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Make the most of leftovers and learn how to prep this epic school salad so it stays fresh until lunchtime.
Santa Fe Chicken Salad for Lunch
No better way to get your family hooked on eating salads than this southwest-inspired Santa Fe Chicken Salad recipe. With flavors like taco grilled chicken, black beans, corn, avocado, and Homemade Jalapeño Ranch, it’s sure to be a meal your family will crave.
I often use leftover taco night ingredients to assemble these salads for a light dinner or lunch. It’s a smart way to reuse leftovers for a satiating meal.
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What is in Santa Fe Chicken Salad
Turn leftovers into a healthy and satisfying lunch that recreates taco night at school and the office! Here’s what you need:
- Oil: for cooking the chicken.
- Taco seasoning: store-bought or make your own with this quick homemade recipe.
- Chicken breasts: cook them in a pan to make this salad or save time using chicken leftovers or rotisserie chicken. If you don’t have chicken, try making my Deli Meat Lunch Salad instead.
- Green lettuce: any kind of lettuce works as a base for the salad.
- Black beans: add flavor, texture and make the lunch more filling.
- Corn: fresh or frozen (thawed before using it)
- Cherry tomatoes: or regular tomatoes, if that’s what you have.
- Cheddar cheese: or any other shredded cheese you like!
- Avocado: a creamy and delicious addition to this epic salad.
- Jalapeño Ranch Dressing: add this delicious dressing or swap it for your favorite!
You’ll find the measurements in the recipe card below.
How to Make Santa Fe Chicken Salad for Lunch
Not sure how your kids feel about salads for lunch? I get it, sometimes my kids come home, and there’s only a bite missing out of their salad. As soon as I started packing this Santa Fe Chicken Salad, everything was gone. Sweet success! Here’s how to make this salad stay fresh in the lunchbox:
- Create a green base
Create a bed of lettuce in the lunch container. - Add the toppings
Top with room temperature or chilled toppings like cooked chicken, cheese, black beans, corn, and avocado. Seal. - Pack the dressing
Pack the Jalapeño Ranch or your choice of dressing in lidded sauce containers and add them to the salad prior to eating.
How to Pack Santa Fe Chicken Salad in the Lunchbox
Keep this salad fresh and neat until lunchtime following these packing tips:
Meal prep
Making these salads ahead of time is a smart move to have healthy, ready-to-eat meals on hand. I like to have the veggies chopped and chicken already cooked and cooled down before starting. Pack these salad in the lunchbox ahead (except avocado) and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Pack the dressing separate in lidded sauce containers.
Temperature matters
Adding hot ingredients and dressings to lettuce or greens will cause them to wilt. This is okay if you are eating the salad right away, but it will create a soggy salad for packed lunches, so be sure toppings are at room temperature or chilled.
Keep avocado from browning
If you’re packing this salad ahead, assemble all the ingredients and leave out the avocado until the morning you plan to pack a salad for lunch.
Prevent spills
Whether you enjoy this Santa Fe Chicken Salad with Jalapeño Ranch or any other dressing, pack it separately in a small lidded container to prevent any spill.
Santa Fe Chicken Salad Lunchbox
Ingredients
Jalapeño Ranch Dressing:
- ¾ cup mayonnaise
- ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup milk
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ jalapeño, stemmed and seeded
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Salads:
- 1 tablespoon oil, for cooking
- 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
- 1 pound chicken breasts, boneless skinless
- 1 large head green lettuce, chopped
- 15- ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup corn, thawed if using frozen
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 avocado, diced
Instructions
Make the dressing:
- In a blender or food processor, combine all the dressing ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate leftovers up to 1 week.
Cook the chicken:
- Heat oil inside a large pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with taco seasoning and cook the first side for 6 minutes and flip, cooking the other side for another 5 minutes, until the internal temperature has reached 165F. Remove from pan and set aside.
Pack it for lunch:
- Divide the chopped lettuce between 6 lunch containers. Top with black beans and corn.
- Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces and distribute them over the salad. Top with cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, and avocado.
- Pack the Jalapeño Ranch Dressing into mini sauce containers and send with the salads.
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