Tex Mex Hen 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 Hen Salad

This tackle a Tex Mex Hen Salad is a bit like a Santa Fe salad or Southwest hen salad. It’s critically 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 laborious 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 value it!

Why You’ll Love This Tex Mex Hen Salad Recipe

• Contemporary and straightforward components. You don’t want any fancy or sophisticated components 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. Simple 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 do-it-yourself 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 lightweight dinner, or you possibly can spherical out a meal along with your favourite sides.

Tips on how to Make a Tex Mex Hen Salad

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

Salad Elements

• Hen: Skinless, boneless hen breasts, minimize in half. You can even 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 use canned corn and beans for additional comfort, simply remember to 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 combination. You should use purple onion or yellow onion. Inexperienced onions would additionally work.
• Avocado: Creamy avocado is stuffed 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 put up for extra add-ons and variation concepts.
• Dressing: I toss every little thing along with my creamy avocado lime dressing. It’s gentle and recent and tremendous simple to make.

Instructions

• Marinate the hen. Mix the margarita combine and marinade components in a big Ziploc bag. Add the hen and toss to coat. Afterward, let the hen marinate within the fridge for a number of hours.
• Grill the hen. Grill your hen utilizing your technique of selection. I exploit a grill pan on the stovetop to cook dinner the hen for about 6 minutes per aspect till cooked by way of. This hen can also be nice on the outside grill throughout 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 selection.

Suggestions for Success

A do-it-yourself Tex Mex hen salad is nearly foolproof. That being stated, I seen the next whereas testing this recipe:

• Let the hen marinate. This takes a little bit of planning forward, but it surely 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 may have. There’s no unsuitable method to make a salad. In case you’re lacking an ingredient, swap it out for no matter you may have readily available to customise this Tex Mex hen salad nonetheless you’d like. See beneath for some concepts.
• Cooking occasions will differ. Relying on the thickeness of your hen items, the precise grilling occasions could also be completely different from the occasions which might be given. Use my instructions as a suggestion, however be certain to test your hen for doneness (see beneath).

Can I Bake the Hen As a substitute?

Sure! In case you’d want 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 occasions will depend upon the dimensions and thickness of your hen breasts. Consult with the instructions in my oven-baked hen breasts recipe for particulars.

How Can I Inform When Hen Is Carried out? 

The best method to inform if the hen breasts are performed cooking is to take the temperature utilizing an instant-read thermometer. In response to USDA pointers, hen is cooked when the inner temperature reaches 165ºF.

Salad Variations and Add-Ons

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

• Totally 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 attempt marinating tofu as an alternative. You can even prime this salad with meaty fried mushrooms, tempeh, lentils, or chopped up chickpea patties.
• Totally different marinade. In case you’d want one other grilled hen marinade, attempt 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 attempt 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.
• Totally different dressing. Different good dressing choices are Catalina dressing or Ranch dressing. Or, you possibly can check out my favourite do-it-yourself 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 even add sauteed or roasted bell peppers, grilled zucchini, or grilled eggplant to the combination. 
• Extra add-ons. Crumble on cooked crispy bacon, or attempt diced mango for some contrasting sweetness. You can even attempt including pomegranate seeds, craisins, croutons, pumpkin seeds, or pepitas. Something goes!

What to Serve with a Tex Mex Hen Salad

We love making this salad for a straightforward gentle meal or wholesome lunch throughout 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:

Tips on how to Make Forward and Retailer

• Fridge. It’s greatest to get pleasure from this salad quickly after it’s made. Do your greatest to retailer leftover components separate from the dressing. Preserve leftover salad lined 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 possibly can 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 even make the dressing prematurely and retailer it hermetic within the fridge.
• Freeze. Whereas I don’t suggest freezing the salad components, you possibly can 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!

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