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Layered and Tossed Spicy Chicken Taco Salad Recipe

Recipe by: Parizienne

"If you like tacos, you'll love this taco salad. It's made with chicken and green salsa, but you could use ground or shredded beef and red salsa instead. It's based on a salad from a little drive-through Mexican place I used to visit when I lived in southern California. Yummmmy! This one is a big hit with kids. Our picky eaters love it. Use Monterey jack, Cheddar, or colby-jack cheese."

Directions
Ingredients
Nutrition

Directions

Prep30 m
Cook10 m
Ready In40 m

1Whisk tomato sauce, sour cream, mayonnaise, green salsa, and lime juice together in a bowl until combined. Refrigerate the dressing while making salad.
2Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook onion in hot oil until translucent, about 5 minutes; stir often. Mix garlic into onion and remove from heat; stir cooked chicken in skillet and allow chicken to warm.
3Transfer chicken mixture to a large salad bowl and sprinkle with Monterey jack cheese; cheese will warm and soften. Top chicken and cheese with cold lettuce and pour dressing over salad. Sprinkle in black olives. Toss salad thoroughly with dressing and sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips to serve.

Footnotes

Cook's Notes:
This salad tastes best when the meat is at room temperature or slightly warm and the dressing and vegetables are cold. If needed, warm chicken in the microwave or heat it in a small amount of chicken broth in a skillet.
Substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream if desired. Optional salad ingredients included diced tomato, diced avocado, and diced pickled jalapeno peppers.

Ingredients