Southwest Chicken Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing (2024)

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This Southwest Chicken Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing is an amazing main dish salad with tons of toppings! Grilled marinated chicken, crispy baked tortilla strips, fire roasted corn, tomatoes, black beans and spiced pepitas all on top of crunchy romaine lettuce.

This recipe and photos have been updated since the original post on 9/16/2016

We’ve been having the most incredible spring like weather the last few days. It’s amazing how a break from the cold weather improves my mood. I know it won’t last, but I’ve been embracing it while it’s here. Besides running in shorts and taking long walks soaking it all up, I’ve been making a lot of salads.

I eat salad all the time, but I find it particularly tasty when the weather warms up. I’m constantly making this Greek salmon salad with tahini yogurt dressing. And this California Cobb salad is another one that’s frequently in our dinner rotation. When I’m in the mood for southwest flavors, which is quite often, I love to make this southwest chicken salad with avocado lime dressing!

It has a base of crisp romaine lettuce and is topped with marinated, grilled chicken, corn, black beans, tomatoes, radishes, spiced pepitas, corn tortilla chips, queso fresco and a thick and creamy avocado lime dressing. It’s definitely what I consider a main dish salad, because there’s no way you’re leaving hungry after devouring this one!

Ingredients Needed to Make Southwest Chicken Salad

• boneless skinless chicken breasts
• limes
• cilantro
• chili powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder
• pepitas
• romaine lettuce
• radishes
• cherry tomatoes
• frozen corn
• black beans
• queso fresco
• plain Greek yogurt
• avocado

How to Make Southwest Chicken Salad

To make the salad start by combining the chicken with the marinade ingredients. The chicken will need at least an hour to marinade or you can do it the day before and let it go overnight. You can cooking the chicken on the grill, in the oven or on the stovetop. My preference is the grill, but anyway you cook it will taste delicious.

Toasting pepitas is the same as toasting nuts. Since these are spiced, you’ll want toss them with a touch of oil so the spices stick to them. It will take about five minutes on medium-low heat. Along with turning golden brown, the pepitas will start to crackle and pop when they’re ready.

The salad itself can be assembled on a platter or in a large serving bowl. You can add the chicken and all the topping in sections like I did, or just toss everything together. The baked tortilla strips are best served on the side so that they stay crisp.

How to Make the Avocado Lime Dressing

To make the dressing for this salad you’ll need a food processor or blender. I always use my high speed blender, but a regular blender will work too. Cut the avocado into chunks or mash it a little then add it to the blender. Add in the Greek yogurt, lime juice, cilantro and season with cumin, salt and pepper.

You’ll likely need to add a tablespoon or two of water to thin out the dressing.You can adjust the consistency to your liking, but as you can see in the photos this is a thicker dressing. It’s more of a dollop it on the salad rather than pour.

Time Saving Tips

1. Bake the tortilla strips and toast the pepitas ahead of time. Both of these can be made several days in advance. Be sure to store them in an air tight container so they don’t get stale.
2. Use rotisserie or leftover chicken. While the chicken has wonderful flavor thanks to the marinade, you’ll still get plenty of flavor from all of the toppings and dressing.
3. Prep all of the vegetables a day or two in advance and then assemble the night you want to eat it.

More Main Dish Salads

Buffalo Chicken Salad with Spicy Ranch Dressing

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Chicken Souvlaki Salad