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This is the mother of all salads and could even pass as a healthier Burrito Bowl. Ladies and Gentlemen — Chipotle Lime Carnitas Salad! Grilled peppers (capsicum) and poblano pepper (ancho chile) slices, avocado slices, grilled corn, leftover Crispy Pulled Pork (or you can use shredded chicken), low carb Cilantro Lime Rice, and extra lime juice over the top. All drizzled with an incredible Chipotle Lime Dressing.
As usual, when I think of a salad, I don’t think of rabbit food. Rabbit food? Example: 4 small, poor looking lettuce leaves with 2 strands of grated carrot and a tear in my eye because I can’t do it. I think of salad as a meal. Or rather, I transfer them into a meal.
I had some leftovers from the Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas over the weekend….and a salad is all I could think of. It could be because I’m melting in the Melbourne heat-wave right now. Or maybe it was time for a beast of a salad to be posted on Cafe Delites. It’s been a while. We’ve missed them. Plus, I promised you all a low carb meal with the Carnitas instead of tacos’ and burritos. So, here we are.
Normally sticking to chicken salads (okay, so I’m going to list them here to save you from jumping around on my site):
1/Grilled Chilli Lime Chicken Fajita Salad
2/ Balsamic Chicken Salad With Lemon Quinoa
3/ Skinny Chicken And Avocado Caesar Salad
4/ Thai Chicken Meatball Salad
6/ Blackened Shrimp, Asparagus and Avocado Salad
7/ Salmon and Avocado Caesar Salad
8/ Grilled Balsamic Chicken and Avocado Bruschetta Salad
Plus others, but I broke into a sweat and figured 12 is enough information for all of us to handle right about now.
Anyway, it was time for some pork on our fork in a salad. In this Chipotle Lime Carnitas Salad, I decided to break out some fresh corn cobs and toast the kernels to crispy, toasty, popcorn smelling incredible-ness.
Yes, I’m going to admit that I really thought they would turn into popcorn. I mean, I was waiting for it. And when a couple of kernels started popping out of the pan, I jumped with them. No popcorn happened, but the popping was enough to scare the bejeezus out of me. If you’ve never done this before: do it.
Then I used some Chipotle Peppers in Adobo my mother presented me with. Becoming a blogger has become one of the craziest blessings I’ve had to deal with. Because whenever anyone goes anywhere and finds something they think I could use — or love — they’ll bring it over and we’ll have a big celebration. In comes smokey/spicy/tangy/withahintofsweet dressing.
Made some pretend rice (also known as Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice)…which you can leave out if you wish OR replace with rice!
Prepared my salad…and proceeded to pour the dressing over this salad like no ones bi’ness.
In fact, I’m sitting here, still eating it. Jealous? Don’t be. ?
Need more melt in your mouth Mexican flavours? Try these:
Slow Cooker Barbocoa Short Ribs Tacos
Twice Baked Chicken Fajita Sweet Potatoes
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Chipotle Lime Carnitas Salad
Ingredients
Salad:
- pulled pork see notes for recipe. Or shredded chicken.
- 2 corn cobs or 1/2 cup tinned corn, rinsed and drained
- ½ yellow bell pepper deseeded and sliced
- ½ red bell pepper deseeded and sliced
- 1 poblano pepper ancho chile, deseeded and sliced
- 5 cups Romaine lettuce or Cos lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 2 avocados sliced
- 1 pinch coriander to garnish
- 4 lime slices to garnish
- 1 cup Cilantro Lime Rice
Dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 limes 1/4 cup lime juice
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 chipotle chile chopped finely
- 1-2 tablespoons adobo adjust to your tastes
- 1/4 cup cilantro coriander, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons salt to taste
- 1-2 teaspoons pepper to taste
Instructions
- Warm up your leftover Mexican Pulled Pork (using this recipe) or shredded chicken. Use as much or as little as you like.
- Remove corn kernels from cob's. Vertically stand a cob up on a chopping board with the widest, cut-side flat on the board (holding the narrowest part), and using a sharp knife, slice downward to remove all the kernels. Rotate cob to the next section. Repeat until all of the corn is removed. Place corn in a skillet or nonstick pan over medium heat; toast until it begins to smell like popcorn and looks toasted (about 4 minutes).
- While the corn is cooking, combine all dressing ingredients together in a shallow bowl or jug; whisk until well combined.
- Combine all of the salad ingredients together in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad to serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was amazing! Such a great way use leftovers. The dressing was everything! How long do you think the dressing would last in the fridge?
This dressing is amazing!
I could only find canned chipotle peppers and I noticed that they are in an adobo sauce. So is adobo a sauce or a seasoning? I’m assuming I could just scoop some of the sauce from the can of peppers and use that?
Adobo is a sauce. You can find it down the Mexican isle at most grocery stores.
Yes, you can scoop the sauce out of the can of peppers. That’s what I do 🙂
What is a good corn substitute? I am allergic to corn.
This was such a satisfying and delicious meal. My whole family loved it. The dressing was amazing! I’m going to use it as a marinade or pork roasts.
This was amazing!!! I love cooking meals that are fine restaurant caliber. This was a hit.
Todd I am so happy to hear that!! Thank you for sharing with me!
Yum! Thanks for another incredible recipe!
This salad is a beautiful bowl of deliciousness! You upped one on chipotle!