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Put a spin on a Southwestern Salad with this Chili Lime Southwestern Chicken Salad with a low fat and CREAMY Cilantro Chili Lime Dressing that doubles as your marinade!
Southwestern Chicken Salad with a Low Fat Creamy Dressing… I can hear the angels singing!
It’s safe to say that with THIS salad, you won’t miss a heavy amount of fat in a usual creamy dressing made up of mayo or heavy creams. The dressing is SO creamy and RICH without needing ANY mayo! Plus, all of the flavours in the salad dressing are marinaded right into the chicken with ONLY one ingredient you’re going to add in to the marinade to make this dressing ??? complete!
Since school holidays have finished over here, I’m finally able to get into a ‘healthy eating’ rhythm. Monday marked the first day of better eating (I know my ass is thanking me), dropping two kilos already (or 4 pounds)! This is the salad that kicked it off!
To make life easier, I cheated and used my magic bullet (small cup) to make up this dressing / marinade first. Hooray for no chopping needed! If you don’t have a small food processor or magic bullet though, you can simply chop the cilantro leaves before adding them into the dressing, as written in the recipe. It just so happens that I like cheating.
Then, fry your marinaded chicken thighs until crispy and golden…..
And assemble your salad!
Pour the creamy dressing over the top! DONE!
More Satisfying Salads:
Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad with Creamy Cajun Chicken Dressing
Broccolini, Prosciutto, Feta And Avocado Salad
Chicken Haloumi and Avocado Salad With Lime Dressing
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Chili Lime Southwestern Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Marinade/Dressing:
- 4 skinless boneless chicken thigh fillets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup lime juice freshly squeezed
- 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon red chilli flakes adjust to your preference of spice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream - for dressing only
Salad:
- 4 cups romaine lettuce or cos lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 cup grape tomatoes cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado ripe, sliced
- 1 cup black beans washed and rinsed
- 1 cup corn washed and rinsed
Instructions
- Whisk marinade ingredients together to combine, or pulse in a OR a until blended (all except for the greek yogurt). Pour half the marinade into a shallow dish to marinade the chicken fillets for two hours if time allows. Refrigerate the reserved, untouched marinade to use as the 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 to prevent excess water being released.) Once chicken is cooked, set aside and allow to rest.
- Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with leaves, tomatoes, avocado slices, black beans, corn and chicken.
- Prepare dressing with remaining marinade/dressing with the 1/4 cup greek yogurt; mix well to combine OR pulse in a small food processor or magic bullet small cup.
- Drizzle the creamy dressing over the salad; divide into 4 bowls and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This salad is amazing, the dressing is dynamite!
I added just a bit more brown sugar to the dressing part and doubled it cause that’s how delicious it is.