This Santa Fe Chicken Salad is loaded with fresh ingredients and easy to prep ahead for a healthy, protein-packed lunch.

a bed of lettuce in a lunchbox and topped with corn, black beans, grilled chicken, and tomatoes. On the side are chips and a sauce container filled with ranch dressing.

No better way to get your family hooked on eating salads than this southwest inspired 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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How to Pack Salads 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 recipe or any salad stay fresh in the lunchbox:

Create a bed of lettuce in the lunch container.
Top with room temperature or chilled toppings like cooked chicken, cheese, black beans, corn, and avocado. Seal.
Pack the Jalapeño Ranch or your choice of dressing in lidded sauce containers and add them to the salad prior to eating.

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.

How to Meal Prep Santa Fe Chicken Salad

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. Here’s how to turn this Santa Fe Chicken Salad into a lunch meal prep:

Follow the directions above, making sure all ingredients are at room temperature or chilled. Leave out the avocado until the morning you plan to pack a salad for lunch.
Refrigerate the lunch containers for up to 3 days.
The morning you plan to pack a salad in your lunch bag, add the avocado. Send with a sauce container filled with Jalapeño Ranch.

Santa Fe Chicken Salad Lunchbox

Print Recipe

This Santa Fe Chicken Salad is loaded with fresh ingredients and easy to prep ahead for a healthy, protein-packed lunch.

Author: MOMables-Laura
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6 salads
Category: lunch
Method: Skillet
Cuisine: Mexican
Diet: Gluten Free

Ingredients

Units

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 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
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

In a blender or food processor, combine all the dressing ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate leftovers up to 1 week.
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.
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.