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BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad

This BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad is full of black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, and grilled chicken. It’s tossed in a tangy cilantro-lime dressing and drizzled with BBQ sauce. Shredded cheese and crumbled tortilla chips are a perfect finishing touch!

Hi, Friends! I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July weekend! We did some swimming, some relaxing, and lots of visiting with family. Now it’s time to gear up for another week…

One thing that helps me feel prepared heading into the week is a menu plan. I always plan my meals on the weekend, do the grocery shopping, and then there’s (usually) never the question of what’s for dinner.

This BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is the perfect thing to put on your meal plan this week. It’s just the right balance between being light enough for a hot summer day – it is a salad after all – while also being filling enough to keep you from immediately reaching for cookies after dinner. And, you won’t have to turn on your oven and heat up your house, which we all know is so important when the temperatures are rising!

I made this salad with crisp romaine lettuce because I love the crunch. This BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is definitely not lacking in the topping department. Besides the spiced, grilled chicken, I’ve added black beans, corn, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, and more.

A cilantro-lime vinaigrette, made with a little Greek yogurt and honey, is the perfect dressing for it all. And the finishing touches? A drizzle of BBQ sauce (try my easy homemade BBQ sauce recipe), and a sprinkling of shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips. It’s salad perfection!

I made this BBQ Chicken Salad a couple of times while testing the recipe, and Brad and I didn’t mind taste-testing at all. For the kids, we served a deconstructed salad and they were happy little eaters as well. I thought it would be fun to take a photo of their plates, too. 🙂

BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad

 

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This BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad is full of black beans, corn, tomato, avocado, and grilled chicken. It's tossed in a tangy cilantro-lime dressing and drizzled with BBQ sauce. Shredded cheese and crumbled tortilla chips are a perfect finishing touch!

Recipe type: Main Dish

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the chicken:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• ½ tsp. onion powder
• scant ¼ tsp. Kosher salt
• scant ⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

For the cilantro-lime dressing:

• ½ cup cilantro
• 3 tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tbsp. Greek yogurt
• 1 ½-2 tbsp. honey, to taste
• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste

For the salads:

• 8 cups romaine lettuce, washed & chopped
• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup canned corn, drained
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 avocado, pitted and cubed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese
• Crumbled tortilla chips, optional
• BBQ sauce, for drizzling

Directions

Grill the chicken:

1. In a small bowl, combine chili powder, garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Rub over both sides of chicken breasts. Heat grill to medium-high heat. Grill chicken until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F, turning once halfway through. Set chicken on a clean plate to cool and then chop into bite-size pieces.

Make the dressing:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Pulse until cilantro is finely chopped and everything is well combined. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Assemble the salads:

1. Place lettuce in a large bowl and toss with about half of the dressing.
2. Place 2 cups of the lettuce on each plate. Top with black beans, corn, tomato, red onion, avocado, and cheese. Place ¼ of the chicken on top of each salad. Drizzle each salad with a little more of the cilantro-lime dressing. Crumble on a few tortilla chips, if desired, and then drizzle lightly with BBQ sauce. Serve immediately.

Source: Kristine's Kitchen.

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