Whether it’s weeknight dinner or brought to a potluck BBQ, this southwestern chopped chicken salad is always a hit. We call it a party of flavor and texture because it’s loaded with crisp corn, fresh avocado, juicy tomatoes, crunchy tortilla chips, and a zesty taco seasoning-spiced Greek yogurt dressing.
Tell Me About This Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad
- Texture: The variety of texture in every single bite makes this salad interesting and satisfying. You’ll enjoy the crunchy romaine lettuce and tortilla chips paired with juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, and—of course—the silky and thick Greek yogurt dressing.
- Flavor: This salad was inspired by my days working at Chili’s restaurant. There was a dish called the Quesadilla Explosion Salad which was loaded with a lot of the favorites you see here. The flavors of the individual ingredients are obvious, but the dressing is certainly something to spotlight. The homemade jalapeño Greek yogurt dressing includes fresh lime, garlic, a little honey for sweetness, and extra taco seasoning. We pair something similar with our corn fritters.
- Time: Most of the time will be spent chopping up your ingredients and cooking the chicken. We usually grill the chicken, but you can use any cooked chicken or even store-bought rotisserie chicken. If you’re not cooking the chicken right at that moment, set aside about 15-20 minutes to throw the salad together.
Choosing the Right Ingredients
This Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad is for people who get bored with salad. Have fun switching up the add-ins and ingredients and enjoy something different in every bite. Here are additional notes on some of the salad’s ingredients.
- Grilled Chicken or Cooked Ground Beef. You could certainly leave out the protein to make this more of a side salad. (It pairs wonderfully with our jalapeño turkey burgers.) Or feel free to skip the meat and black beans and serve alongside black bean burgers for a complete meatless meal.
- Corn & Black Beans. We find canned corn and canned black beans the easiest. If you have cooked corn on the cob, you could easily shave off kernels and use those.
- Red Onion. It adds color and has a mild flavor, but it’s entirely optional.
- Cilantro. We add a handful of fresh chopped cilantro, but you can leave it out if you’re not a fan. By the way, if you love the cilantro and lime flavors in this dish, you’ll enjoy this cilantro lime chicken too.
- Taco Seasoning. You can use a store-bought seasoning or homemade taco seasoning.
- Romaine Lettuce. We recommend a crisp and crunchy green for this salad.
- Cheese. Cheddar cheese is our go-to with this salad’s other flavors, but you could use any cheese you think would pair nicely.
- Tortilla Chips. Go for the saltiest, crunchiest tortilla chips around. Crush them up and use as your croutons. What a finishing touch!
- Dressing. This salad would be incomplete without the fresh and creamy dressing. We don’t recommend any substitutions in the dressing’s ingredient list. Try it as written; it’s been a massive hit with readers and taste testers!
This is a fantastic make-ahead recipe. Prepare this salad a day in advance and add the tortilla chips just before serving so they don’t go soggy. An excellent choice when planning out your Memorial Day recipes!
And to complete the meal, we usually serve this Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad with cornbread or cornbread muffins.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Zucchini Casserole
- Sausage Stuffed Peppers
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili & Vegetarian Pumpkin Chili
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Honey Chipotle Salmon
- Maryland Crab Cakes
- Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad
- Maple-Roasted Squash Kale Salad
Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: serves 6
- Category: Salad
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This flavor and texture-packed Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad comes together in minutes and you can get started on it the day before.
Ingredients
- 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 6 cups cubed cooked chicken*
- 1 and 1/2 cups corn
- 1 and 1/2 cups black beans
- 1 and 1/2 cups (225g) tomatoes, chopped
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 cup crushed tortilla chips
- handful chopped cilantro
Dressing
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt (we use nonfat)
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 1/2 jalapeño, finely diced
- 2 heaping teaspoons taco seasoning (we use mild)
- salt, to taste and if needed
Instructions
- Add all of the salad ingredients to a large bowl. (If you’re not serving it right away, add the tortilla chips on last right before serving. They’ll stay crunchy that way.)
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together, except for the salt. Taste, then add salt to your preference.
- Spoon dressing over salad, then toss to combine. Serve cold.
Notes
- Make ahead tip: You can prepare this salad the day before through step 3. The flavors get even better on day 2. Add the tortilla chips right before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Chicken: For the grilled chicken, we drizzle 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2-3 breasts) with olive oil and season with salt and pepper before grilling until cooked through. This equals about 5-6 cups of cubed chicken. You could also use store-bought rotisserie chicken or just any leftover cooked chicken you have.
- Corn & Black Beans: You can use freshly cooked corn and beans or canned corn and beans. (Drain first. Rinse the beans if desired.) You can use thawed frozen corn as well.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This salad is a game changer! The flavors are incredible, and it’s super easy to prepare. I made it for a summer BBQ, and everyone loved it! Definitely a recipe I’ll keep coming back to.
The southwest chopped chicken salad has become a family favorite!! It is quick, easy and packed with flavor. I make double the dressing and keep it on hand for a quick lunch option and now my family will finally eat avocados!! Sally’s recipes never disappoint, thank you!!
The dressing needed a little tweaking. But other than that this was quite good. Solid recipe. Very filling as well. I will be adding it to my monthly rotation.
My family loved this. I left out the cheese and added extra taco seasoning. My family scooped it up with tortillas just like you eating nachos. What a great summer recipe.
I really enjoy your recipes. I used the ground beef option and it was delicious!!! Just curious, why so few beef recipes?
Hi Faith, we’re so glad you enjoyed the salad! For any of our savory recipes that call for ground meat, you can swap in ground beef instead—it’s really up to reader preference. Thank you for making and trusting our recipes!
I made this salad for dinner tonight (on the eve of Cinco de Mayo). Soups & salads are my go to! The salad was very tasty but the dressing was a little too thick (I used Fage 2%). Adding a little milk to thin it made it pourable. Next time, I may try a non-Greek yogurt like Dannon. The salad is versatile and can be subbed to have other proteins and/or veggies. This is the 3rd recipe this week that I have made from this site. Thank you for your hard work!
This is the best thing I have ever tasted in my life!!!! So perfectly amazing!! It was easy to put together and I used homemade chicken nuggets and left out the cheese. The dressing was delicious and had the perfect amount of heat. I will be making this over and over again!!
Absolutely delicious! I mixed the dressing and all other ingredients except the lettuce, the day before I was going to serve to my guests. I decided not to add the lettuce to the chicken & dressing mix based on other reviews saying it made a lot (so that I wouldn’t have wilted lettuce if any leftovers to eat the following day). I shouldn’t have worried about leftovers as it was such a hit that everyone had seconds!
I also made your cornbread and everyone loved that as well. Thanks Sally for such a great recipe. It was the perfect dish to serve on a 90 degree day!
This recipe is a winner! I also added diced mangoes for a little sweetness.
Made this tonight for the hubby and I. Girl, your recipes NEVER disappoint!! So so good!!
This was so easy to pull together and super delicious!!! I will definitely be adding this to my recipe book! Thank you for sharing it!!!
I loved this salad in particular the dressing.
Anyone try this with salmon?
We loved this!!! We made a half recipe for the two of us and had enough left over for lunch for two days. And, yes, it was good both days. Thank you. I love a quick salad idea for spring/summer! (I forgot my stars on the previous review)
I forgot to add the stars in my last post! Everything about this salad is a winner!
This was absolutely delicious! I will be making this again and again!
I can’t find calories per serving on the recipe. Can you check on that for me ?
Hi Linda, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Thank you and that’s very helpful. I love your recipes.
Would this still be good with out avocados? I know they would add a creamy texture, its just not a texture or flavor I enjoy.
Hi Rebecca, absolutely. Feel free to omit.
I am not an avocado fan either. I think it will be fabulous without it. I might add some sweet bell peppers in their place.
I made this last night and it was so good. I used rotisserie chicken and it turned out yummy. It got great reviews from my group. Sally’s Baking Addiction is always where I turn for great recipes!
Oh yes. Restaurant quality recipe! I put a little handful of crumbled Doritos on top. Bravo on the dressing!
This recipe is extremely flavorful and satisfying. Thank you for posting it.
Another knock out of the park from Sally!
Thanks ☺️
Can I just ask to make ahead, do you put the dressing on and then store or put the dressing on only eating? Thanks
You can prepare this salad the day before, including adding the dressing. Add the tortilla chips right before serving.
Great “make ahead” recifpe! I put the crushed tortilla chips in a bowl at the table so each person used the amount they preferred. Salad tasted better after 24 hours in the refrigerator. I used leftowver turkey (both white and dark) and haf of the lettuce, everyone liked it. Will be making it again!
Have you ever tried this in a non dairy version? What substitutions would you recommend?
Hi Shirah! We haven’ tested it, but would try a non-dairy yogurt or sour cream substitute in the dressing. You could leave out the cheese or use a non-dairy cheese substitute. Let us know what you try!
Loved this salad but my goodness there was a lot of it. To measure the ingredients I used my metal measuring cup. And measured out 6 cups of chicken and lettuce. And a cup and a half of beans and corn. Was that correct? Because we have so much left over. Do you use the metal measuring cups or weigh the ingredients? I will make it again because we did like it but I will need to cut it back to a third of the recipe. Loved the dressing and fortunately we also have extra so I can use it on other salads.
Hi Jackie, I’m glad you liked the salad! It does serve 6 hungry people as a dinner or lunch main dish, so it makes quite a lot!
So delicious and easy to make!!! Worked well for make ahead meals for the week. Just kept some ingredients separate!
So good that my spouse wound up eating three bowls worth! I immediately used this recipe the next week to meal prep mason jar salads for lunches at work. Definitely a keeper!
This recipe is terrific but I am the mistake of following the suggestions about making it ahead of time. Do not make this salad ahead of time. The romaine lettuce was soggy and wilted with putting it together 4 hours ahead of time, can you imagine if I did it the day before? I did put the dressing together the day before. The yogurt dressing I used was full fat and it did have a tang to it but with all the other ingredients added it worked out well. The salad is delicious.
That’s what I was wondering too about how the romaine didn’t get soggy ahead of time. Thanks for letting us know
I loved this southwestern salad. Very good flavors and texture. I grilled the chicken using a habanero rub, I love spice. I wasn’t too keen with the tortilla chips, next time I will omit. Otherwise an excellent salad!