Skinny Southwestern Salad Recipe

This Skinny Southwest Chicken Salad recipe is absolutely bursting with flavor, and packed with healthy and filling protein to keep you full, but the best part about it is that you can make it in just minutes!

I kinda love salad. I know some people don’t, but I really think those people just don’t know how to make salad right.  When you make salad right, it is good.  Really, really good!

Now these really, really good salads don’t just happen on accident.  They are filled with crisp flavorful greens, loaded with great veggies with complimentary flavors, topped with some tender, flavor packed meat, and of course drizzled with rich and flavorful dressing.  You get bonus points if you can add in something with an addicting crunch too!

This Southwest salad is all of those things and since summer is coming up, it is made to be light and calorie conscious so you can have something you really love to eat and feel good about it too!

As long as the salad is really tasty, I can eat it day after day and not tire of it, so you can make this salad in a big bowl to feed a crowd or use it for meal prep so you will have a delicious meal on hand 4+ times while only prepping once.  All of the ingredients are easy and store well so it is perfect for making ahead like I did here on my Instagram post!

One of the best parts of this recipe is how quickly it all comes together, even though everything is fresh and wholesome!  One of the keys to making this so quickly is the pre-cooked Johnsonville Flame Grilled Chicken.  As someone who is very picky about meats and a self-proclaimed chickentarian, I am going to tell you that this stuff is amazing.  You can find it in 5 flavors in the refrigerator section of grocery stores nation-wide.  This chicken isn’t your normal pre-packaged meat, it is seared over an open flame to lock in the juices, and packed with flavor from the dry rub seasonings.  The chicken is free of fillers, and has no added MSG, artificial preservatives, flavors and colors.  It is real fully cooked, whole-muscle, chicken breast with no rib meat.  In short, it is everything I ever wanted in a chicken breast, but I have never found this quality pre-cooked before!

Let’s get cooking with it!

Skinny Southwest Salad Recipe – Step by Step

This salad is 3 mini recipes all wrapped up into one!  Don’t worry though, it is super quick and easy, especially using the precooked chicken, I just broke down the recipes to make it easier to follow along.  I am talking about the salad here first, then the dressing and chips, but if you are prepping this meal, I would make the dressing first so it can chill while you are prepping the salad and chips.

This is a large salad so it will easily feed 4 people a meal sized portion or 6+ side sized portions.  You can make it as a big salad, or divide it for meal prep and get 4 meals made.  Also, feel free to add or subtract according to your tasted and dietary needs!  You can add more of one ingredient or add a special treat like a scoop of guacamole!  Top this salad with whatever YOU love!

Skinny Southwest Salad- Ingredients

• 2 hearts romaine lettuce, washed
• 1/2 cup low-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 package (3- 3 oz chicken breasts) Johnsonville Flame Grilled Southwestern Seasoned Chicken Breast
• 1/2 cup canned corn, drained
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely diced (optional)
• 12 baked & seasoned tortilla chips
• 8 oz (one recipe) Skinny Salsa Ranch

Instructions:

We will keep this super simple with just a few directions!

1. Chop the romaine into bite-sized pieces and layer into the bottom of a wide bowl, or if you are meal prepping use 4 air tight containers. Prep veggies, and chop chicken breast into 1/2″-1″ pieces.  Each of the chicken breasts are 3 oz, so there should be plenty to top a large salad like this!  I like my chicken cold on salads, but if you prefer yours hot, you can pop it in the microwave for about 2 minutes and have it ready to go!
2. Layer cheese, black beans, tomatoes, chicken, corn, and red onion on top of the lettuce, then sprinkle with cilantro.  If you don’t care for any of these, feel free to leave it off, or if you really love it you can add more!  Other toppings that are great on this salad are guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, fresh lime juice, avocado, etc.  The sky is the limit so get creative!
3. Place the baked corn chips around the side of the bowl, or if you are meal prepping in small containers, put these in a baggie on the side so they don’t get soggy from the moisture of the salad.
4. Right before serving, toss the salad with the skinny salsa ranch.

Skinny Salsa Ranch – Ingredients

• 1/2 cup light sour cream, You can also substitute geek yogurt here, but it doesn’t come out as smooth and creamy.  I prefer the light sour cream by a long shot!
• 1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk, If you buy the buttermilk just for this recipe and don’t use it frequently, you can freeze it so you have it on hand next time you are making this dressing!  Try using an ice cube tray so you have them in easy to use sizes!
• 1/4 cup salsa- I make homemade but you can use store bought or whatever your favorite flavor is!
• 1/5 tbsp dry ranch mix- 1 package is generally about 2 tbsp for reference.  I buy mine at the warehouse store in bulk because it really comes in handy around the kitchen to add flavor!

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in a glass jar and use a hand blender to blend until incorporated.
2. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Skinny Baked Tortilla Chips- Ingredients

• 2 corn tortillas- I used yellow corn, but you can use which ever you prefer!
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp fajita seasoning- Use store bought or this homemade fajita seasoning recipe!

Instructions

1. Brush each side of the tortillas with olive oil and then cut each one into 6 triangles, like you were cutting a pizza.
2. Lay the tortilla wedges flat on a baking sheet and sprinkle with seasonings.  I line my cookie sheet with aluminum foil to make for easy clean up!
3. Bake at 400F for 6-8 minutes on the middle rack in the oven, or until they are golden brown.  Make sure and watch them because if they over brown and start to burn they really don’t taste very good… trust me on that one!

I hope you enjoy these recipes, together or separately!  If you get a chance to try it, I would love to hear about it in the comments!  Drop me a note and let me know if you love it as much as we did!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Johnsonville. The opinions and text are all mine.