This healthy chicken taco salad recipe is fresh, filled with healthy goodies, and topped off with the most delicious chipotle ranch dressing.
I love a good taco salad. This one uses already cooked chicken (such as rotisserie chicken) to make it a pinch to put together. Say you're gearing up for the Super Bowl. You probably don't want to spend hours in the kitchen! You can make the dressing ahead of time if you wish.
The dressing is actually one of my most popular recipes, so it was a no-brainer to use it in this salad. It's got that perfect southwest taste that goes wonderfully in this cold taco salad.
You can adjust the spice level in the dressing pretty easily. There's just just enough kick and smokiness from the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and smoked paprika that it makes this salad next-level good.
This easy taco salad recipe is already pretty healthy, but here's a few suggestions to make it even lighter:
- Replace all the mayo in the chipotle lime ranch dressing with Greek yogurt (I use a mix of mayo and Greek yogurt)
- Skip the tortilla chips or add even fewer than I suggest (that'll also make it low-carb).
- Skip the cheese.
- Add more veggies.
Do you do anything special for the Super Bowl? I confess we usually order pizza, but if you are hosting and want something totally delicious and a bit lighter, this simple taco salad recipe is the one to make!
If you liked this recipe, you may also like my easy beef taco salad, my low carb taco salad, these Instant Pot chicken tacos, this grilled chicken salad with chipotle lime ranch dressing or my roasted sweet potato tacos.
Hope you love this easy chicken taco salad recipe!
Questions? Ask me below!
Healthy Chicken Taco Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- Chipotle cilantro lime ranch dressing
- 2 cups cooked chicken (e.g. rotisserie) shredded
- 1 large head romaine lettuce chopped
- 1 (19 fluid ounce) can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can corn drained
- 1 (10.5 ounce) container little tomatoes cut into halves
- 1 avocado chopped
- 2 tablespoons red onion chopped (or to taste)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup broken-up tortilla (corn) chips
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Prep your chipotle ranch dressing (can be made a day or two ahead if needed).
- Prepare all your other ingredients and add them to a large salad bowl as you go along.
- Add as much salad dressing as needed and toss with an extra squeeze of lime juice and salt & pepper if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Serves 4-6.
Debra Akers says
I wish we knew about how many calories were in the salad. I'm glad you posted about the dressing.
Natasha says
Hi! For the most accurate calorie count, I recommend plugging in the exact ingredients you use into a free calculator like My Fitness Pal.