• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Living Well Kitchen
  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Breakfast
    • Appetizer & Snacks
      • Snacks
    • Main Dish
      • Vegetarian
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Poultry
      • Pork
    • Specific Recipes
      • Vegetarian
        • Vegan
      • Kid Friendly
      • Gluten Free
      • Dairy Free
      • Nut Free
      • Egg Free
      • Soy Free
    • Sides
      • Vegetables
      • Beans
      • Grains
      • Potatoes
      • Bread
      • Sauce
    • Salad
    • Soup
    • Drinks
    • Dessert
    • Slow Cooker
    • Instant Pot
    • Season
      • Winter
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Fall
  • About
    • Meet Meme
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Videos
  • Easy Meals
  • Quiz
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Easy Meals
  • Main Dish
  • Quiz
  • Videos
  • Health
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Easy Meals
    • Main Dish
    • Quiz
    • Videos
    • Health
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ร—

    Home ยป Recipes

    Mexican Chicken Salad

    Published: Jan 6, 2012 ยท Updated: Aug 24, 2022 ยท Post may contain affiliate links

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    A huge, filling salad full of tasty toppings like avocado, black beans, homemade tortilla chips, and salsa-ranch dressing

    A huge, filling salad full of tasty toppings like avocado, black beans, tortilla chips, and salsa-ranch dressing

    Like my lazy pantry dinner, this one is easily adaptable to whatever you have in your kitchen. No red bell peppers? Leave 'em out. Want to add some corn? By all means, go right ahead; it's your salad.

    Here is the basic recipe for one of my favorite salads.

    Mexican Chicken Salad

    A huge, filling salad full of tasty toppings like avocado, black beans, homemade tortilla chips, and salsa-ranch dressing
    No ratings yet
    Print Rate
    Prep Time: 20 minutes
    Cook Time: 45 minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
    Servings: 4
    Author: Meme

    Ingredients

    • 2 teaspoon olive oil divided
    • 3 small corn tortillas
    • ยพ teaspoon chili powder divided
    • ยผ teaspoon cumin
    • ยฝ cup salsa
    • ยผ cup Ranch dressing
    • ยผ teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 lb chicken breast chopped or use tenders
    • 1 teaspoon oil
    • 1 onion sliced
    • 1 ยฝ cups bell pepper I used red, green, and yellow, chopped
    • ยผ cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
    • 15 ounce can reduced-sodium black beans drained and well-rinsed
    • 2 Romaine hearts chopped
    • 1 avocado diced

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the tortillas into small triangles. Rub both sides with 1 teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with ยผ teaspoon chili powder. Make sure every chip is well coated. Put chips on a baking sheet, and bake 7-10 minutes in the preheated oven until they are golden and pretty crispy. Allow chips to cool completely on baking sheet. They will get crispier.
    • In a small bowl, combine salsa and ranch dressing. Set aside.
    • Sprinkle cumin, kosher salt, and ยผ teaspoon of chili powder on chicken. Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook for about 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken.
    • Add onion and bell peppers to skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring often. Add chicken broth & remaining ยผ teaspoon chili powder to the pan, and scrape any bits of chicken off the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow mixture to simmer for about 5-10 minutes until the broth has reduced by about half.
    • Add the black beans to the pan and stir well. Cook another 5 minutes. Return chicken to the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
    • Meanwhile, stir together Ranch dressing and salsa.
    • Serve the mixture over chopped Romaine hearts and top with salsa and Ranch dressing mixture. Sprinkle with homemade chips and avocado.

    Notes

    *Optional toppings: cheese, plain yogurt (instead of sour cream), cooked corn
    *For a vegetarian version, omit the chicken and use 2 (15 oz) cans black beans instead of one.
    Did you try this recipe?Be sure to leave a comment & recipe rating below. Bonus points for tagging @memeinge & #livingwellkitchen on Instagram! THANK YOU! xo

    More Recipes

    • white bowl with avocado egg salad.
      Avocado Egg Salad
    • silver fork on a white plate with green beans and pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes covered in gravy.
      Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin
    • bowl of turkey white bean chili topped with fresh avocado next fresh avocado and cilantro.
      White Bean Turkey Chili
    • close up of a bowl of lamb curry over rice sprinkled with mint and coconut flakes.
      Instant Pot Lamb Curry
    • Yummly
    • Share
    • Tweet

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Welcome!

    Meme (a brunette female) is holding umbrella and spinning around in front of the Eiffel Tower wearing a denim jacket, skirt, and blue shoesHi, I'm Meme, a thirty-something registered dietitian nutritionist from Alabama living in San Diego. Here to help you enjoy food, feel better in your body at any size, and live free of diets & shame.
    Read More

    Let's Connect

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

    Most Popular

    silver fork on a white plate with green beans and pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes covered in gravy.

    Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin

    jar of chocolate sauce with a spoon in it. empty small glass ice cream cups with a bowl of cherries on a wicker table

    Easy Chocolate Sauce

    Protein Pancakes from Living Well Kitchen

    protein pancakes

    white plate with a slice of zucchini lasagna

    Zucchini Lasagna

    stack of almond butter banana cookies with one cookie facing the front on wooden cutting board with a glass of milk, banana, oats, vanilla extract, and almond butter container

    Almond Butter Banana Cookies

    spatula holding a microwave cookie

    Microwave Oatmeal Cookie

    Gluten free Crab Cakes from Living Well Kitchen @memeinge

    Gluten free Crab Cakes

    chicken salad and a ritz cracker in a glass bowl on white table with green napkin

    No Mayo Chicken Salad

    Intuitive Eating

    brunette female holding a heart shaped pizza in a Parisian cafe

    Why Emotional Eating Isn't Bad

    hand holding an apple in front of apple trees

    Should I Eat Conventional or Organic Produce?

    havanese dog standing on arm of cream chair with a quilt in chair

    Intuitive Eating and Weight Loss

    brunette female sitting in a blanket in Versaille garden smiling and holding a container of container of food she is about to be eating

    What is Intuitive Eating

    Easy Meals

    toast with mashed chickpeas and avocado with cut open avocado, can of chickpeas, and cilantro

    Avocado Chickpea Toast

    salsa chicken in tortillas with avocados and parsley

    Instant Pot Salsa Chicken

    Basil Balsamic Chicken Salad from Living Well Kitchen

    Basil Balsamic Chicken Salad

    white bowl with hominy, tomatoes, beef, and cheese on a white and blue checkered napkin with a blue pot in background

    Beef and Hominy Casserole

    Soup

    bowl of turkey white bean chili topped with fresh avocado next fresh avocado and cilantro.

    White Bean Turkey Chili

    two bowl of beef soup on blue and white napkins with silver spoons and garlic bread

    Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup

    steak potato soup in a bowl with green onions and grated cheese with a silver spoon next to potatoes, pot of soup and block of cheese

    Steak and Potato Soup

    blue and white napkins under two bowls of pumpkin soup topped with bacon next to a small bowl of bacon

    Pumpkin Soup with Bacon

    As Seen On:

    As Seen On

    In Season

    white bowl with avocado egg salad.

    Avocado Egg Salad

    close up of a bowl of lamb curry over rice sprinkled with mint and coconut flakes.

    Instant Pot Lamb Curry

    two bowls of rotini topped with crawfish Monica sauce next to lemons, green onions, and a green napkin.

    Crawfish Monica Recipe

    basket of an air fryer with a potato inside next to a plate of twice baked potatoes

    Air Fryer Twice Baked Potatoes

    Footer

    Living Well Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    • Recipes
    • About

    Copyright © 2023

    We use cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT