Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad

This salad is inspired by the efficiency of cooking once and dining twice, basically giving leftovers a new look with minimal effort to create an easy weeknight meal. Toss almost any grilled or roasted vegetables with leftover Cilantro-Lime Chicken and buzz up refreshing Avocado Citrus Dressing for a simple, but satisfying main dish salad. Just be sure to mention your plan to your family so you don’t lose your leftovers to lunch boxes. Take it from one who has learned this the hard way!

Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad

Feel free to experiment with whatever vegetables you have on hand, add pepitas seeds, or use garbanzo beans in place of black beans! The ingredient amounts are a guide, but adjust as you like.

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Salad

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• Gas grill

Ingredients

  

• 2 sweet bell peppers, any color you prefer*
• 2 ears fresh corn, shucked*
• Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray*
• 1 medium head romaine lettuce
• 2 leftover grilled chicken breast halves, sliced (see Cilantro-Lime Chicken in Supper section)
• 8-10 small tomatoes, such as Campari or any tomatoes you prefer, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup rinsed, drained, canned black beans
• ½ cup crumbled Queso Fresco cheese
• 1 medium avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced (you can also use remaining avocado from making dressing)
• Avocado Citrus Dressing (recipe in Salad section)

Instructions

 

• To grill peppers and corn, preheat grill to medium heat (350-450ºF). Stand bell peppers on cutting board with stem end up. Slice sides from top to bottom, making 3 to 4 slabs per pepper. Brush or spray sliced peppers and corn with olive oil or cooking spray. Place peppers and ears of corn on preheated grill grates and grill, covered, until slightly blistered and just tender, 8-12 minutes for peppers and 10-14 minutes for corn, turning often and rotating on grill as necessary for even cooking. Remove to cutting board and cool slightly. Cut peppers into bite-sized pieces and stand corn cob on end, slicing from top to bottom with a serrated knife to remove corn kernels from cob. Reserve.
• Line individual salad plates or a large salad bowl with romaine leaves. Assemble remaining salad ingredients on lettuce leaves. Serve with dressing.
• Makes 4 servings

Notes

*Note: You can also use any leftover grilled or roasted vegetables in place of freshly grilled peppers and corn. In a pinch, thawed, frozen corn works too.