Big Salad : An easy recipe for a Chicken Taco Salad
Here is my own version of a taco salad featuring greens topped with a nice meaty chicken sauce (the “dressing”!) and assorted toppings, beans and cheese. This is a delicious main course salad dish that’s fully loaded with Mexican flavors. This tastes good with the chicken meat dressing served hot on top of the salad (and still tastes good when the meat has cooled off too). By the way, this salad not only looks very appetizing and appealing, but it’s pretty simple to make, assemble, and serve. Made from scratch healthy, good for you — and great for company too. Hope you like this.
Janet's "Big Olé" Chicken Taco Salad
Servings 4 main course portions
Ingredients
- 1 head Iceberg Lettuce
- 1 cup fresh Cilantro Leaves, chopped (use less, if desired)
- 5 to 6 Green Onions, finely sliced
- 3 medium or 4 small Roma Tomatoes, diced (or smallish chop)
- 1 Avocado, diced
- 15.25 ounce can Kidney Beans, drained
- 2 cups Pepper Jack Cheese, freshly shredded
- Bag of Tortilla Chips
CHICKEN MEAT DRESSING
- 4 medium (or 5 small) Bone-In Chicken Thighs
- 8 ounce can Tomato Sauce
- 1 cup Chicken Broth
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1 tablespoon Dried Minced Onion
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 2 teaspoons Chili Powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground Black Pepper
Instructions
To prep the chicken:
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. The pot should be large enough to easily fit all the chicken thighs.
- Drop the chicken thighs in the pot of boiling water and boil for 25 to 35 minutes (cut open to make sure the meat has completely cooked through - cook longer if needed).
- Remove the skin (if present) and remove the meat from the bones.
- Dice the chicken meat. Approximately 3 cups is just right!
To prepare the "Chicken Meat Dressing":
- In a medium pan, mix together the diced chicken meat, tomato sauce, chicken broth, water, and spices (dried minced onion, garlic powder, cumin, chili powder. salt, pepper).
- Bring mixture to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for one hour.
To assemble the salad:
- Use a knife to shred your head of iceberg lettuce (a light shred is perfect - about 1/4 inch).
- In a large bowl (the bowl you will be serving the salad in), mix the shredded lettuce with chopped cilantro leaves.
- Top the salad with the rest of the toppings, arranged in wedges (on top of the lettuce/cilantro greens) as follows: 1) sliced green onions; 2) diced tomatoes; 3) diced avocado; 4) kidney beans; 5) shredded cheese; 6) and the "chicken meat dressing" in the center.
- Just before serving, place some tortilla chips around the outside of the salad toppings (against edge of salad bowl) to decorate. Optional: have some extra tortilla chips available on the side.
Notes
A Few Tips:
- Dice your avocado and your tomatoes to about the same size.
- For the best flavor, use a *block* of Pepper Jack Cheese and shred the cheese yourself. Of course, if you need to save time, the packages of pre-shredded cheese are fine to use too.
#yummyeats
Enjoy, y’all!
AUTHOR BIO : Janet Marchbanks -- Food writer, research and website content development, recipe developer, creative design. This site began out of my love for cooking, restaurants, eating and all things food!
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Yummy! Salad is delicious, loved this recipe. Real good.