Today, I am sharing another way to use that grilled chicken recipe from yesterday. The chicken is great by itself but it is also tasty in this southwest chicken cobb salad. It’s a southwestern twist on the traditional cobb salad.
The traditional Cobb salad is typically made with chopped salad greens (iceberg lettuce, watercress, endives and romaine lettuce), tomato, crisp bacon, fried chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese, and red-wine vinaigrette. For the protein in this salad is hard boiled eggs and bacon like in a regular cobb. Then instead of fried chicken you use that flavorful southwest grilled chicken.
There is also tomato and avocado in this southwest chicken cobb salad.
However, I left the avocado out. We aren’t huge fans of it at our house, but if you love it, include it. No cheese in this version though, instead there is corn that you just thaw from frozen. However, if you really want some cheese, you could add in some cheddar cheese!
The dressing is also different. I have seen versions of the traditional cobb serves with ranch or blue cheese dressing. For this version there is a simple homemade honey mustard ranch. It’s delicious and the the honey adds a little sweetness. The mustard just ups the flavor. However, I think this salad would also be tasty with my recipe for Fiesta Ranch dressing.
I also took some of the southwest chicken and made chicken quesadillas and used the leftover dressing to serve on the side of them for dipping. I just added cheese, chicken, corn and green onion to the quesadillas. It was a simple dinner and another tasty way to utilize that chicken.
Here is what you need to make the
Southwest Chicken Cobb Salad
- SOUTHWEST GRILLED CHICKEN BREAST
- MAYONNAISE, LIGHT OR REGULAR
- SOUR CREAM, LIGHT (CAN SUB PLAIN GREEK YOGURT)
- BUTTERMILK
- DIJON MUSTARD
- HONEY
- GARLIC POWDER
- DRIED OREGANO
- ONION POWDER
- PAPRIKA OR SMOKED PAPRIKA
- CAYENNE PEPPER
- SALT AND PEPPER
- FROZEN CORN
- ROMAINE LETTUCE
- CHERRY TOMATOES
- AVOCADOS
- BACON
- HARD-BOILED EGGS
Southwest Chicken Cobb Salad
Ingredients
- 3 Southwest grilled chicken breast, cooked and diced
Honey Mustard Ranch:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise, light or regular
- 1/2 cup sour cream, light (can sub plain Greek yogurt)
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 heaping tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika, or smoked paprika
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- Pinch of salt and pepper, plus more to taste
Salad:
- 1-2 cups frozen corn, thawed and patted dry
- 3 heads romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1-2 avocados, chopped or sliced (I left these out)
- 6-10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 4-6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Instructions
-
For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a blender or bowl and process/whisk until well-combined. I like to use a blender bottle. Adding more buttermilk to thin the consistency desired. Add additional salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Refrigerate until ready to use (the dressing can be made several days in advance).
-
For the salad, place the lettuce on a platter or in a large bowl. Arrange the corn, tomatoes, avocados, bacon, eggs, and cooked chicken on top of the lettuce in sections. I like to put all the toppings in bowls and let everyone build their own salad.  Serve with the dressing. Serves 6 as a main dish.
This recipe is adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Café.