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!
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Chili Lime Southwestern Chicken Salad
Weight Watchers Smart Points: 10 per serve
Ingredients
- Marinade/Dressing:
- 4 skinless , boneless chicken thigh fillets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 tablespoons fresh chopped 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 (cos) lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 cup grape / cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1 ripe avocado , 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 magic bullet using a small cup OR a small food processor 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.
Hopper says
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.
Amanda says
I made this for dinner tonight, exactly as written (doubled recipe for growing boys)…and a crumble of bacon on top. OMG! So delicious. Hubby asked me to make it again tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe!
Julie says
This was delicious! I’m not a tomato person so I should perhaps have added some red/orange pepper for some colour for my salad. I also will make a bit more marinade/dressing for next time as I really wanted more of that – it’s so yummy!!!
Toni says
Can someone please help me this the second time I made the dressing and it comes out yellow can someone please explain to me what am I doing wrong ?
Ani says
This sounds wonderful, is it possible to separate the salad dressing nutrition facts to be able to duplicate this salad but with salmon? Thx so mch
Lisa says
Made this tonight and loved it! Especially that tangy delicious dressing!
Joe Smith says
Yea there’s no ingredients/directions for the dressing…
Karina says
The dressing is under the marinade/dressing ingredients. It begins after the chicken. Hope that helps answer your questions.
ariana says
I haven’t attempted this yet. I found you on pinterest.. anyways I have a question. When did you use the greek yogurt/ sour cream? we whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade, except for the sour cream. When does it come into play?
Brad says
What are the ingredients for the dressing.
Yve says
Hi Karina, had to drop a few lines.
I am now eating *for the second time* 😉 a salad with this awesome dressing.
LOVE IT !!! Tried it with Parsley and Cilantro – both variations work fantastic. I also mixed in a pureed tomato that I still had. Made a double batch, so will be having another salad tomorrow 😉
Much love from Spain and please don´t stop creating recipes for all the food lovers out there.
Saludos Yve
Patricia says
I thought your Honey Mustard Chicken Salad was the queen of the Nile but OMGeeeeeee…..this puts that one to shame.
Not a huge fan of chicken thighs but figured I’d give it a try anyways. Wanted to make exactly and give a fair review. So glad I did. EXCELLENT! I don’t think the breast would be aso juicy or flavorful if I substituted them.
I LOVE your recipes. Only complaint I have is I didn’t find you sooner.