Summer Chicken Taco Salad

A loaded up chicken taco salad perfect for a summer night dinner. Full of black beans, fresh corn, tomatoes, cheddar and cotija cheese, avocado and cilantro. Served on a bed of shredded romaine and cabbage and topped with an easy to make taco salad dressing.

Try serving this with a side of pico de gallo or corn salsa.

This recipe was first published on April 12, 2021.

When you are looking for a healthy summer dinner salad to feed the family, this chicken taco salad is just the ticket!

There are so many yummy ingredients in this salad. Here's what's in it.

Juicy seasoned chicken, cheddar cheese, black beans, fresh corn, tomatoes, avocado, cotija cheese, cilantro and crispy tortilla strips. All piled up on a bed of romaine and cabbage.

And can I just pause and say how delicious cotija cheese is! It's like a Mexican parmesan, a bit salty and so good. I use it to make the elote corn in these baked chicken taquitos.

You will not be hungry after eating this! It is super filling and even kid approved. It's a great dinner to get lots of healthy vegetables in their diet and yours.

How To Make the Chicken Taco Salad Dressing

Okay, this taco salad dressing could not get any easier! There is no reason you can't muster up the energy to make it because it's two (count it, two) ingredients!!!

Ranch dressing and salsa.

Nothing more, nothing less, just good old ranch dressing and your favorite salsa.

Try my recipe for restaurant style ranch.

Mix it with some fresh (store bought) salsa. This would be the type of salsa that's more of a pico de gallo or restaurant style, that's in a container. It's also kept in a chilled fridge section. Or try making your own pico de gallo.

And that's not to say you cant use pace salsa from the jar, you can. It's whatever is your favorite, I'm just making a suggestion as to my favorite.

Cooking The Chicken

The method for cooking the chicken will be by utilizing our cast iron skillets! If you don't have one, I highly suggest in investing in one. A decent size skillet will be no more than $20 and you'll use it weekly.

First get your pan preheated. Cast iron skillets retain a lot of heat, so you don't need to go past medium. Actually, when cooking chicken (depending how thick it is) I like to set my stove top to a medium/low heat so it doesn't burn.

It takes about 15 minutes to cook chicken in a skillet. Drizzle in some olive oil and butter. Butter makes everything better.

And if you have a splash guard for your skillet, you'll want to put that on top - save everything else from getting splats on it.

Once the chicken is done cooking you will need to let it sit and rest, off the pan. This way all of the juice won't run out of the chicken by cutting in to it too soon.

How To Layer a Chicken Taco Salad

You'll want to grab a really large bowl for this salad. So you can fill it to the brim.

Start with the shredded romaine and cabbage. Just toss the two together (after you thinly slice with a knife) and this is the base of your salad.

I love using both romaine and cabbage because the cabbage gives it a nice crunch and adds more substance to the salad.

Next add the diced chicken. It's best to let the chicken cool down before cutting in to it - this way all the juices won't run out (that's how you get dry chicken).

Let it sit on a plate with some foil over top while you chop up all the vegetables and make the taco salad dressing.

Now for all the goodies. Sprinkle on the cooked corn kernels (boil them in water for just a few minutes to soften), black beans, shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever you have on hand or like), diced tomatoes and diced avocado.

The last thing that goes on your chicken taco salad is the toppings. Sprinkle on some cotija cheese, cilantro and the crispy tortilla strips.

I highly, highly, recommend not skipping the cotija cheese. It makes such a difference in the recipe and the taste just can't be beat.

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