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Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad With A Mango And Avocado Salsa! Holding onto Summer for a just a bit longer, this Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad has so much flavour in it with a creamy/sweet Mango Avocado Salsa for an extra Summer feel!
With a marinade that doubles as a dressing, much like that Grilled Chilli Lime Chicken Fajita Salad, this salad is, dare I say, even better!
Char-grilled red pepper (capsicum) slices, crispy romaine lettuce, and the tangy, sweet marinade soaked into tender chicken thighs would complete this salad right there. But, what outshines in this salad is the mango salsa. I was extremely hesitant to put mango in this salad, but, I could almost taste the pairing of creamy avocado with the juicy, sweetness of mango, and knew somehow that these would go together. And they did!
Including the mango made this thing extremely addicting. We could NOT stop eating it.
While creating this salad, my husband was watching me from the comfort of his safety zone, shaking his head while watching me throw ingredients around like no ones business, stopping to taste test every 5 seconds, adjusting ingredients and flavours as I went along, dancing to Beyonce in my kitchen. He eye-balled everything that was happening, looking at me like I was some crazed lunatic taking over his kitchen.
Mango and Avocado? Together? With Chicken? You sure?
Yes Paul. Calm down. Just watch.
First, make up the marinade/dressing. Pour one third out into a shallow dish, marinade the chicken thighs in that sweet, tangy, cilantro marinade, reserve the untouched marinade to use as a dressing later. Simple?
Next, pan fry or grill your chicken until cooked through. The honey and brown sugar in the marinade will char these slightly. Yuuuhm, right?
Pan fry or grill you peppers.
And prepare the best salsa you’ve ever tried in your life with a couple tablespoons of the reserved dressing. I know, I know. We ALL say that ours is the BEST. Let me just add ⇒ good luck not eating it all before it hits the salad.
Arrange your salad and prepare for a mind-blown experience. And don’t say I didn’t warn you!
FOR MORE SUCCULENT SALAD IDEAS:
Southwestern Chicken Salad With Low Fat Creamy Dressing
Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad with Creamy Cajun Dressing
Chicken Halloumi and Avocado Salad with Lime Dressing
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Cilantro Lime Chicken Salad + Mango Avocado Salsa
Ingredients
Marinade/Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro coriander
- 4 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
Salad:
- 4 chicken thigh fillets skin removed, no bone
- 5 cups Romaine Cos lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 red pepper capsicum, deseeded and sliced
Mango Salsa:
- 1 large mango diced
- 1 avocado diced
- 1 green onion shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
- extra coriander leaves to garnish
- red chili flakes to garnish
Instructions
- Whisk marinade ingredients together to combine. Pour a third of the marinade into a shallow dish to marinade the chicken fillets for at least 15 minutes (ideally one to two hours if you have the time). Refrigerate the reserved untouched marinade to use as a dressing.
- Heat about one teaspoon of oil in a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat and grill chicken fillets on each side until golden, crispy and cooked through. (Grill in batches of two to prevent excess water being released.) Once chicken is cooked, set aside and allow to rest.
- Wipe pan over with paper towel; drizzle with another teaspoon of oil and grill or fry peppers and until cooked to your liking.
- While peppers are cooking, prepare the mango salsa. Combine the mango, avocado and green onion in a bowl. Add in two tablespoons of the reserved dressing to the salsa. Set aside.
- Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with leaves, sliced peppers and mango salsa. Top with the chicken strips. Drizzle with remaining dressing and serve with (optional) extra coriander leaves and red chill flakes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The marinade is absolutely fantastic! I rarely comment on food blogs, but I was super delighted with the grilled chicken. I used skinless boneless chicken breasts, and since I only had a 2 hours to marinade them, I fileted them in half and then pounded them flat. Grilled perfectly, very juicy. I used reserved marinade for dressing and recommend doing so.
Another delicious dinner salad, thank you! Whenever I need a recipe for a salad this is the first site I come to and you haven’t disappointed me yet. I have a garden full of lettuce that is almost done for the season so we enjoyed it in this salad for dinner last night.
Really tasty. Especially loved the dressing.A big hit with the family. 4 clean plates.
This is the best meal I’ve ever cooked. I used the regular crispy lime cilantro chicken recipe and then followed this recipe for salad dressing and salad.
This is quite possibly the best salad I have ever had in my entire life. I heard droans when I said we were having salad, but every last bite was gobbled up! It’s now a regular in my home. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Thank you so much!