Chipotle Chicken Taco Salad

Have made this many times over the years.  The dressing is great and one could easily vary the toppings to suit your taste.  You don't even miss the cheese.

The idea of this salad isn't spectacular. It's very good, but it's just a normal taco salad with chicken. I'm commenting because I really REALLY enjoyed the dressing that you put on top. It was so quick and easy to make and it really complimented the salad without being overpowering. So good. Would also be good to top soft tacos with. Yummy!

Wonderful recipe that is equally tasty and healthy!!! Winner all the way!!!

This was really, really good! I wasn't sure how to roast chicken, so I just cooked a few breasts in a pan with salt and pepper. The dressing could stand to be thinned out, if you wanted to make a bigger salad and still have enough dressing to coat it; but it's not overpowering as it is. If you don't like surprise spicy bites, make sure you chop the chipotle pepper really small, or just take a bit of the sauce instead and mix it in the dressing. I'll definitely make this again!

This was yummy!

I've made quite a few salads from here now and this has been my favorite. I pump up the spice a tad since we like spicy food. Loved the dressing and the mix of beans and corn in the salad was delicious.

One of the best. I did not use the onions. I did thin out the dressing . Easy and everyone liked it!

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Loved it.

Pretty good for a cooking light recipe. The dressing was thick but I added more lime juice and when you toss all the salad together, it totally works out.

A regular for us in the summertime. Quick, easy and filling. Follow the suggestion to include beans, though we usually use black beans instead of kidney or pinto.

Fully enjoyed with friends. Lived up to reviews. Added a bit more cilantro, avocado and salt but everything else as written,

If I ever lost this salad dressing recipe, my husband might leave me. All around the most perfect salad recipe ever. Particularly delicious in the summer months!

This was so good. I used fat free sour cream to reduce even more fat, and it was still so tasty. Very versatile recipe. Will be making this on a weekly basis.

Made this salad last night and my husband and I both loved it. I made a couple of changes to the recipe though. I omitted the chipotle chili in adobo sauce since I don't really care for the flavor and added a little extra cumin and chili powder to the dressing. I couldn't find any ripe avocados, so omitted that and I added some chopped jalapeno to the salad to give it a little kick. Yummy. Will definitely make this again.

I have made this twice and absolutely love it. I make different portions for those who do not want it as spicy although it is very light on spice. Just add less chipotle sauce.

I made this salad today it was easy and delicious. I barbecued the chicken breast with an adobe rub which added flavor to the salad. Thanks for the recipe

Very good. Just the right amount of spice. All the comments above are worthy, but it's great just as it is, too.

Made this for a shower and everyone loved it! Mix the dressing, add chicken, corn, beans and onions - put in zip bag over nite. Take lettuce/tomato/avocado separately and mix at party before eating. Served with tortilla chips.

This was just okay. I didn't love the dressing as it didn't really have a lot of flavor to me. I stirred in some salsa and that helped. Next time I will probably just use a salsa ranch dressing.

This is a pretty good salad. The thickness of the "dressing" did not bother me as it is sour cream based and therefore what you should expect for a taco salad. If you are cooking for 1 or 2: don't put all the dressing or chicken on the salad. That way, you'll be able to eat it for another meal without it sitting there getting soggy. Great meal for the calories!

Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I seasoned the chicken with Ms Dash Southwestern seasoning, shucked 2 ears of corn. Grilled both the corn and chicken. Cut the corn off of the cob. My boyfriend LOVED it. Will definitely make again

This is really a spectacular salad! I reduced the chili powder to 3/4 of a Teaspoon and increased the adobo chilis to 2 Tablespoons instead of the 1 Tablespoon the recipe called for. Also, I used an emulsion blender to make the dressing. It made it more 'liquid" and not so thick! PERFECT! I also added some shredded cheese! Definately going to make this again! I left the dressing off the salad and left it up to each individual to spoon it over their own serving.....This allowed the salad to be eaten again the next day without becomming soggy! YUMMY!!!!

So delish! I made it with ground beef instead of chicken. Easy meal and perfect for a weeknight.

This was a pretty good recipe, but I wasn't that crazy about the dressing. I would put something else on it next time!

This was awesome! I substituted fat-free greek yogurt for the sour cream and and thinned it out with 1 tbs milk. I also left out the cilantro (just a personal preference). Next time I think I will try the salad with shrimp instead if chicken. Having the left over dressing with fish tonight. YUM!

I made this last night and we all 3 liked it a lot. This is what I did different: I added a small amount of cheddar cheese on top of each salad, cut the beans in 1/2, and omitted the avocado. One salad we added a little guacamole in the place of the avocado. And I served chip strips on the side. My only complaint, it took me a lot longer to make, and dinner was late due to me being to slow. When I make it again I will make sure I have everything all prepared ahead of time. I had to cut the chicken off the bone, wash the romaine, pick the cilantro, wash cut you get the idea it was a lot of steps so it took me like 1 1/2 hours to get 3 salads put together. It was great for a cool Summer meal and I will for sure be making this again. Thank you very much for sharing! Laura

Great dinner for a warm summer evening. My whole family loves this.

great recipe!

Delicious! I made it for the first time today and I love it! So flavorful, light but filling. I will definitely make this again! And it's easy too!

Very good. I didn't have the chipotle chile, so i chopped up halepenos super small and added some hot sauce. I also added milk, like other commenters had said. My whole family loved it! I will definitely make this again!

I will be making this salad, and as for the chiles you can frezze them or they stay in the frige for a very long time. I make the Black Bean Burrito bake from this site. Wonderful!!

This salad is awesome! It tastes like a restaurant salad. One of my favorite "myrecipes" in a long time. As other reviewers suggested, I added milk to the dressing to thin the consistency. I also topped the assembled salad with crumbled tortilla chips from Whole Foods. I also salted the rotisserie chicken pieces for some seasoning. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly and it was amazing. Wonderful flavors! One bit of advice; if you can't find chipotle chiles in canned adobo, you can easily substitute the Chipotle Tabasco sauce. Just add enough to get the taste you want. I bought a whole can of chiles and only used one for the recipe, I have no idea what I will do with the rest, wish I would have thought to just use the Tabasco sauce, which I already had on hand.

Absolutely love this salad! It's a hit wherever I take it. It may be spicy at first but if you let the dressing portion sit in the fridge for a couple hours before mixing it together the cream mellows out the spice. LOVE LOVE LOVE this one and will repeat it often.

This is a delicious recipe... but I wish the it included seasoning the chicken as well.

This recipe was amazing. Even my 13 month old loved it!! I omitted the onions and corn, (daughter is not a fan of onions and I was afraid she would choke on the corn) but I am sure they would have been great in it as well.

This a favorite summer dinner salad recipe for my wife and me. Love to make it spicy!

I think this is the best salad recipe ever!! I replaced sour cream with non-fat greek yogurt, skipped the avocado and increased the chile to 2 tbsp for extra kick. I tasted great and was a lot for 2 of us. I have left overs in the refrigerator from yesterday and cannot wait to see how well it stays over night so I can make over the weekend..

Wahoo, this is spicy! And I only used half the chipotle called for. Be forewarned: if you don't like spicy you might want to skip this dish.

Very tasty! I made this as written except for using fresh corn from the cob. I think that added a nice crunch. The salad was still good the next day even though it sat in the dressing over night. Served with baked tostitos. I will definitely make this again.

Soooo yummy!! I used a mixture of Romaine and Red Leaf lettuce and crushed up Chipotle Tostido Chips on top of the salad. I also made my dressing a little different. I used Chipotle Sour Cream instead of regular and omitted the minced chipotle and chile powder and added a little extra lime juice. DeLish!! I thought the dressing made the salad! The dressing had a litle too much spice for my kids so next time I will make theirs with a mixture of regular sour cream and chipotle sour cream. Will be making this again for sure!

Such a great recipe. Would not change a thing!

I didn't care for the thick consistancy of the dressing and it kinda of dried up just before finishing the salad. I will try this again subbing the sour cream for a lite ranch dressing & mix all the other dressing ingredients with the ranch dressing.

Although this had good flavor, it tasted just like 7 layer dip. I served this with tortilla chips and my family was actually scooping the "salad" as if it were a dip. Good - but I don't think I would make as a dinner.

amazingly easy and yummy

I added some grated cheese and also two corn tortillas fried in a scant amount of canola oil. Can't wait for lunch tomorrow!

Made the recipe as directed except for the chipotle sauce in the dressing. I thought I had some but it ended up being salsa verde. I used it instead. I still turned out tasty. My husband and father, who is very picky, enjoyed the salad. I served it with tortilla chips. Thanks, I will make this again.

Outstanding, the whole family loved it! I followed the recipe with one exception: I doubled the dressing except for the chipotle chile. I've never used chipotle before and had no idea just how hot and spicy it is - which is very - and discovered it was a bit too much for us, so did the whole dressing recipe a second time, but omitted that one ingredient, then combined the two. That was perfect. Also,l following other suggestions, we served the dressing separately so that leftovers won't be soggy. When I cooked the chicken I marinated it for 30 minutes or so in a red wine/oil/vinegar bottled dressing and then grilled it quickly on a gas grill. That gave it a real crispy grilled flavor, rather than just plain cooked. And next time I'll try grilling the sweet corn instead of using canned. This is a super recipe, not too many ingredients or steps; it's budget and time friendly, and all the different cruncy flavors add a lot of character. Thanks, CL - Great Dinner!!

Awesome!

Really, Really good! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes Mexican food.

I've made this recipe a couple of times and it is really good. One time I bought Bolthouse 1000Island Yogurt dressing and put the specified recipe amount of chili powder in it and a squeeze of lime juice and that was excellent. But as always, Cooking Light is the place for Great recipes

I love this. Filling and healthy, leftovers make a great lunch the next day. I swapped FF greek yogurt for sour cream and kidney beans for black beans.

Best chicken taco salad I've ever eaten. This got rave reviews from company. I did add a little grated cheddar and crisp bacon for garnish, but otherwise, it's perfect. Served with sliced mangoes on the side to offset the heat. Wonderful!

As written, the recipe is so-so. Good bones, but needs some work. I've been making this for a couple of years now, and it's one of my favourite summer entrée salads. I make a number of changes, like many of the other reviewers: in the dressing, I added more fresh chopped cilantro, and a couple cloves of garlic, and doubled the amount of cumin (mine is fresh ground), and added 1 tsp. smoked paprika and extra fresh lime juice. For the salad, I use mixed baby lettuces, crunchy red cabbage, Vidalia onion, black beans, fresh corn that I slice off the cob, more fresh chopped cilantro, chopped tomatoes, diced ripe avocado, and a smattering of shredded pepperjack cheese. I marinate the chicken breasts for at least an hour in a chipotle/lime marinade, then sear it on the stove and let it cook through in the oven. PERFECT! Very, very easy, much of the time is the chicken marinating/cooking on its own.

This was a great summer salad recipe. I added red bell pepper and it was great! I also added a 3rd chicken breast to the salad and the dressing was plenty.

This was pretty good, but not great. Very simple and quick, light on the stomach. This is good for a summer meal because it won't make the kitchen very warm. You could even use rotisserie chicken in this recipe. The avacado was really good in it and the dressing was yummy.

This recipe was AMAZING. I just made it for the first time last week, and have already made it again. My husband begs for it! It's great for when I know I'm going to be home late-- I chop up everything but the avocado, and combine the ingredients for the dressing. When I get home, I just dice the avocado and toss the salad-- dinner's on the table in 3 minutes! One note: I did not use any cilantro in the dressing, because neither of us likes it, and I didn't feel at all like the salad was missing anything. Don't make the mistake of skipping this recipe just because you don't like cilantro!

I really liked the salad part of this recipe, but the dressing didn't taste right. I didn't follow the recipe that closely and added way more chipotle than was recommended thinking it would just add spice, but it ended up tasting funny. Next time, I will just buy dressing from the store.

This is my favorite salad right now. I add a little extra lime, but that's just cause I love lime! It is super delicious and filling. MAKE IT ASAP!!

This recipe was good, not great. I would probably grill the chicken next time. That might give it a little more flavor.

My fiance can't get enough of this recipe - I think he would eat it every night if I let him. He also loves his full-fat sour cream but I have tricked his taste buds this time using the lighter version. Don't skimp on the chipotle chili or cilantro - they make a world of difference. I serve this with a few whole-grain tortilla chips on the side that can be broken and mixed in.

Absolutely delicious!! Made it for dinners at home as well as taken it to get togethers. Huge hit always:)

I loved this! Served on Tostitoes with a side of Mexican Style Rice. Omitted the beans and I agree with other reviewers that roasted corn and a little garlic would add even more depth to the flavors. Fresh cilantro "made" this recipe! Can't wait to have the leftovers!!

Like everyone else, I loved this recipe. The dressing is just really tasty. I made tortilla strips myself by cutting up a small corn tortilla and baking the strips at 350 degrees until they were cripsy. Loved the crunch on top of the salad.

This packs a powerful flavor punch; the hubs & I loved it. The recipe title is a bit misleading, as there are no taco shells or tortilla chips in the recipe. But this would be great in one of those pre-made taco salad shells, or as a wrap.

Fantastic salad!!! I added an additional can of red kidney beans for additional protein and fiber. I substituted sour cream for fat free plain Greek yogurt and didn't miss any flavor at all. In fact, the falvor was so powerful, the next time I miake this I will only use half the required cumin and chili powder (as seasonings cause bloating) and add fresh minced garlic and a little more chipotle sauce. This is an awesome salad with a hearty, satisfying taste.

We loved this salad! Not only was is fresh and beautiful, but it left both my husband and I feeling totally full- not an easy task for a salad! I served it with tortilla strips and a bit of sharp cheddar.

love this salad!! dressing can be spicy so add chipotle to taste. super easy!

LOVED IT! put a little too much lemon juice but it was GREAT! I also crumbled the chips and mixed it all in. How can something so tasty ALSO be healthy??? Keep bringing them ON! THANK YOU!

Yummy! So easy. I grilled the chicken breast. I did alter the ingredients a bit by stretching the amounts. Used 1 cup of sour cream. A little more cilantro. Herdez Chipotle Chiles, very good flavor. Whole 15 oz. can of corn and more romaine. This of course made for bigger portions. I will make this again.

This was an amazing, super quick dinner for my husband and I. Grilled the chicken with some chipotle seasoning and followed the rest of the recipe pretty close. I never measure anything. Crumbled doritos on top. Would serve next time with a little cheese quesadilla on the side, but it was perfect. A new regular.

I made this salad and it was DELICIOUS! The ONLY recommendation I have is to use less cilantro than what the recipe calls for. It was a little too strong but otherwise I really liked this recipe!

This recipe is excellent. I roast corn on the grill if I have time instead of using canned corn. I also add a little extra chipotle because we like it hot.

I've been making this recipe since I first saw it in the magazine and everyone in my family loves it. I substitute plain non-fat yogurt for the sour cream in the dressing and that adds a little tang.

The cumin was a little strong, but that's my only complaint. This was delicious and I'd definitely make it again.

What an amazing salad! Skipped the avocados, added crushed lime tortillas chips and some BBQ sauce with the dressing, yum! If you like CPK's BBQ chicken salad, this is better hands down! Will make this again and again. Another wonderful way to Make Calories Count!

Made this for a weeknight dinner and it was a hit with my nephew. I now use the dressing for all sorts of other things like as a dip with chips, on my turkey burger, on pretty much anything I want a little bit of spice and fresh falvor.

Excellent dish! Simple yet very tasty! The dressing is fresh and creamy, and the cilantro and chili are a wonderful backdrop. All the fresh ingredients made this a great summer dinner!

This salad was hearty enough to be a great dinner, spicy enough to entice you to continue eating. The flavors from the dressing were so wonderful and tasted different on every bite. One taste when you got a bite of chicken, another taste when you got a bite of beans and lettuce. Really a nice salad as a meal recipe. This I will make again and again.

So good! Really delicious for a summer dish. I might tone down the chipotle pepper just a little bit next time but otherwise it's awesome. Made it as directed except omitted the avocado and topped the salad with a couple tbsp of guacamole instead. I also added an entire 15.5 oz can of corn rather than the smaller amount the recipe recommended (obviously this increases the nutritional stats). I really stir up the dressing with the salad so that everything is coated (think of it more like a chicken salad or egg salad where everything is incorporated rather than a pour-on-the-dressing salad). I served it with baked tortilla chips.

GREAT recipe!!! I had to sub half of the sour cream for low-fat mayo which, of course, upped the cal and fat counts, but I didn't realize that I didn't have enough sour cream until I was actually making the dressing. I also added about a tbsp of water and 1/4 tsp of sugar to the dressing and put it in the food processor. Also omitted the avacado because I don't like it. Was great even with all of these modifications.

Loved it! Great flavors, simple to make. We used grilled shrimp instead of chicken. A recipe for the perfect summer night dining outdoors.

This was excellent. great girlfriend salad. served it at a girlfriend picnic with light beer with lime and baked chips. yummy.

Very. very good recipe. I'm surprised by how much flavor this had, considering the fairly low fat content. Made it as listed. Will definitely be incorporating into my meal routine! Would make a great salad to bring to BBQ's.

This is my favorite salad recipe. I have made this just for my husband and I as well as for company and it always gets rave reviews. If I have it on hand, I like to throw in queso fresco.

Fantastic! I don't normally like salads, but this one is very good.

I am not a huge fan of salads, but this recipe was incredible! I made it exactly the way it said. The dressing does turn out kind of thick, as it is almost entirely sour cream, but it mixes well with the salad. My husband and I loved it!

My husband and I both really enjoyed this recipe. He actually didn't complain that it was low-cal! It had a lot of flavor, and kept well enough that we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I thought this was just okay. The flavors were good, but a bit odd for a salad. The dressing seemed too thick for a salad dressing even after adding some milk to thin it out. I think this would make a good sandwich, but as a salad it is just okay.

the whole family loved this. The dressing would be great as a dip. Baked some tortilla strips to put on top which was a great addition.

Great flavor and heat! My husband asked me to put this in the "make again" pile, and that doesn't happen very often. I omitted the corn, but otherwise made the recipe as written. I wouldn't recommend this for kids unless you dial down the heat from the chipotle peppers.

We love this! However, I've only made it with sauteed shrimp in place of chicken. We like it so much with the shrimp, we can't bring ourselves to try it with chicken. Leftovers are great - we just separate the lettuce to keep it from getting soggy.

This was pretty good. I added a splash of milk to the dressing to make it looser. I thought the avocado got lost in the mix.

This was a great salad! I made it for a gathering of friends, and it made enough to have a 2 meals! We kept the dressing separate, so the lettuce didn't get soggy, but the flavors were great. Went really well with grilled chicken and steak, and we put on a whole avacado. Will def. make again! I'm not a huge salad lover, but this will make it on the monthly recipe selection in our house.

I was suprised by how much I enjoyed this salad. It was really filling. I omitted the avocado as I don't care for it, and I used frozen corn instead of canned. I also sauted chicken sprinkled with chipotle pepper, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, chopped it, and used that. Will make again

Fantastic! Skip the lettuce; it just gets soggy and gross. No other modifications necessary. One of the best main-dish salads I've ever made - I loved it immediately.

I made this salad last night, and it was absolutely delicious. It was such a delight to make something so different than the traditional salad with ranch or some other type of salad dressing. The dressing itself had a little kick to it from the chipotle peppers, but it was worth it. I think I will make this again next week for dinner or lunch. YUM-O

This salad was really flavorful and I will definitely make it again. I didnt make any modifications, and it satiated both my husband and I quite nicely. We dont normally eat salads for dinner, but this one worked perfectly.