Tex Mex Rooster Salad | Diethood

This Tex-Mex hen salad is a wholesome salad recipe you can also make tonight! It’s made with juicy margarita-marinated grilled hen 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 Rooster Salad

This tackle a Tex Mex Rooster Salad is a bit like a Santa Fe salad or Southwest hen salad. It’s severely love at first chunk! The hen is marinated for hours in a easy however flavor-packed margarita marinade earlier than you grill it. The result’s the juiciest, most flavorful hen strips ever. It’s onerous 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 combos on this simple salad recipe. Each minute that hen spends marinating within the fridge is completely price it!

Why You’ll Love This Tex Mex Rooster Salad Recipe

• Contemporary and simple elements. You don’t want any fancy or sophisticated elements to make this tasty and wholesome Tex Mex salad. Only a few recent veggies right here, a slice or two of ultra-tender hen breast there. Straightforward peasy.
• Margarita marinade. This isn’t simply any grilled hen, it’s margarita grilled hen, and it’s DELICIOUS. So tender, so juicy. It’s impressed by a variation that I had at Chili’s as soon as. My selfmade margarita marinade is straightforward to make with a package deal of margarita combine and recent lime juice.
• Meal-in-one. This Tex Mex hen salad has all of it. Loads of veggies, juicy marinated hen, 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’ll be able to spherical out a meal along with your favourite sides.

Find out how to Make a Tex Mex Rooster Salad

We’ll stroll by way of methods to make the BEST grilled hen salad loaded with Tex Mex taste, beginning with some notes on the elements you’ll want. Make sure you scroll to the recipe card beneath the submit for the total ingredient quantities and recipe directions.

Salad Elements

• Rooster: Skinless, boneless hen breasts, reduce in half. You can too use hen thighs, they’ll simply take a bit longer to cook dinner.
• Marinade: You’ll make a fast Tex Mex hen 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 should utilize canned corn and beans for additional comfort, simply make sure you 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 combo. You should utilize purple onion or yellow onion. Inexperienced onions would additionally work.
• Avocado: Creamy avocado is filled with wholesome fat and tastes nice on this Mexican-style hen 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 mild and recent and tremendous simple to make.

Instructions

• Marinate the hen. Mix the margarita combine and marinade elements in a big Ziploc bag. Add the hen and toss to coat. Afterward, let the hen marinate within the fridge for just a few hours.
• Grill the hen. Grill your hen utilizing your technique of alternative. I take advantage of a grill pan on the stovetop to cook dinner the hen for about 6 minutes per facet till cooked by way of. This hen can also be nice on the outside grill in the course of the summertime (comply with the grilling instructions for my grilled blackened hen). 
• 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 hen and dressing. Lastly, slice up the grilled hen and add this to the salad. Prime the entire thing with a beneficiant drizzle of avocado dressing, or your dressing of alternative.

Suggestions for Success

A selfmade Tex Mex hen salad is nearly foolproof. That being mentioned, I seen the next whereas testing this recipe:

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

Can I Bake the Rooster As a substitute?

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

How Can I Inform When Rooster Is Achieved? 

The simplest option to inform if the hen breasts are performed cooking is to take the temperature utilizing an instant-read thermometer. In keeping with USDA pointers, hen is cooked when the interior temperature reaches 165ºF.

Salad Variations and Add-Ons

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

• Completely different protein. Rather than marinaded hen, prime this salad with steak, or one other protein like salmon or grilled shrimp.
• Vegetarian. To make a vegetarian Tex Mex salad, skip the hen, or strive marinating tofu as an alternative. You can too prime this salad with meaty fried mushrooms, tempeh, lentils, or chopped up chickpea patties.
• Completely different marinade. Should you’d choose one other grilled hen marinade, strive my beer marinade or make juicy cilantro lime hen. You possibly can even skip the marinade and prime your salad with crispy fried hen as an alternative. 
• Grains. Rather than or along with lettuce, assemble this salad on a mattress of quinoa or bulgur wheat, or strive 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’ll be able to check out my favourite selfmade 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 can too add sauteed or roasted bell peppers, grilled zucchini, or grilled eggplant to the combo. 
• Extra add-ons. Crumble on cooked crispy bacon, or strive diced mango for some contrasting sweetness. You can too strive including pomegranate seeds, craisins, croutons, pumpkin seeds, or pepitas. Something goes!

What to Serve with a Tex Mex Rooster Salad

We love making this salad for a simple mild meal or wholesome lunch in the course of the week. You possibly can’t beat these zesty flavors! In fact, there are many methods to show this hen salad right into a extra hearty meal. Attempt these serving options:

Find out how to Make Forward and Retailer

• Fridge. It’s finest to get pleasure from this salad quickly after it’s made. Do your finest to retailer leftover elements separate from the dressing. Hold 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’ll be able to meal prep the hen forward of time. Marinate and grill the hen 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 can too make the dressing prematurely and retailer it hermetic within the fridge.
• Freeze. Whereas I don’t advocate freezing the salad elements, you’ll be able to completely freeze any leftover margarita hen breast. Retailer the cooked and cooled hen hermetic and freeze it for as much as 3 months. Thaw the hen within the fridge in a single day earlier than including it to your subsequent Tex Mex salad.

ENJOY!

Extra Straightforward Salad Recipes