I have a hard time calling a salad dinner. I’m generally a pretty hungry person, so eating lettuce for the biggest meal of the day is a tough sell. Top that lettuce with a whole chicken breast, a heap of mashed avocado, and plenty of cheese, and now I’m feeling much better about this whole salad for dinner thing. Plus it’s a great excuse to break open a bag of tortilla chips. This is one of the meals I always make to kick off summer, or when I feel like our bodies need to reset after an indulgent vacation. In honor of the warmer weather, and the “30 days of yoga” challenge I decided to tackle in June, I hereby present one of the only salads I deem worthy of categorizing as Dinner. Fresh and crisp, it has great balance with the crunchy lettuce, juicy chicken, creamy queso, and an herby guacamole I could eat for days.
The original recipe comes from Rick Bayless’ “Mexican Everyday,” a very good cookbook full of easy, flavorful meals that won’t leave you in a food coma, and one I use quite often. He uses a grill to cook the chicken and onions, but since I don’t have one of those, I’ve adapted it to suit my apartment kitchen. By cooking the chicken in the oven this way, barely covered and on high heat, you won’t get the golden crusty exterior you would by grilling or cooking in a skillet. What you will get is a juicy, evenly cooked, flavorful piece of chicken, and that is just as good. Maybe better. This method is also much more “hands off” than grilling, allowing you to multitask. The only real time investment is marinating the chicken. Once you pop the chicken in the oven, you can easily finish the rest of the recipe prep while it cooks.
Chicken & Guacamole Salad
Course: SaladCuisine: Salad4
servings35
minutes95
minutes27
$Make the dressing ahead if you can, to give the chicken some time to marinate. (Steps 1-3) I like to allow an hour, but you could go anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive or canola oil (I use a 50/50 mix of both) + 1 Tbsp, divided
2 garlic cloves, smashed with the broad side of a knife
1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped
1/2 cup lime juice, from 3-4 limes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 white onion, diced
2 ripe avocados
2 romaine hearts, thinly sliced, or other crisp lettuce
4 ounces queso fresco
Tortilla chips, for serving
Directions
- Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic and jalapeno. Simmer until the garlic is light brown and fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes, then transfer everything in the skillet to a blender. Keep the pan aside for later.
- Add the lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper to the blender jar, and puree until you have a smooth, pale green dressing. There will be flecks of cilantro, and that’s ok. Taste for seasoning.
- Put the chicken in a medium bowl, and pour 1/4 cup of the dressing over it. Let it sit for about an hour, to let it absorb the flavors. A few minutes before you want to cook, preheat the oven to 425.
- Shake off any excess marinade from the chicken, place the chicken in a small roasting/baking pan, and tent lightly with foil. Cook 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken breasts. A meat thermometer is really helpful here, since size can vary so much. You’re looking for an internal temperature of 165. When the chicken is cooked through, transfer it to a cutting board, then let it rest 5 minutes before thinly slicing.
- Meanwhile, using the same skillet from Step 1, heat 1 more tbsp of oil over medium high heat, then add about 3/4 of the onion. Reserve the rest for sprinkling over the salad (or for something else, if you don’t like raw onion). Cook until browned at the edges, then remove to a bowl.
- Mash the avocados, add them to the bowl with the onion, add 1/4 cup of dressing, then mash everything together a little more to make a loose guacamole. You should have 1/4-1/3 cup dressing remaining. You will use this when assembling the salad.
- To serve, divide the lettuce between 4 shallow bowls. Add a generous dollop of the guacamole to the middle of each plate, and distribute the chicken on top. Add a little reserved onion to each plate, if you like. Drizzle a few spoons of the dressing over the salads, crumble some queso over everything, and serve with tortilla chips to scoop any extra guacamole.
Recipe Notes
- Adapted from “Mexican Everyday” by Rick Bayless
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