Southwest Chicken Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing

This Southwest Chicken Salad can be used as a side dish or definitely as a main dish, too, for a light but filling meal…

(Were you looking for a “regular” chicken salad recipe?  Find that here with tons of easy variations so you can use whatever you have on-hand!)

My sister Gail brought this southwest chicken salad to a family get together recently and my kids loved it so much that it has become one of our family favorites.  (Have you seen our family favorite meals list?)  She made up this recipe herself based on a salad she had at a restaurant and then I added a few things here and there, because I can never leave a recipe alone, ya know.

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Southwest Chicken Salad with Barbecue Ranch Dressing

Author: Gail via Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

• Just guess on the amounts for because it all depends on how many you're serving.
• 2-3 bunches of organic romaine lettuce – lettuce is one of the “dirty dozen" so I always buy that organic.
• 1-2 organic peppers – various colors are pretty and my favorite are the sweet reds! Ditto on buying these organic.
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved – these are right in the middle of the list, so I still buy them organic, especially because our local grocery has some that are SO delicious.
• 1 can organic black beans drained
• 1 cup sweet corn I use frozen, put them under hot water, and drain well
• 1 cup shredded cheese – raw cheese from pastured cows is best of course, but I don't always have that on hand
• 1-2 chopped avocados these are on the clean fifteen list, so I do not buy them organic
• 1/2 onion chopped small
• 2-3 cups cooked chopped chicken – you can pick the extra meat off your baked chicken from the day before (have you seen Anne's 5 minute baked chicken?!), cook and cut up some boneless skinless breasts, or get some chicken lunchmeat at a local deli if you can find one with a not-too-terrible ingredient label. (You'll have to ask them to show you the package. I found one without “fillers”, but it still had some questionable ingredients, so it's something I'd buy only rarely.)

Barbecue Ranch Ingredients:

• 2 cups sour cream
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon garlic and/or onion powder
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper or just regular pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano and/or parsley
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce or try my barbecue recipe
• Add a pinch of cayenne pepper if you want it to have a little bite!

Instructions

• Toss everything together but the avocados.  I serve that separately because a couple of the kids don't like it, PLUS if you have any left you can squeeze lemon juice on top to keep it from turning brown, then cover it and stick it in the fridge so you can eat the rest later.
• Whisk your dressing ingredients together and drizzle on top of the salad when you're ready to serve.
• You can crunch up some organic corn chips for the top if you'd like, but we just served it with cheese quesadillas.  (Only Kent and the kids had those, though, I didn't want to waste the stomach space, I had two helpings of this awesome salad instead.)

Enjoy!

• If you're a salad lover, you must check out these other recipes
• Busy? Always on the go? Check out how you can save time and still eat well.