This healthy southwest chicken taco salad is filled flavorful chicken breast, your favorite veggies and toppings, and a creamy Greek yogurt jalapeño ranch to tie it all together. This salad is so easy to make and completely customizable. It’s perfect for a quick lunch or filling dinner that everyone will love!
Salads do not have to be boring my friends and this easy chicken taco salad is here prove that point. With juicy, tender chicken breast, your favorite toppings, and a creamy jalapeño ranch there is nothing boring about this healthy and delicious salad. All you need are a few simple ingredients and thirty minutes to whip up this healthy meal that everyone will love!
At the heart of this taco salad is juicy, flavorful chicken. The chicken breast is marinaded in a combination of lime juice, olive oil, and spices like paprika and cumin before cooking. The marinade really helps to ensure that the chicken stays juicy and has plenty of flavor.
Chicken breast can be hard to cook for many people because they often come out overcooked and dry or undercooked and needing a bit more time back in the pan.
To get perfectly cooked chicken breast every single time, I recommend butterflying or splitting the chicken breast in half before adding it to the marinade. Doing this will cut down on the thickness of the chicken breast which makes it easier to cook correctly.
Greek Yogurt Jalapeño Ranch Ingredients
One of the best parts of this salad is the jalapeño ranch! This healthier ranch dressing is creamy, flavorful and so easy to make.
Greek yogurt
Olive oil
Lime juice
Dried dill
Jalapeño
Cilantro
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
To make the dressing, add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. If you need a dairy-free alternative to use as a dressing for you taco salad, this dairy-free jalapeño ranch dressing is a great option.
How to Make This Healthy Chicken Taco Salad Recipe
(be sure scroll down for the full recipe card with ingredients and instructions)
Step One: The first step is marinate your chicken breast. To do this, add the spices, lime juice, and olive oil to a large mixing bowl and whisk until well combined. Next, add the chicken breast and toss until well coated. Cover the bowl with chicken breast and allow the chicken to marinate for at least twenty minutes.
Step Two: Once the chicken has finished marinading, heat a large skillet over medium high heat and then cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes per side until the internal temperature is 165.
Step Three: While the chicken breast is cooking make the jalapeño ranch dressing by adding the dressing ingredients to a high-powered blender and blending until smooth and creamy.
Step Four: Once the chicken and dressing is done, prepare your salads. Start with a base of romaine lettuce and then add your favorite toppings like grilled corn and fresh tomato salsa. Drizzle the jalapeño ranch dressing over everything and enjoy immediately!
How To Cook Corn For Taco Salad
I love adding fresh sweet corn to this taco salad along with other healthy toppings. If you are a corn lover as well, here a few easy ways to cook your corn before adding it to your salad. You can feel free to leave corn off to keep this salad Whole30 compliant.
Roast it in the oven! – This is my personal favorite way to cook the corn for this salsa. Wrap the cleaned and shucked ears of corn in tin foil and roast for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees should do the trick!
Grill it! – Shuck your corn and then grill for 10 minutes on high heat.
Boil it! – Another great option is to add your shucked ears of corn to boiling water and let it quickly boil for 5 minutes.
Ways to Customize Your Salad
What I personally love about this taco salad is how easy it is to customize it based on what you have in the fridge or what you have a taste for. Here are a few more great topping ideas to try:
Make the chicken: Add the spices, lime juice, and olive oil to a large mixing bowl and whisk until well combined. Next, add the chicken breast and toss until well coated. Cover the bowl with and allow the chicken to marinate for at least twenty minutes.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and then cook the chicken for 4-6 minutes per side until the internal temperature is 165.
Make the dressing: Add the jalapeño ranch dressing ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
Once the chicken and dressing is done, prepare your salads. Start with a base of romaine lettuce and then add the sliced chicken breast, black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and crumbled cheese. Drizzle the jalapeño ranch dressing over everything and enjoy immediately!
Keywords: healthy chicken taco salad, the best chicken taco salad, chicken taco salad, whole30 chicken taco salad
This salad was perfect for summer! I made the chicken in the air fryer and while it cooked I prepped the dressing and salad toppings. It was very good!
I’ve been wanting to eat more salads at home and this is SO GOOD! The dressing is amazing and the chicken marinade is so good. Definitely putting this in my rotation!
This recipe is so yummy, fresh, easy to make, and perfect for summertime! I love that the dressing is made with Greek yogurt to make it healthier and to add a little more protein. Another great recipe I’ll be making again from ATHT, thank you Ashlea!
This was so easy and SO good!! The chicken was so flavorful. My fiancée normal doesn’t put any dressing on salads and he couldn’t stop eating the jalapeño ranch dressing. This recipe will definitely be going into the weekly rotation.
Oh WOW, I would eat this for every meal. So delicious! I added grilled corn, pico, avocado, pickled onion and cotija cheese and it was incredible. Thanks for another amazing recipe, Ashlea!
What I love about salads is you can use whatever you like or whatever you have on hand, but bring it all together with a great dressing! I used black beans, avocado, cilantro and corn (we only had frozen on hand, but it was still a nice addition). This jalapeno lime ranch is SO GOOD! Also, I can’t wait to make your pickled onions next-I’m sure they would be fab in a salad or as a compliment to many different dishes. Thank you for this recipe!
I love taco salads, and this recipe did not disappoint! We added peppers, onions, cilantro, and avocado to ours. I love that this recipe is customizable to what I have in my fridge and I usually have most of these ingredients, making it an easy weeknight dinner. The jalapeno ranch was also amazing – I made a double batch and used the leftovers on fish tacos!
I usually stray away from making chicken breasts because I always dry them out! This marinade made it easy to make the chicken for this salad juicy and full of flavor! Also love the jalapeño ranch dressing, it’s light and spicy in all the right ways. We made our salads with roasted corn, avocado and fresh pico. Then with the leftovers we made delicious tacos for lunch! Either way you spin it, the chicken and dressing are perfection.
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This salad was perfect for summer! I made the chicken in the air fryer and while it cooked I prepped the dressing and salad toppings. It was very good!
Love this! I made it using steak instead of chicken and it was delish!
★★★★★
Delicious!!! Love the jalapeño ranch!
★★★★★
I’ve been wanting to eat more salads at home and this is SO GOOD! The dressing is amazing and the chicken marinade is so good. Definitely putting this in my rotation!
★★★★★
This recipe is so yummy, fresh, easy to make, and perfect for summertime! I love that the dressing is made with Greek yogurt to make it healthier and to add a little more protein. Another great recipe I’ll be making again from ATHT, thank you Ashlea!
★★★★★
Ashlea – your dressings are always so flavorful! Recipe came together so quickly, we added avocado, cotija and pickled onions and it was delicious!
★★★★★
This was so easy and SO good!! The chicken was so flavorful. My fiancée normal doesn’t put any dressing on salads and he couldn’t stop eating the jalapeño ranch dressing. This recipe will definitely be going into the weekly rotation.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it, Norah!
Oh WOW, I would eat this for every meal. So delicious! I added grilled corn, pico, avocado, pickled onion and cotija cheese and it was incredible. Thanks for another amazing recipe, Ashlea!
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing, Jenna! Happy you loved the recipe!
This salad dressing was bomb! The chicken was great but the salad dressing really made it.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you loved it!
What I love about salads is you can use whatever you like or whatever you have on hand, but bring it all together with a great dressing! I used black beans, avocado, cilantro and corn (we only had frozen on hand, but it was still a nice addition). This jalapeno lime ranch is SO GOOD! Also, I can’t wait to make your pickled onions next-I’m sure they would be fab in a salad or as a compliment to many different dishes. Thank you for this recipe!
I love taco salads, and this recipe did not disappoint! We added peppers, onions, cilantro, and avocado to ours. I love that this recipe is customizable to what I have in my fridge and I usually have most of these ingredients, making it an easy weeknight dinner. The jalapeno ranch was also amazing – I made a double batch and used the leftovers on fish tacos!
★★★★★
I usually stray away from making chicken breasts because I always dry them out! This marinade made it easy to make the chicken for this salad juicy and full of flavor! Also love the jalapeño ranch dressing, it’s light and spicy in all the right ways. We made our salads with roasted corn, avocado and fresh pico. Then with the leftovers we made delicious tacos for lunch! Either way you spin it, the chicken and dressing are perfection.
★★★★★