A southwest chicken salad with creamy cilantro dressing takes just minutes to toss together and gives you a hearty dinner that tastes fantastic.
We eat A LOT of salads around here. Pretty much every night we’re eating a chicken or steak salad. I’m not kidding. Does it get boring? For me? Yes it does. For Craig? No it doesn’t. He’s one of those guys that can eat the same thing day in and day out and be totally fine with it. Years ago he went on a kick where he was eating a head of iceberg lettuce with a can of tuna fish on it every night for dinner. I couldn’t eat that once, let alone every night. And he did that for months.
Every once in a while I need to mix things up a little bit. Not too long ago we had honey garlic chicken and he thought he came home to the wrong house. I had to assure him that he would be okay even if he didn’t have a salad for dinner.
While yes, this is a salad, it’s got a southwest kick to it that’s a bit of a change from the norm for us. I love the creamy cilantro dressing on this salad. It really brings everything together and has a nice tangy bite to it.
You could really go crazy with this southwest salad. I used romaine, grilled chicken, tomatoes, roasted corn and avocados for mine. But red onions and black beans would add even more to the salad party. You could even swap out the chicken for flank steak. Everything would taste great smothered in this dressing too.
Take your salads to the next level. Make up this southwest chicken salad with creamy cilantro dressing for your next salad night. Everyone will be asking for more.
- For the Creamy Cilantro Dressing
- 1 cup loosely packed cilantro
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 good pinch of kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- water to thin
- For the Salad
- romaine
- fresh corn on the cob, roasted
- cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- avocados, diced
- grilled chicken, diced
- For the Creamy Cilantro Dressing
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender, or food processor, and process until fully blended. Use a bit of water if the consistency is too thick when you're blending it.
- For the Salad
- Chop up the romaine and pile it into bowls or on a large plate.
- Top with corn, tomatoes, avocados and chicken.
- The amount of each of these that you use is determined by how many salads you want to make.
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We definitely like variety in our meals (although I can eat the same thing for breakfast endlessly). And love salads! This is perfect — such a nice dish. Thanks!
Hi John, yeah…breakfast around here is the same thing every day. We love it and it’s easy. But I like a little variety in my dinners. 😉