Grilled Chicken and Black Bean Taco Salad with Tequila Lime Dressing

Jazz up your summer time grilling with this Grilled Chicken and Black Bean Taco Salad with Tequila Lime Dressing. This recipe is perfect for any leftover grilled chicken too!

Summer time grilling! Ah! Just the thought of that and I can smell that sweet, woody fragrance of barbecue all around the neighborhood. Especially it is a gorgeous sunny day, you can be guaranteed that you will be tempted to grill something for dinner even if that was not your plan for the day.

On such days, even if we don’t make our dinner on the grill outside, we at least grill some corn to enjoy with a glass of white wine, preferably a chardonnay. Oh, how that pairs so well with the sweet creamy corn. And, then we just bring our dinner outside to the deck and enjoy it there.

The kiddo loves eating outside and thinks we are having a picnic and that gets him really excited! Its great for us too. Eating outside means less mess inside to clean up after dinner.

This grilled chicken and black bean taco salad is a recipe that I created on the fly. It was supposed to be just grilled chicken for dinner for the boys and some salad and grilled corn for me. But as I was adding the spices to the chicken to marinate before grilling, the idea of putting this in a salad came into being and I got really excited and made the dressing with some tequila in it! I mean, who can say no to that, right?!

I put some smoked paprika in the chicken marinade along with some ancho chili for that combination of smoky and deep sweet flavor and added some paprika to the dressing as well to carry through that flavor to the rest of the salad as well. It’s a quick recipe and you can make it with leftover grilled chicken too.

Grilled Chicken and Black Bean Taco Salad with Tequila Lime Dressing – The Recipe

Ingredients:

For the Chicken

• About 1 lb Organic Chicken Breast Tenders
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, as needed
• Fresh ground black pepper, as needed
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp Ancho chili powder
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning
• 1 tsp garlic powder

For the tortilla chip strips / taco strips

• small whole wheat tortillas – 3
• enough oil for deep frying

For the salad

• 2 cups Organic salad greens mix
• 1 cup Organic canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• ½ cup Organic Shredded Mexican Cheese blend (optional)

For the dressing:

• Juice of ½ lime
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp minced cilantro
• 3 tbsp tequila
• salt, as needed
• freshly ground black pepper, as needed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika

Method:

For the chicken:
Add all the ingredients except the oil to the chicken breast tenders and rub in well. On a grill or a stove top grill, brush a little oil and grill the chicken breast tenders for a few minutes on both sides till well cooked. Keep aside.

For the tortilla chips strips:
Cut the tortillas into thin strips about 1 ½ inches long. Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the tortilla strips until crispy. Drain on paper towels and keep aside.

For the dressing:
Mix together all the ingredients for the dressing in a mason jar and shake well.

For the salad:
Assemble the salad greens and black beans in a wide serving bowl. Cut the grilled chicken into strips and add to this. Pour over the dressing. Add the chips and toss well. Add cheese and serve immediately.