Chicken Salad with Black Beans and Tomatoes ( Southwestern Salad )

Not too long ago i had some salad with black beans , and to my surprised , i kinda enjoyed it . I wasn’t so much into black beans , even when we go to Chipotle , i always skipped the black beans and always picked lima beans instead . My husband doesn’t mind black beans , although he switches around between black and lima beans . And we’ve been trying to add a lot of salad as dinner menu in our weekday dinner . Just the other day he said about having salad for dinner again , so i thought why not trying to make southwestern salad . I wasn’t even a fan of southwestern salad years ago . I remember i was at a potluck dinner , and my MIL back then mentioned how delicious was the southwestern salad and she was thrilled when she found the recipe on her magazine .

So anyway , i ended up making southwestern salad for tonight’s dinner . It’s really not that hard to make , and most of the stuff isn’t that expensive to get . I guess this can be your dollar dinner 😀 Well .. as long as the chicken breast was on sale for $1.00 LOL ..

You need :

About 2 split breasts chicken , rub with oil , then run with this spice mix :

1 tbsp. of chili powder

2 tsp. light or dark brown sugar

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

kosher salt

Mix these spices together and rub them on the chicken breasts . You can grill the chicken or roast it in the oven , your choice . If you choose to roast , do it about 35 minutes for 350 F .Once it’s done , set aside , let it sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing them thinly .

Now , let’s make the dressing :

6 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp. of freshly squeezed lime juice

1 tbsp. of fresh chopped cilantro

2 tsp. of honey

ground black pepper

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl , whisk well , and refrigerate until ready to use .

Let’s make the salad :

1 cup of black beans , drained and rinsed

1 cup of grape / cherry tomatoes , halves

1/2 cup of sweet corn

2 green onions , thinly sliced

2 tsp. of freshly chopped cilantro

And 2 tbsp. of the dressing that you make before this .

Mix all these ingredients together , set aside .

Bibb Lettuce or Boston Lettuce , and avocado

Serve on a bed of lettuce , then place your salsa ( beans , tomatoes , corn ) and top with the chicken , drizzle with little bit of the dressing .