This chipotle rooster salad has juicy oven-grilled rooster tossed with contemporary greens, juicy tomatoes, creamy avocado, candy corn, and cheese. All my favourite Southwestern fixings!
I really like a hearty salad with a kick, like my Southwest quinoa salad and this spicy chipotle rooster salad. Customise this recipe together with your favourite home made or store-bought dressing.

This chipotle rooster salad is really easy to make with the juiciest oven-grilled rooster. Slice up the rooster, layer it on high of a mattress of contemporary, bouncy greens, and sprinkle in a couple of corn kernels, slices of avocado, contemporary tomatoes, and cheese. Add a drizzle of dressing, and we’re completed! This may be dinner, this may be lunch, this may be your new favourite “grilled” rooster salad. And also you don’t even need to mild the grill.
What Makes This Chipotle Rooster Salad So Good
- Oven-grilled rooster. Sure, you’ll be able to grill rooster with no grill! I’ll present you the way with a grill pan. It’s a good way to sear the skin of the rooster earlier than you pop it into the oven to complete cooking.
- Daring chipotle taste. You don’t must marinate the rooster; only a fast toss in chipotle seasoning is all it takes to pack each chunk stuffed with smoky, spicy Southwestern taste.
- Versatile. This chipotle rooster salad recipe makes sufficient to comfortably serve 4 as a aspect salad, or you’ll be able to take pleasure in it as a lightweight major meal. It’s additionally a terrific recipe to meal prep for tasty lunches all through the week.

Salad Elements
Beneath are my notes on the elements on this zesty chipotle rooster salad. There aren’t a lot of them, however all of them work collectively to fill this simple salad with loads of Southwest taste. Scroll right down to the printable recipe card for the complete checklist, adopted by a step-by-step recipe overview afterward.
- Rooster – Boneless, skinless rooster breasts or thighs work finest on this salad recipe.
- Seasonings – We’ll season the rooster in a mixture of chipotle powder, cumin, and salt. You may change up the person spices with fajita seasoning for one more taste profile.
- Salad Greens – Any sort you’d like. Good selections are romaine lettuce, butter lettuce, spinach, kale, and arugula, or you should utilize a mixture of backyard greens.
- Avocado – Diced or sliced.
- Tomatoes – These may be cherry or grape tomatoes, cocktail tomatoes, or bigger varieties, like Roma tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes or slice them in half, relying on the scale.
- Cheddar Cheese – Shredded. You possibly can additionally use a Mexican or Tex-Mex cheese mix or your favourite shredable cheese, like Colby Jack, Monterey Jack, or spicy Pepper Jack cheese.

Serving Solutions
By itself, this chipotle rooster salad is a superb major meal salad for lunch or dinner. Or, you’ll be able to serve it to share, as a aspect to quinoa stuffed peppers or an enormous platter of pork carnitas or Mexican picadillo to tuck into tacos. Spherical out the meal with fluffy white rice or crunchy corn chips and salsa!

Meal Prep This Salad
You may put together and grill the rooster, chop the avocado and tomatoes, and shred the cheese for this salad recipe upfront. Maintain all the things saved in separate containers within the fridge with the intention to simply assemble your chipotle rooster salad for fast, simple lunches.
One other enjoyable choice is to prep in mason jars! To layer this rooster salad in a jar, begin with the dressing on the backside, then add the corn kernels, rooster, cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and eventually, the greens. Jar salads are finest eaten the identical day.
Storing Leftovers
This salad turns into soggy the longer it sits within the dressing, so it’ll have the perfect texture and taste once you serve it straight away. Do your finest to retailer any leftover elements in separate containers within the fridge, they usually’ll final 2-3 days that method.
You need to use the leftover chipotle rooster to make one other salad, or repurpose it into tacos or rooster enchiladas!
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Prep. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
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Pound the rooster. Pound rooster breasts to an excellent thickness. Don’t pound them too skinny.
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Season the rooster. In a big ziploc bag, mix chipotle powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and rooster. Seal the bag and therapeutic massage the seasonings into the rooster items utilizing your fingers. Let stand 5 to twenty minutes.
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Grill. Grease a grill pan with cooking spray and set it over medium-high warmth. Add rooster items and cook dinner for 4 minutes; flip, and proceed to cook dinner for two extra minutes, or till frivolously browned.
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Bake. Place the grill pan with the rooster into the oven and bake for 18 to twenty minutes, or till the rooster is cooked via. Take away from oven and let stand 5 minutes.
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Within the meantime, put together the salad. In a big salad bowl, toss collectively salad greens, corn kernels, diced avocados, and chopped tomatoes.
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Add the rooster. Minimize up the rooster and layer it on high of the salad.
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Add dressing. Sprinkle with cheese, after which toss with creamy avocado dressing or your favourite home made salad dressing. Serve.
Energy: 304kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 33g | Fats: 13g | Saturated Fats: 3g | Ldl cholesterol: 78mg | Sodium: 710mg | Potassium: 864mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1230IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 141mg | Iron: 1.8mg
Dietary information is an estimate and offered as courtesy. Values could fluctuate in keeping with the elements and instruments used. Please use your most popular dietary calculator for extra detailed information.
The best way to Make Chipotle Rooster Salad
Story time: My Macedonian mom cooks nearly solely with one skillet (for shakshuka) and one casserole dish (for moussaka). She couldn’t imagine how I “grilled” this chipotle rooster within the oven utilizing my grill pan. Guess who acquired the identical cast-iron grill pan for Mom’s Day?
You probably have one, crack it out for this recipe. Six minutes on the stovetop, 20 minutes within the oven, and also you’re able to assemble this rooster salad. Right here’s easy methods to make it:


- Prep. Whereas the oven preheats to 350ºF, pound the rooster breasts to an excellent thickness. They shouldn’t be flattened, however comparable in thickness to rooster paillard.
- Season the rooster. Subsequent, seal the rooster inside a big Ziploc bag with the chipotle powder, cumin, and salt. Utilizing your fingers, therapeutic massage the seasoning into the rooster.
- Grill. Subsequent, sear the rooster on a greased grill pan over medium-high warmth. Cook dinner for 4 minutes, flip, and cook dinner the rooster for one more 2 minutes so it’s browned on each side. It’s effective that the rooster isn’t absolutely cooked at this stage.
- Bake. Switch the grill pan with the rooster to the oven and bake at 350ºF for 18-20 minutes. Afterward, relaxation the rooster for five minutes when you put together the opposite elements.
- Within the meantime, put together the salad. Whereas the rooster rests, add the salad greens, corn, avocado, and tomatoes to a big bowl. While you’re able to serve, slice the rooster and layer it over the salad. Sprinkle over the shredded cheese.
- Add dressing and serve. Select your dressing (see the Elements part earlier), and pour it over the salad. Toss and serve!
Do I Must Use a Grill Pan?
You don’t have to make use of one for this recipe, although I positively advocate it. Grill pans are pans with ridges that go from the stovetop to the oven, they usually’re excellent for giving rooster, beef, and seafood that charred-from-the-grill look and taste, with out the grill. In the event you don’t have one, nonetheless, you’ll be able to comply with the steps above utilizing an oven-safe skillet as a substitute.