Grilled Tequila Lime Chicken Taco Salad with an Avocado Crema spiked with lime, a drizzle of honey and booze. I know this post is going up really last minute, getting carried away with Spicy Sun Dried Tomato Shrimp and Churro Ice Cream Bowls. BUT if you don’t know what to make today for your celebrations, or tomorrow, or this weekend for whatever reason, then this is for you!
If you’re not a big fan of tequila then trust me, you wouldn’t get enough of it when it’s in this salad!
Why tequila chicken? Well, with all the margaritas that have been flying around in my house (not that I’m complaining or anything), I need to do something with the bottle of tequila BESIDES drink it on my own since the husband doesn’t like it and the rest of my household contains little people under legal drinking age. I’m guessing a few of us might have some left over bottles hanging around after today is over. Wait. Leftover alcohol? WHAT?
You all know how much I love to re-use dressings into marinades, right? Well, I kinda spiked this avocado crema ⇓⇓⇓ with some boozy marinade I reserved BEFORE marinading the chicken. Don’t yell at me. No poisoning happens over here.
Breaking in this new grill pan my mama bought me to help me cook better (wait….), the first thing to hit it was boozed chicken. Welcome home grill pan. This chicken has so much flavour, we stood over the hot plate eating while fanning before it made it to the salad. Which meant I had to go get MORE chicken and marinade it all over again for this post. The Tequila tenderises these thighs even more than they already are, while the honey caramelises them with a crispy coating.
Then, to keep the Taco feeling going, I heated some flour tortillas up until they were golden in a separate pan, and cut them into strips. Totally optional and totally worth it.
Proceed to drown in a creamy avocado dressing and prepare for your MIND to be BLOWN.
Of course I’m going to say serve these with Margaritas —either a strawberry and mango marg or a classic margarita slushy. Or both.
If you love a good salad give these a try:
Garlic and Lime Barbecue Chicken Salad
Grilled Tequila Lime Chicken Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets
Tequila Marinade:
- ½ cup lime juice 2 limes
- â…“ cup tequila
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced or crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salad
- 4 cups Romaine lettuce leaves chopped, or Cos lettuce
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1 yellow pepper deseeded and sliced
- 4 mini tortilla wraps
Avocado Dressing:
- 1 avocado ripe, peeled and seed removed
- ½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
- ¼ Tequila Marinade see instructions below
- 1 pinch salt to taste
Instructions
- In a large, shallow bowl, whisk marinade ingredients together to combine. Pour out ¼ cup the marinade into a jug or cup, and refrigerate to use later in the avocado crema / dressing.
- Add the chicken fillets to the marinade in the bowl, and marinade for two hours if time allows (or overnight).
- 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 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 fry pepper strips until cooked to your liking.
- While chicken and peppers are cooking, combine the avocado, yogurt (or sour cream), reserved tequila marinade, and salt to taste in a blender, and blend until smooth. Add a couple tablespoons of water or milk to make it thinner in consistency if needed.
- Optional: Warm tortillas on another pan over low heat until soft and warmed through. Transfer to warmed plates and cut into strips.
- Slice chicken and prepare salad with leaves, peppers, tomatoes and chicken. Drizzle with the avocado dressing and serve with lime wedges and taco strips.
Zain says
wow its look like fantastic
Susan says
Trying to stay away from sugar. Can you leave the honey out of the Tequila marinade and still be okay?
Sandy says
Thank-you so much for sharing this recipe, the pictures are gorgeous and everything looks amazing and delicious. I definitely have to make this recipe ahhh. One question do you think the tequila marinade would work for shrimp? I want to make tequila shrimp enchiladas (this used to be my fav at a local Mexican restaurant but sadly they aren’t what they used to be, I’m not expecting to make them like theirs but I want them too be GOOD and all this sounds so GOOD.) I know how to make enchiladas it’s the tequila shrimp part that’s new to me.
Karina says
Yes! Sandy this would definitely work with shrimp! Sounds delicious!