You have got to try this chicken and taco salad because tacos in any form are delicious! Great for dinner or as a meal-prepped lunch. If you have room in your macros for a side of chips, you could chop the entire salad and scoop it with your chips…you know the way you do at chipotle!
Ingredients to make Chicken Taco Salad:
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Fresh Garlic diced, (10 grams)
- ½ Red Onion small onion diced, (100 grams)
- 1 can Reduced Sodium Black Beans (1 15 ounce, can)
- 1 packet Taco Seasoning 1 tsp for beans, 1 tsp for chicken.
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 12 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast 2, small breasts
- 3 cup Romaine Lettuce roughly chopped, (300 grams)
- 4 tbsp Cilantro Lime Dressing
- 1 Red Bell Pepper sliced, (100 grams)
- ½ Red Onion small onion, sliced thin, (100 grams)
- 10 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half, (100 grams)
- 1 can Corn (1 15 ounce, can)
- 1 Jalapeno sliced, (15 grams)
Instructions:
- Heat a small stovetop pot to medium heat and add ½ tbsp oil, garlic, and diced red onions to the pot. Cook for about 3 minutes until the onions begin to soften.
- Then add your black beans to the pot. Season with 1 tsp taco seasoning and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat, stirring often to prevent burning.
- While the beans are cooking heat a large stovetop pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breasts on both sides with 1 tsp of the taco seasoning. Once the pan is hot, add 1/2 tbsp oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…If not, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 6 minutes, then flip and cover again for another 6 minutes on the other side.
- After 6 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on a 6oz breasts.My rule of thumb, once covered, 1 minute, per ounce, per side, produces the perfect juicy chicken breast.
- While the chicken and beans are cooking you can begin working on the rest of the salad. Place your lettuce in a large bowl and drizzle with the dressing. Then toss the lettuce in the dressing until it is evenly distributed.I prefer to toss the greens with the dressing this way as it ensures each bite has the same amount of dressing, but you can also use less dressing.
- Once your greens are dressed, place them in your serving bowls. Then top with your sliced red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno, and corn. Canned corn is good cold and right out of the can. If you want them warm, you could cook the corn with your beans.
- Once your beans are done, spoon them on top of your salads.
- When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan and cut into bite-size pieces and then place on top of your beans and enjoy!
Chicken Taco Salad
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Fresh Garlic diced, (10 grams)
- ½ Red Onion small onion diced, (100 grams)
- 1 can Reduced Sodium Black Beans (1 15 ounce, can)
- 1 packet Taco Seasoning 1 tsp for beans, 1 tsp for chicken.
- ½ tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 12 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast 2, small breasts
- 3 cup Romaine Lettuce roughly chopped, (300 grams)
- 4 tbsp Cilantro Lime Dressing
- 1 Red Bell Pepper sliced, (100 grams)
- ½ Red Onion small onion, sliced thin, (100 grams)
- 10 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half, (100 grams)
- 1 can Corn (1 15 ounce, can)
- 1 Jalapeno sliced, (15 grams)
Instructions
- Heat a small stovetop pot to medium heat and add ½ tbsp oil, garlic, and diced red onions to the pot. Cook for about 3 minutes until the onions begin to soften.
- Then add your black beans to the pot. Season with 1 tsp taco seasoning and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat, stirring often to prevent burning.
- While the beans are cooking heat a large stovetop pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breasts on both sides with 1 tsp of the taco seasoning. Once the pan is hot, add 1/2 tbsp oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…If not, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 6 minutes, then flip and cover again for another 6 minutes on the other side.
- After 6 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on a 6oz breasts. My rule of thumb, once covered, 1 minute, per ounce, per side, produces the perfect juicy chicken breast.
- While the chicken and beans are cooking you can begin working on the rest of the salad. Place your lettuce in a large bowl and drizzle with the dressing. Then toss the lettuce in the dressing until it is evenly distributed. I prefer to toss the greens with the dressing this way as it ensures each bite has the same amount of dressing, but you can also use less dressing.
- Once your greens are dressed, place them in your serving bowls. Then top with your sliced red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno, and corn. Canned corn is good cold and right out of the can. If you want them warm, you could cook the corn with your beans.
- Once your beans are done, spoon them on top of your salads.
- When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan and cut into bite-size pieces and then place on top of your beans and enjoy!
Nutrition
Macro Adjustments:
Below outlines the items in each macro group that are easily adjustable to meet your specific macro goals.
Fat:
The fat in this recipe comes from the dressing and the oil the chicken and beans are cooked in. If you were looking to decrease the fat in this recipe you could reduce the dressing, there is tons of flavor in the chicken and beans, that you don’t need much dressing. If you wanted to increase the fat, this is a taco, so add my favorite…avocado!
Carbohydrates:
This is a higher carb salad, but you can easily reduce the carbs by using fewer/no beans or corn. If you wanted to increase the carbs in this salad, I say add a handful of chips!
Protein:
Chicken is a great lean cut of meat, providing most of the protein in this recipe. You could adjust the amount of chicken used to adjust the protein in this recipe.
Meal Prep:
All salads are meal prep-able, you just have to store your wet and warm ingredients separate from your cold and crisp ingredients.
For this salad, you can store your chicken and beans together so you can easily warm them up if you want. Then store the rest of the veggies together and of course, it’s also best to wait to add your dressing until right before eating, this prevents your other ingredients from getting soggy. This recipe will last 5-7 days in the fridge.
Freezer Friendly:
Salads are not freezer friendly, but how great would that be if they were!
If you love salads like this Chicken Taco Salad you have got to check out some of my other favorites!
