Southwest Salad with Honey Chipotle Chicken
This Southwest Salad is loaded with black beans, corn, avocado and smoky, spicy honey chipotle chicken, drizzled in a tangy cilantro lime dressing. A hearty main dish salad that fresh, full of bold flavor and easy to make!
Servings: 4 Servings
Calories: 679kcal
Ingredients
Southwest Salad
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 ripe avocado
- ½ red onion diced
- Optional: cilantro & lime wedges
Honey Chipotle Chicken
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce chopped plus 2 tablespoons adobo sauce.
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 limes zest and juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for cooking
Instructions
- Combine all of the marinade ingredients for the Honey Chipotle Chicken in a small bowl. Reserve ¼ of the marinade and set aside for basting.
- Butterfly the chicken breasts and combine with marinade in a covered shallow dish or zip top plastic bag and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
- While the chicken is marinating, prep the salad ingredients and make the Cilantro Lime Dressing.
- Heat a large cast iron skillet or grill pan over medium high heat and add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard. Cook chicken breasts on one side for 1-2 minutes until browned with a little bit of char. Flip, baste with reserved marinade and cook on the other side for an additional 1-2 minutes. Baste again, turn the heat down to medium low, cover and cook the chicken for another 8-10 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Remove chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Arrange salad ingredients, add chicken and drizzle with dressing.
Notes
It's critical to use a cast iron skillet or grill pan to cook the honey chipotle chicken as the honey will burn a bit and char.
I serve about half a chicken breast with each salad. There will likely be leftover chicken.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 679kcal | Carbohydrates: 81g | Protein: 50g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 97mg | Sodium: 841mg | Fiber: 18g | Sugar: 35g