This southwest salad with sweet and spicy chicken is a great vanlife recipe. It takes hardly any cooking, and if you use pre-cooked chicken it’s even quicker. A great way to use up leftovers.
I was playing with seasonings one night as I cooked chicken to put in a salad for dinner, and I loved the sweet and savoury heat it added to our salad! The tortilla chips and Ranch really compliment the flavors of this dish. You can modify this chicken salad to your own tastes! Perhaps you’re not a broccoli fan, or you hate black beans. That’s fine! The beauty of a salad is you can toss it together your own way! Play with it, and have fun! If you don’t have all of the ingredients, use what you do have! I often make a simplified version with no black beans, corn, tomato, or avocado-just a simple salad with chicken and tortilla chips on top.
Southwest Salad with Sweet and Spicy Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb Chicken Shredded or Sliced
- 1/2 tbsp Avocado Oil
- 1/2 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2-3 tbsp Honey
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2 Romaine Lettuce Heads
- 4 Large Kale Leaves
- 2 cup Spinach
- 1 cup Broccoli Florets
- 1 Cucumber
- 1 can Black Beans
- 1 can Corn
- 1 Roma Tomato
- 2 tbsp Ranch Dressing
- 2 handfuls Tortilla Chips
Instructions
- Cook the chicken over medium heat with the avocado oil, seasoning to taste with the paprika, garlic powder, honey, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. The above measurements are estimates. I usually play with the amounts of spices and flavors, tasting as I go.
- While the chicken is cooking, you can prep your salads. Chop up the romaine lettuce, kale, roma tomato, broccoli, cucumber, and avocado. We are big eaters, so I serve the salads in mixing bowls. I put half of the romaine lettuce, spinach, kale, cucumber, and broccoli in each bowl.
- Top each salad with tomato, black beans, corn, avocado, the cooked chicken, and Ranch dressing. Here is a tip I often forget: To keep them crunchy, save the tortilla chips for last (after you add the dressing), and crush them over the tops of the salads. Enjoy!
