Southwest Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing
This delicious and easy-to-make Southwest Chicken Salad is flavored with my homemade Creamy Avocado Dressing. It is topped off with beans, corn, scallions, cherry tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. You can use leftover or rotisserie chicken for a meal-worthy weeknight dinner, or if you have time, cook your own chicken.
To cook the chicken: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Mix salt, pepper, paprika, ground cumin in a small bowl. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with the spice mixture on both sides. Place it on a sheet pan and roast for 30-35 minutes or until it registers 165 degrees F when a thermometer inserted in the middle of a breast. Remove from the oven and set it aside to cool for 10 minutes.
To assemble the salad: Place salad greens, black beans, corn, peppers, jalapeno pepper, scallions, tomatoes, and cilantro in a large salad bowl.
Drizzle it with the creamy avocado dressing. Give it a gentle toss to make sure that everything is thoroughly mixed.
Cut the now-cooked and rested chicken in small cubes (or slices) and add it in the salad.