salad is full of bold, bright flavors and drizzled with THE BEST creamy cilantro lime dressing. It's a salad that's always a hit and that you'll never get tired of!
About This Recipe
This salad is loaded with Southwest-inspired ingredients like corn, avocado, peppers and more. It's also topped with simple but flavorful sliced chicken.
The dressing is a greek-yogurt based Creamy Cilantro Lime dressing. It's so good you'll want to start putting it on everything. The cilantro and lime flavor are tasty but not over-the-top.
You can make this salad as dinner, lunch or meal prep for your week! This salad is particularly popular as meal prep because it's easy to store and super-satisfying.
Ingredient Notes
Here are a few popular substitutions and additions for this recipe:
- Chicken: chicken is the classic choice for this recipe; but you can swap it out for your favorite protein. Steak, salmon, ground beef, and shrimp are all popular options.
- Mini sweet peppers: swap these out for 1 bell pepper (any color).
- Greek yogurt: this is used as the base of the dressing. Be sure to use full-fat (not non-fat) plain Greek yogurt. You could also use sour cream.
- Dressing: this recipe includes a Creamy Cilantro Lime dressing; but you can use your favorite store-bought version instead. See below for other dressing options.
Dressing
This recipe includes a delicious homemade Creamy Cilantro Lime vinaigrette. You could also swap it out for your favorite store-bought version or other dressing options like: cilantro lime vinaigrette, avocado dressing, or even ranch dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, because these canned items come pre-cooked you don't need to heat them up or cook them. Simply drain them, rinse them in a strainer, and add them to your salad.
Other popular choices include: cilantro lime vinaigrette, avocado dressing, or even ranch dressing.
If your dressing is too watery or thin, add more yogurt. If your dressing is too thick, add more water. After blending the dressing, you can also taste and adjust the amount of lime, cilantro, salt and pepper to personal preference.
Storage Tips
How to Store Leftovers
Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. This recipe will stay good for 3 - 4 days; but if you've already mixed in the dressing it will be soggy after about 1 day. Store your dressing separate to keep the lettuce fresh.
How to Meal Prep This Recipe
Store your dressing in a separate container and add it just before eating. For best results, use a compartmentalized meal prep container and keep the lettuce separate from the other salad ingredients.
Similar Recipes
If you love this salad recipe, you'll love these two with similar flavors:
- Taco Salad
- Cowboy Caviar
- Or check out all of our dinner salads here: Browse All Main Course Salads
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your thoughts! Please leave a comment at the bottom of this page. And if you share a photo on social media, I'd love to see it! You can tag me on: Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.
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Southwest Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Southwest Chicken Salad is full of bold, bright flavors and drizzled with THE BEST creamy cilantro lime dressing. It's a salad that's always a hit and that you'll never get tired of!
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- ⅓ red onion, sliced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 cup sliced mini sweet peppers (or 1 bell pepper)
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
Cilantro Lime Dressing:*
- 1 ½ cups cilantro leaves & stems
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (use full-fat, not low-fat)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together the paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle this mixture onto both sides of the chicken breasts.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook, covered, 5 - 6 minutes on each side. The chicken should be cooked through and no longer pink in the middle.
- Add the dressing ingredients to a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. If your dressing is too thick, add more water. If your dressing is too thin, add more yogurt.
- Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl. Drizzle over as much of the dressing as preferred and toss to coat. Start with ½ of the dressing and add more if desired.
Notes
*Dressing: you can also use a store-bought version of this dressing or use a different dressing (like cilantro lime vinaigrette or creamy avocado dressing).
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of recipe, including dressing
- Calories: 454
- Sugar: 9.4g
- Sodium: 65mg
- Fat: 23.5g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7g
- Carbohydrates: 34.3g
- Fiber: 9.5
- Protein: 31.7g
- Cholesterol: 65mg
Keywords: salad, southwestern, cilantro lime dressing, chicken, mini sweet peppers
Joan Breckwoldt
This salad is just perfect, loved it! Thank you for posting all your fresh and delicious salads. All the variety helps me eat more fresh vegetables! 🥰
★★★★★
Linda
Hello, are these salads for two people or more ?
Megan
This salad makes about 4 servings 🙂