CHIPOTLE RANCH CHICKEN TACO SALAD

Mar 28, 2012

smitten ⋅ chicken, hearty dinners ⋅ chicken, chipotle, dinner, mexican, ranch, salad, taco ⋅ 1 comment

•Great weeknight meal that has everything packed into one bowl.  Including homemade buttermilk ranch dressing with an added chipolte kick and homemade baked tortilla chips.  Marinate the for chicken a couple hours before dinner or in the morning before work.  You can even cut the veggies the night before so the dinner goes together in a snap.

 

1 batch of buttermilk ranch dressing-scroll down page for the chipotle kick

1 batch of baked tortilla chips-cut mine into strips this time (directions exactly the same)

 

2 large chicken breasts or rotisserie chicken breasts, cut into cubes

2 limes-1 juiced for marinade -1 cut into wedges to squeeze on top of salad

2 chipotle peppers-from a can of chipotle in adobo

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves-roughly chopped

pinch of salt and pepper

 

you can totally add what you like to a salad

here’s what I added

1 head of romaine lettuce-cut into shreds

2 tomatoes-wedged

1 cup shredded colby jack cheese

1 can of black beans-drained and rinsed

1/2 cup frozen corn-thawed

1 red pepper-thinly sliced

1 can of olives

1/2 red onion-thinly sliced

1-2 avocado-cut into cubes

cilantro-sprinkle on top

 

serves 4

prep and cooking time 2 hours-less if you prep the dressing, veggies and marinade the chicken earlier in the day

 

In a large ziptop bag toss in the lime juice and shell, garlic, salt, pepper, oil,  chipotles and chicken.  Put bag on a plate and let sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but 8 is better.  If using rotisserie chicken, you can stick this step.

    

Whip up the chipotle ranch dressing and let sit in the fridge for at least a hour.  Assemble all of  your salad veggies and beans (save avocado until last min).  Can sit in the fridge a couple hours as well.

    

The chips really taste best while still a little warm so get them done as your heating up the grill. 

    

We grilled the chicken outside approx 5-7 min on each side, depending on the thickness of the chicken until internal temp reaches 165° and no longer pink inside.  Slice the chicken and divide among bowls of salad, drizzle with the chipotle ranch dressing and serve chips on the side♥Enjoy