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

  1. Preheat oven to 350º
  2. Place chicken pieces on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet
  3. Drizzle chicken pieces with olive oil and rub into both sides
  4. Rub chicken breasts on both sides with salt
  5. Roast 40-45 minutes, until just cooked (check at 40 minutes), reaching an internal temperature of 160-165º
  6. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin
  7. Then remove the meat from the bone and shred by hand into thin strips
  8. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use

Make Dressing

  1. To make the dressing, combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth

Bake the Tortillas

  1. Preheat oven to 350º
  2. 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

  1. Place romaine on a large oval or rectangular serving platter
  2. Arrange the remaining ingredients in rows on top of the greens on the platter: chicken, cheese, avocados, tomatoes, red onion and tortilla strips
  3. 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