This chipotle hen salad has juicy oven-grilled hen tossed with recent greens, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, candy corn, and cheese. All my favourite Southwestern fixings!
I really like a hearty salad with a kick, like my Southwest quinoa salad and this spicy chipotle hen salad. Customise this recipe together with your favourite home made or store-bought dressing.
This chipotle hen salad is very easy to make with the juiciest oven-grilled hen. Slice up the hen, layer it on high of a mattress of recent, bouncy greens, and sprinkle in just a few corn kernels, slices of avocado, recent tomatoes, and cheese. Add a drizzle of dressing, and we’re finished! This may be dinner, this may be lunch, this may be your new favourite “grilled” hen salad. And also you don’t even should mild the grill.
What Makes This Chipotle Hen Salad So Good
- Oven-grilled hen. Sure, you possibly can grill hen with out a grill! I’ll present you the way with a grill pan. It’s a good way to sear the surface of the hen earlier than you pop it into the oven to complete cooking.
- Daring chipotle taste. You don’t must marinate the hen; only a fast toss in chipotle seasoning is all it takes to pack each chew filled with smoky, spicy Southwestern taste.
- Versatile. This chipotle hen salad recipe makes sufficient to comfortably serve 4 as a facet salad, or you possibly can get pleasure from it as a lightweight principal meal. It’s additionally an amazing recipe to meal prep for tasty lunches all through the week.
Salad Substances
Beneath are my notes on the elements on this zesty chipotle hen salad. There aren’t lots of them, however all of them work collectively to fill this simple salad with loads of Southwest taste. Scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card for the complete record, adopted by a step-by-step recipe overview afterward.
- Hen – Boneless, skinless hen breasts or thighs work finest on this salad recipe.
- Seasonings – We’ll season the hen in a mixture of chipotle powder, cumin, and salt. You may change up the person spices with fajita seasoning for one more taste profile.
- Salad Greens – Any sort you’d like. Good selections are romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, spinach, kale, and arugula, or you should use a mixture of backyard greens.
- Avocado – Diced or sliced.
- Tomatoes – These might be cherry or grape tomatoes, cocktail tomatoes, or bigger varieties, like Roma tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes or slice them in half, relying on the scale.
- Cheddar Cheese – Shredded. You might additionally use a Mexican or Tex-Mex cheese mix or your favourite shredable cheese, like Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, or spicy Pepper Jack cheese.
Serving Strategies
By itself, this chipotle hen salad is a good principal meal salad for lunch or dinner. Or, you possibly can serve it to share, as a facet to quinoa stuffed peppers or a giant platter of pork carnitas or Mexican picadillo to tuck into tacos. Spherical out the meal with fluffy white rice or crunchy corn chips and salsa!
Meal Prep This Salad
You may put together and grill the hen, chop the avocado and tomatoes, and shred the cheese for this salad recipe upfront. Hold all the things saved in separate containers within the fridge so to simply assemble your chipotle hen salad for fast, simple lunches.
One other enjoyable possibility is to prep in mason jars! To layer this hen salad in a jar, begin with the dressing on the backside, then add the corn kernels, hen, cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and eventually, the greens. Jar salads are finest eaten the identical day.
Storing Leftovers
This salad turns into soggy the longer it sits within the dressing, so it’ll have the very best texture and taste once you serve it instantly. Do your finest to retailer any leftover elements in separate containers within the fridge, they usually’ll final 2-3 days that means.
You should use the leftover chipotle hen to make one other salad, or repurpose it into tacos or hen enchiladas!
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Prep. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
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Pound the hen. Pound hen breasts to a fair thickness. Don’t pound them too skinny.
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Season the hen. In a big ziploc bag, mix chipotle powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and hen. Seal the bag and therapeutic massage the seasonings into the hen items utilizing your fingers. Let stand 5 to twenty minutes.
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Grill. Grease a grill pan with cooking spray and set it over medium-high warmth. Add hen items and prepare dinner for 4 minutes; flip, and proceed to prepare dinner for two extra minutes, or till calmly browned.
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Bake. Place the grill pan with the hen into the oven and bake for 18 to twenty minutes, or till the hen is cooked by way of. Take away from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
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Within the meantime, put together the salad. In a big salad bowl, toss collectively salad greens, corn kernels, diced avocados, and chopped tomatoes.
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Add the hen. Minimize up the hen and layer it on high of the salad.
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Add dressing. Sprinkle with cheese, after which toss with creamy avocado dressing or your favourite home made salad dressing. Serve.
Energy: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 33g | Fats: 13g | Saturated Fats: 3g | Ldl cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 710mg | Potassium: 864mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1230IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 141mg | Iron: 1.8mg
Dietary data is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values could fluctuate in line with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
The way to Make Chipotle Hen Salad
Story time: My Macedonian mom cooks virtually completely with one skillet (for shakshuka) and one casserole dish (for moussaka). She couldn’t consider how I “grilled” this chipotle hen within the oven utilizing my grill pan. Guess who bought the identical cast-iron grill pan for Mom’s Day?
If in case you have one, crack it out for this recipe. Six minutes on the stovetop, 20 minutes within the oven, and also you’re able to assemble this hen salad. Right here’s how one can make it:
- Prep. Whereas the oven preheats to 350ºF, pound the hen breasts to a fair thickness. They shouldn’t be flattened, however related in thickness to hen paillard.
- Season the hen. Subsequent, seal the hen inside a big Ziploc bag with the chipotle powder, cumin, and salt. Utilizing your fingers, therapeutic massage the seasoning into the hen.
- Grill. Subsequent, sear the hen on a greased grill pan over medium-high warmth. Cook dinner for 4 minutes, flip, and prepare dinner the hen for one more 2 minutes so it’s browned on either side. It’s advantageous that the hen isn’t absolutely cooked at this stage.
- Bake. Switch the grill pan with the hen to the oven and bake at 350ºF for 18-20 minutes. Afterward, relaxation the hen for five minutes when you put together the opposite elements.
- Within the meantime, put together the salad. Whereas the hen rests, add the salad greens, corn, avocado, and tomatoes to a big bowl. Once you’re able to serve, slice the hen and layer it over the salad. Sprinkle over the shredded cheese.
- Add dressing and serve. Select your dressing (see the Substances part earlier), and pour it over the salad. Toss and serve!
Do I Have to Use a Grill Pan?
You don’t have to make use of one for this recipe, although I positively suggest it. Grill pans are pans with ridges that go from the stovetop to the oven, they usually’re good for giving hen, beef, and seafood that charred-from-the-grill look and taste, with out the grill. In case you don’t have one, nevertheless, you possibly can observe the steps above utilizing an oven-safe skillet as an alternative.
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