Tex Mex Hen Salad | Diethood

This Tex-Mex rooster salad is a wholesome salad recipe you may make tonight! It’s made with juicy margarita-marinated grilled rooster on a mattress of crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, and crunchy purple onions with avocado, candy corn, and black beans. Don’t overlook the creamy avocado dressing!

Wholesome Tex Mex Hen Salad

This tackle a Tex Mex Hen Salad is a bit like a Santa Fe salad or Southwest rooster salad. It’s significantly love at first chunk! The rooster is marinated for hours in a easy however flavor-packed margarita marinade earlier than you grill it. The result’s the juiciest, most flavorful rooster strips ever. It’s laborious to withstand gobbling them down earlier than you even assemble the salad!

We’ll serve it over a mattress of crispy iceberg lettuce with ripe tomatoes, crunchy purple onions, and buttery avocado rounded out with corn, black beans, and avocado dressing. You’re going to go nuts for the zesty, spicy, creamy Tex Mex taste mixtures on this straightforward salad recipe. Each minute that rooster spends marinating within the fridge is completely price it!

Why You’ll Love This Tex Mex Hen Salad Recipe

• Contemporary and simple elements. You don’t want any fancy or difficult elements to make this tasty and wholesome Tex Mex salad. Only a few recent veggies right here, a slice or two of ultra-tender rooster breast there. Simple peasy.
• Margarita marinade. This isn’t simply any grilled rooster, it’s margarita grilled rooster, and it’s DELICIOUS. So tender, so juicy. It’s impressed by a variation that I had at Chili’s as soon as. My do-it-yourself margarita marinade is simple to make with a package deal of margarita combine and recent lime juice.
• Meal-in-one. This Tex Mex rooster salad has all of it. Loads of veggies, juicy marinated rooster, and a great deal of zesty Southwestern taste wrapped up in a single wholesome bowlful. It’s satisfying to function is for lunch or a light-weight dinner, or you may spherical out a meal together with your favourite sides.

How one can Make a Tex Mex Hen Salad

We’ll stroll by way of how one can make the BEST grilled rooster salad loaded with Tex Mex taste, beginning with some notes on the elements you’ll want. You’ll want to scroll to the recipe card under the submit for the total ingredient quantities and recipe directions.

Salad Substances

• Hen: Skinless, boneless rooster breasts, minimize in half. You too can use rooster thighs, they’ll simply take a bit longer to prepare dinner.
• Marinade: You’ll make a fast Tex Mex rooster marinade from margarita combine, lime juice (freshly squeezed is a should), olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
• Lettuce: I make this salad with crisp iceberg lettuce, however you need to use any leafy inexperienced that you’ve got readily available. Romaine, arugula, butter lettuce, spinach, or perhaps a spring combine are all good choices.
• Candy Corn and Black Beans: You need to use canned corn and beans for further comfort, simply you should definitely rinse and drain them nicely beforehand. I additionally like to make this salad when I’ve leftover grilled corn on the cob.
• Tomatoes and Onion: Diced onion and tomatoes praise the Tex Mex flavors and add some recent veggies to the combination. You need to use purple onion or yellow onion. Inexperienced onions would additionally work.
• Avocado: Creamy avocado is stuffed with wholesome fat and tastes nice on this Mexican-style rooster salad.
• Garnishes: Garnish this salad with tortilla chips, shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, or every other toppings you’d like. See additional within the submit for extra add-ons and variation concepts.
• Dressing: I toss the whole lot along with my creamy avocado lime dressing. It’s gentle and recent and tremendous straightforward to make.

Instructions

• Marinate the rooster. Mix the margarita combine and marinade elements in a big Ziploc bag. Add the rooster and toss to coat. Afterward, let the rooster marinate within the fridge for a number of hours.
• Grill the rooster. Grill your rooster utilizing your methodology of alternative. I take advantage of a grill pan on the stovetop to prepare dinner the rooster for about 6 minutes per aspect till cooked by way of. This rooster can be nice on the out of doors grill through the summertime (observe the grilling instructions for my grilled blackened rooster). 
• Assemble the salad. Start by including your chopped lettuce to a big salad bowl. Subsequent, layer on the corn kernels, rinsed and drained black beans, tomatoes, purple onion, and avocado. 
• Add the rooster and dressing. Lastly, slice up the grilled rooster and add this to the salad. High the entire thing with a beneficiant drizzle of avocado dressing, or your dressing of alternative.

Suggestions for Success

A do-it-yourself Tex Mex rooster salad is nearly foolproof. That being mentioned, I seen the next whereas testing this recipe:

• Let the rooster marinate. This takes a little bit of planning forward, nevertheless it makes all of the distinction! The rooster wants about 2-8 hours to marinate within the margarita combination and actually absorb all these flavors. Not solely that, marinating is essential for ultra-tender rooster.
• Use what you have got. There’s no improper technique to make a salad. When you’re lacking an ingredient, swap it out for no matter you have got readily available to customise this Tex Mex rooster salad nevertheless you’d like. See under for some concepts.
• Cooking instances will fluctuate. Relying on the thickeness of your rooster items, the precise grilling instances could also be completely different from the instances which might be given. Use my instructions as a suggestion, however be sure that to examine your rooster for doneness (see under).

Can I Bake the Hen As a substitute?

Sure! When you’d favor to bake your Tex Mex rooster for this salad, bake the marinated rooster for about 20-Half-hour at 400ºF till cooked by way of. Precise baking instances will rely on the scale and thickness of your rooster breasts. Check with the instructions in my oven-baked rooster breasts recipe for particulars.

How Can I Inform When Hen Is Finished? 

The simplest technique to inform if the rooster breasts are performed cooking is to take the temperature utilizing an instant-read thermometer. In line with USDA tips, rooster is cooked when the interior temperature reaches 165ºF.

Salad Variations and Add-Ons

It’s your salad, and you may costume this Tex Mex rooster salad up or down nevertheless you’d like.

• Completely different protein. Rather than marinaded rooster, high this salad with steak, or one other protein like salmon or grilled shrimp.
• Vegetarian. To make a vegetarian Tex Mex salad, skip the rooster, or attempt marinating tofu as a substitute. You too can high this salad with meaty fried mushrooms, tempeh, lentils, or chopped up chickpea patties.
• Completely different marinade. When you’d favor one other grilled rooster marinade, attempt my beer marinade or make juicy cilantro lime rooster. You possibly can even skip the marinade and high your salad with crispy fried rooster as a substitute. 
• Grains. Rather than or along with lettuce, assemble this salad on a mattress of quinoa or bulgur wheat, or attempt coconut lime cauliflower rice for a low-carb model.
• Cheese. Crumble over recent Mexican cotija cheese or feta, or add shredded Asiago, gentle Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack cheese, or a shredded Mexican cheese mix.
• Completely different dressing. Different good dressing choices are Catalina dressing or Ranch dressing. Or, you may check out my favourite do-it-yourself salad dressings for extra concepts. 
• Extra veggies. Bulk up the greens with no matter’s in season. Add on sliced cucumber, shredded carrot, or shredded cabbage. You too can add sauteed or roasted bell peppers, grilled zucchini, or grilled eggplant to the combination. 
• Extra add-ons. Crumble on cooked crispy bacon, or attempt diced mango for some contrasting sweetness. You too can attempt including pomegranate seeds, craisins, croutons, pumpkin seeds, or pepitas. Something goes!

What to Serve with a Tex Mex Hen Salad

We love making this salad for a simple gentle meal or wholesome lunch through the week. You possibly can’t beat these zesty flavors! After all, there are many methods to show this rooster salad right into a extra hearty meal. Strive these serving options:

How one can Make Forward and Retailer

• Fridge. It’s greatest to get pleasure from this salad quickly after it’s made. Do your greatest to retailer leftover elements separate from the dressing. Preserve leftover salad coated within the fridge for 1-2 days. The refrigerated avocado dressing will keep recent for as much as 1 week.
• Make forward. To get a headstart on this salad, you may meal prep the rooster forward of time. Marinate and grill the rooster as directed, and retailer it hermetic within the fridge for as much as 3-4 days. Slice it and add it to your salad everytime you’re prepared. You too can make the dressing upfront and retailer it hermetic within the fridge.
• Freeze. Whereas I don’t suggest freezing the salad elements, you may completely freeze any leftover margarita rooster breast. Retailer the cooked and cooled rooster hermetic and freeze it for as much as 3 months. Thaw the rooster within the fridge in a single day earlier than including it to your subsequent Tex Mex salad.

ENJOY!

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