Chicken Tortilla Salad w/ Cilantro-Lime Dressing
Serves 4-5
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- 4 split bone-in chicken breasts with skin (or 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken)
- olive oil
- kosher salt
For the Baked Tortillas
- 6 corn tortillas (6" in diameter), cut into ¼" strips
- 1 tsp olive oil
- kosher salt
For the Salad
- 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 2 cups small sweet-variety tomatoes, halved
- ½ small red onion, slivered
- 2 avocados, peeled & sliced
- 2 cups feta or shredded cheddar cheese
For the Cilantro-Lime Dressing
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (remove seeds for less heat)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ½ cup lightly-packed cilantro leaves
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
Equipment
- parchment paper-lined baking sheet
- instant-read thermometer
- blender
How-to
Roast the Chicken
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Place chicken pieces on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet
- Drizzle chicken pieces with olive oil and rub into both sides
- Rub chicken breasts on both sides with salt
- Roast 40-45 minutes, until just cooked (check at 40 minutes), reaching an internal temperature of 160-165º
- When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin
- Then remove the meat from the bone and shred by hand into thin strips
- Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use
Make Dressing
- To make the dressing, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth
Bake the Tortillas
- Preheat oven to 350º
- Cut tortillas in half, then cut each half into ¼" strips. Place tortilla strips on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tsp of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake, turning occasionally with tongs, for about 10 minutes or until lightly crisp
Arrange Salad Components
- Place romaine on a large oval or rectangular serving platter
- Arrange the remaining ingredients in rows on top of the greens on the platter: chicken, cheese, avocados, tomatoes, red onion and tortilla strips
- Serve the dressing on the side
Variation: Make wraps by using flour tortillas, skipping the corn tortilla strips in the original recipe. To spice up the dressing, add 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce and a touch of honey for balance