Southwest Salad
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Create a scrumptious salad, packed with flavorful ingredients, using this Southwest Salad recipe! It’s filled with creamy avocado, juicy tomatoes, and crunchy tortilla strips, all tossed in a creamy chipotle salad dressing! The best part is, this salad is easy to mix up in just 10 minutes! It’s delicious as a vegetarian salad, or with southwest grilled chicken on top.
Table of contents
Close your eyes and imagine a salad that transports you to the sun-kissed flavors of the Southwest. Picture a colorful array of crisp lettuce, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, zesty corn, and hearty black beans, all coming together in a harmonious medley of taste and texture.
This, my friends, is the wonder of this Southwest Salad. Bursting with vibrant ingredients and bold flavors, it’s a delicious recipe that you’re going to love! The best part is, it’s easy to make in just 10 minutes!
And if you love Chick Fil A’s Southwest Chicken Salad, then I’ve got a delicious grilled chicken addition to this salad that you’re going to love! It makes for a great copycat recipe that’s still easy to make in less than 30 minutes and more affordable than the restaurant!
Ingredients
- Romaine lettuce – for this recipe, you’ll need 8 cups of chopped romaine lettuce. This is equivalent to about two romaine hearts. You can use another lettuce, like iceberg, but I don’t recommend leafy greens for this recipe. The crunch of romaine makes a great base for the salad and pairs perfectly with the other ingredients.
- Southwest salad dressing – click the link for my easy 5 minute homemade dressing recipe. This dressing is simple to make with sour cream, lime juice, cilantro and southwest seasoning. I’ve also included the recipe at the bottom of this post, but if you want my tips and tricks, go check out the blog post.
- Red onion – finely diced red onion adds a crisp texture and mild, sweet flavor to the salad.
- Red bell pepper – these peppers add a delicious crunch and mild sweetness to the salad.
- Black beans – the addition of beans adds another texture and extra protein to the salad. To make this recipe quick and easy, I recommend using canned black beans that have been drained from the can and rinsed.
- Corn – kernels of corn, drained and rinsed from a can, add a sweet flavor and extra fiber to the salad. During the summer months, when corn is in season, feel free to use fresh corn and simply use a sharp knife to remove the corn kernels from the cob. If you’d like to give the corn a smoky flavor and char on the outside, add 1 teaspoon olive oil to a cast iron skillet on the stove over high heat. Add the corn and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Cherry tomatoes – these little tomatoes are the perfect juicy topping on this salad. You can also use grape tomatoes. They’re slightly smaller and a little less sweet than cherry tomatoes, but are a good, easy substitute.
- Avocado – diced avocado may be extra at restaurants, but it’s a must at home! This creamy fruit is delicious on top of the salad.
- Tortilla strips – add the perfect crunch to finish the salad with crispy tortilla strips. These can be purchased in a bag at the grocery store, near the salad dressing and croutons, or you can use crushed tortilla chips from a bag.
- Pepper jack cheese – I like the slight spice that this cheese adds to the salad. You can also use cheddar cheese, monterey jack cheese, or a combination of both, like they do at Chick-Fil-A on their spicy southwest salad.
Instructions
- Toss the lettuce in the dressing. In a large bowl, toss chopped romaine lettuce with southwest salad dressing, until the lettuce is completely coated.
- Assemble the salads. Divide the dressed lettuce between four bowls. Top each bowl with red onion, red bell peppers, black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, tortilla strips and pepper jack cheese.
How to add chicken
To add chicken to the salad, either pull 1 ½ cups of cooked chicken off of a rotisserie chicken and toss it with ¼ cup southwest salad dressing, then add it on top of the salad. Or use this Instant Pot Shredded Chicken recipe to pressure cook chicken breasts, then shred them, toss them with the dressing and add them on top of the salad.
The final option is to grill the chicken, which is what you’ll see pictured on top of the salad throughout this post. To do this, follow the instructions below. Grill the chicken before starting the salad recipe. You can even make it up to 5 days in advance and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make the salad. The chicken on the salad can be served hot or cold.
- Try to find a chicken breast that’s around ½ pound in weight. Place it on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Pound the chicken breast with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin until it’s about ½ inch thick. This will both tenderize the chicken and help it cook quicker.
- Rub the piece of chicken with ½ tablespoon southwest seasoning on both sides. If you prefer, you can use taco seasoning, but it won’t have the smoky flavor of the southwest spice mix.
- Preheat an indoor grill, like the OptiGrill I used here, or an outdoor grill. Grill the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side on an outdoor grill, grill pan, or heavy skillet on the stove, or grill for 5-6 minutes using a two-sided electric grill.
- Once cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F, remove the chicken from the grill. Place the cooked chicken on a cutting board and dice it into small pieces. Place on top of the salad before serving.
Additions and substitutions
- Roasted poblano peppers – add 1 cup diced poblano chiles like Chick-fil-A!
- Chili lime pepitas – add these spiced pumpkin seeds, for another Chick-Fil-A copycat addition.
- Creamy salsa dressing – replace the southwest salad dressing with creamy salsa dressing, like Chick-Fil-A. Simply combine ¼ cup sour cream with ¼ cup salsa. I use this dressing on my taco salad recipe and it’s always a hit!
- Bacon – add ½ cup diced, cooked bacon to the salad to make it like the Wendy’s southwest salad.
- Shredded carrots – add ½ cup shredded carrots to make it like Jack In The Box’s southwest salad with grilled chicken.
- Sliced black olives – for a salty addition to the salad, add ½ cup sliced olives.
- Avocado dressing – swap out the southwest salad dressing for creamy avocado dressing.
- Cilantro lime dressing – swap out the southwest salad dressing for cilantro lime dressing.
- Chipotle ranch dressing – swap out the southwest dressing for store-bought chipotle ranch dressing.
Other additions that I’ve added to this salad over the years include diced green onions, fresh sliced jalapenos and fresh chopped cilantro.
Feel free to make it your own and use any of these recipe variations to customize this salad just the way you like it!
Dietary options
To make this salad vegetarian, omit the chicken.
To make this salad vegan, follow the instructions above to make it vegetarian. Also, omit the pepper jack cheese and use this recipe for Creamy Vegan Chipotle Dressing.
This salad is naturally gluten free. If using bottled salad dressing, instead of homemade, always make sure to check the label to make sure it’s gluten-free.
Meal prep and storage
This salad is perfect for meal prep! Follow these simple steps to meal prep this salad for the week.
- Divide all of the ingredients between four large storage containers, except the tortilla strips and salad dressing.
- Divide the salad dressing into four small containers. Add a salad dressing to each of the larger containers with the other ingredients.
- Place the containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Store the tortilla strips in separate zipper bags, outside of the refrigerator.
- When you’re ready to enjoy the salad, remove the salad dressing from the larger container.
- Pour the salad dressing into the large container and toss it with all of the ingredients.
- Add the tortilla strips on top, then serve immediately.
More salad recipes
Try these other delicious, filling salads, perfect for a healthy meal!
Southwest Salad
Ingredients
Southwest Salad Dressing
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons lime juice, fresh-squeezed
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 tablespoon southwest seasoning, click link for the recipe
Southwest Salad
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce, approximately 2 romaine hearts
- ½ cup red onion, finely diced
- 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed from a can
- 1 cup corn, drained and rinsed from a can
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 cup tortilla strips
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded (or Monterey jack cheese)
Instructions
- Prepare the salad dressing by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl or mason jar.
- In a large bowl, toss the chopped romaine lettuce with ½ cup southwest salad dressing, until the lettuce is completely coated.
- Divide the dressed lettuce between four bowls.
- Top with the diced red onion, diced bell peppers, black beans, corn, diced tomato, diced avocado, tortilla strips and shredded pepper jack cheese.
- To add grilled chicken to the salad, follow the instructions in the notes below.
Notes
- To add grilled chicken to the salad, follow these steps before you start preparing the salad.
- Try to find a chicken breast that’s around ½ pound in weight. Place it on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Pound the chicken breast with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin until it’s about ½ inch thick. This will both tenderize the chicken and help it cook quicker.
- Rub the piece of chicken with ½ tablespoon southwest seasoning on both sides.
- Preheat an indoor grill, like the OptiGrill I used here, or an outdoor grill. Grill the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side on an outdoor grill, grill pan, or heavy skillet on the stove, or grill for 5-6 minutes using a two-sided electric grill.
- Once cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F, remove the chicken from the grill. Place the cooked chicken on a cutting board and dice it into small pieces. Place on top of the salad before serving.
- To add shredded chicken on top of the salad, either pull 1 ½ cups of cooked chicken off of a rotisserie chicken and toss it with ¼ cup southwest salad dressing, then add it on top of the salad. Or use this Instant Pot Shredded Chicken recipe to pressure cook chicken breasts, then shred them, toss them with the dressing and add them on top of the salad.
- The dressing recipe above makes ¾ cup of salad dressing. You’ll only need ½ cup to toss with the romaine lettuce. The other ¼ cup can be tossed with the chicken to top the salad, drizzled on top of the other salad ingredients, or saved for another recipe.
- If you’d like to give the corn a smoky flavor and char on the outside, add 1 teaspoon olive oil to a cast iron skillet on the stove over high heat. Add the corn and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- To make this salad vegetarian, omit the chicken.
- To make this salad vegan, follow the instructions above to make it vegetarian. Also, omit the pepper jack cheese and use this recipe for Creamy Vegan Chipotle Dressing.
- This salad is naturally gluten free. If using bottled salad dressing, instead of homemade, always make sure to check the label to make sure it’s gluten-free.
Nutrition Facts
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