Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Southwestern Chicken Salad

Lately I have been making a lot of chicken salad. Because I only like to use onions, peppers, and celery in the mixture (no raisins or nuts in my chicken salad!), I add flavor by seasoning my chicken before cooking it.

It's obvious that I love Mexican and Southwestern flavors, so it's only appropriate that I make a Southwestern chicken salad.

Ingredients

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed (or use other parts of the chicken if you like them)
  • Spices: chili powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/2 green pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 red pepper, chopped
  • 1/2 sm onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • For serving: cilantro and tomatoes

Directions

  • Coat chicken with spices - from most to least, I used chili powder, cumin, coriander, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, salt, and cayenne. I don't know the amounts, but the chicken was completely spice coated when I was done.
  • Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken and cook until done, about 5 min per side. The color of the chicken after being cooked is so beautiful from the spices!
  • Let cool, and then finely chop the chicken.
  • Mix with peppers, onion, and mayonnaise. Chill.
  • When ready to serve, top with some cilantro and tomatoes. I would have mixed the cilantro in with the salad, but I think it is too strong of a flavor to sit in the salad for 2-3 days. Also, it would probably wilt after being in the mayonnaise.

I served the salad on a roll my mom picked up when we were at Costco the other day. They are multi grain rolls and according to a fellow Costco shopper, only have 1 point each in the Weight Watchers System.

This was so delicious, and so much more exciting than plain old chicken salad!

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9 comments:

  1. Looks delicious and I love all the flavors involved!

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  2. This looks terrific. What an intriguiing change from the usual flavors that go in chicken salad. I must try it!

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  3. Looks great - and a nice change from the same old one I always make.

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  4. mmm, something different. sounds good!

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  5. i don't like raisins or nuts (or grapes!) in my chicken salad either. sounds god!

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  6. I like the assortment of spices used to make this! My husband is a big chicken salad fan, I'll have to add a few of these spices next time I whip it up.

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  7. oh boy, my fiance loves chicken salad, I can't wait to try this one!! Im so impressed with your site Mary Ellen. sorry i keep repeating myself, but i love it!

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  8. 2 tablespoons of mayo was nowhere near enough to make mine look like yours. Also I think I over-vegged. May need to add more chicken to even it out.

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