Healthy Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken Recipe – A Colorful Rainbow
Southwest Salad with grilled chicken is a summer time classic! But I've dusted off my recipe this Spring to try something a little new. How about a colorful rainbow Southwest Salad as a fun St Patrick's Day food idea!?
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How to Make Southwest Salad
If you've never made a Southwest Salad before, it's quite simple. But I'll walk you through it.
Equipment
- White Oval Serving Tray
- Sharp Knife
- Cutting Board
- Mini Shamrock Cookie Cutters
Delicious Colorful Rainbow Ingredients
There may be rules for assembling a Southwest Salad with grilled chicken, but I say to use what you love. I omitted the classic black beans and corn from our salad. But they definitely need to be there for a true Southwest meal.
- Shredded lettuce – I like a mix of romaine and spinach
- Red: diced red peppers, tomatoes
- Orange: shredded carrots, orange pepper
- Yellow: golden tomatoes, yellow pepper, corn
- Green: avocado, green pepper, cilantro
- Purple: purple cabbage
- Black: black beans, black olives
- Gold at the end of the rainbow – sliced boiled egg for a Southwest Cobb Salad
- Grilled chicken: shredded or diced
- Spinach Tortilla
- Monterey Jack cheese or White Cheddar
- Salad Dressing – we love Brianna's Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing
St Patrick's Day Food – Mini Quesadillas
Mini Green Shamrock Quesadillas make the perfect garnish. And help fill up those who might not be satisfied with salad alone.
- Green Spinach Tortillas
- Monterey Jack or white cheddar cheese
- Mini shamrock cookie cutters
Cut them FIRST, then assemble and grill. I tried cutting a finished quesadilla and it didn't look very good.
Assemble Rainbow Southwest Salad
Once your vegetables are all washed, diced, chopped, and sliced, arrange them on a white serving tray. Try to use a tray that's oval to help suggest the arch of a rainbow.
Lay out each color and finish off with your “Pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow. Use black beans or olives for the “pot”, and corn or sliced hard boiled eggs for the “gold”. I loved the idea of the yellow yolks looking like gold coins. But I'll admit I get very nerdy about my food art.
Serve Your Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken
After everyone has sufficient time to admire your beautiful rainbow, serve your salad masterpiece for St Patrick's Day dinner, or any time really. This is a very yummy salad meal!
I like making individual rainbow servings, so add a little bit of everything to each plate. Then top it off with a couple shamrock quesadillas. Add your salad dressing, and enjoy!
Healthy St Patrick's Day Dinner
So much of the traditional Irish St Patrick's Day food is heavy and not so healthy. This Southwest Salad with grilled chicken might not be traditional, but I'm pretty sure even the Irish will agree that it's a “fierce” {excellent} meal everyone will love!
If you try this rainbow Southwest Salad, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. And if you share photos, I want to see it too! Please tag us @partieswithacause on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. We love celebrating all your hard work!
FollowMore St Patrick's Day Food Ideas
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Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken
Equipment
- White Oval Serving Tray
- Sharp knife
- Cutting board
- Mini Shamrock Cookie Cutter for optional tortilla quesadillas
Ingredients
Rainbow Southwest Salad
- 4 cups Shredded lettuce – Romaine
- 2 cups Grilled chicken breast – shredded or diced
- 1 cup RED: Diced red pepper or tomato
- 1 cup ORANGE: Shredded carrot or orange pepper
- 1 cup YELLOW: Golden tomatoes or corn
- 1 GREEN: Sliced avocado
- 1 cup PURPLE: Shredded purple cabbage
- 1/2 cup Black olives or black beans for "pot"
- 2 Sliced Hard boiled eggs for "gold coins" optional for Southwest Cobb Salad
- 3 Slices Cooked and crumbled bacon optional for Southwest Cobb Salad
- 1 bunch Cilantro
- Creamy Avocado Salad Dressing
Shamrock Quesadillas
- 3 Green spinach tortillas cut in shamrocks
- 3 slices Monterey Jack cheese or white cheddar
- Butter for grilling
Instructions
- Prep ahead. Every time you grill, add a few extra chicken breasts for shredding. Keep your shredded chicken in the freezer to have on hand.
- Select your veggies of choice from each color and wash them.
- Dice, chop, or slice each vegetable and begin arranging the rainbow rows on your oval tray.
- Fill in the arch with lettuce at the bottom.
- After creating your rainbow, add your black "Pot" with olives or black beans at the very bottom.
- Then slice your hard boiled eggs and fill your pot up with gold coins at the end of the rainbow for a Southwest Cobb Salad.
- Serve by plating each salad. Start with a nice bed of lettuce and top with each of the items of the Southwest Salad rainbow.
- For a Southwest Cobb Salad add the hard boiled eggs, and sprinkle with crumbled bacon.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with creamy avocado salad dressing.
- May the luck of the Southwest be with you this healthy St. Patrick's Day!
Mini Shamrock Quesadillas
- Using a mini shamrock cookie cutter, cut 16 shamrocks from green spinach tortillas.
- Now cut shamrocks from slices of Monterey Jack cheese or white cheddar.
- Assemble little quesadillas and grill on buttered pan.
- It's easier to cut first, then grill. Serve up with a little sour cream and salsa or top your Southwest Salad.
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