This recipe for healthy chicken taco salad is marinated and grilled chicken with shredded lettuce, creamy cilantro dressing and your favorite taco toppings, all inside a baked tortilla shell.
We eat a LOT of Mexican food around here – it’s typically quick to make and easy to customize to the kids’ taste. We kind of got into a burrito rut and I was trying to think of something to change it up a bit which is how I came up with these healthy chicken taco salads. The shell is baked instead of fried which makes it a healthier choice and everyone can fill up their tortilla bowl with their favorite fixings.
I started with two recipes that I’ve shared here before – cantina pinto beans and my chili lime chicken marinade. I made a batch of the beans and marinated whole chicken breasts which I then cooked and sliced. I put the chicken and beans on a platter with shredded lettuce, store bought pico de gallo, olives, sour cream, cheddar cheese and avocado and let the kids make their own creations.
The tortilla bowls might look a little fussy to make but they’re actually quick and easy. I took my tortillas and pressed them into large ramekins (2 cup size, about 6 inches in diameter). I baked the tortillas then took them out of the ramekins and turned them upside down on the sheet pan to crisp the bottoms. If you don’t have large ramekins you can really use any ovenproof bowl that’s the right size, even a cereal bowl will work. Alternatively, if you don’t have the right sized bowls you can start them upside down by draping them over large balls of foil, then flipping them right side to crisp up the insides.
Once you’ve filled your tortilla bowl full of goodies, you can top it off with some cilantro lime sauce. The beauty of this recipe is that you can get as creative as you want with the fillings, my recipe is just a guideline. So what are you waiting for? Grab some tortillas and make a healthy chicken taco salad!
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Healthy Chicken Taco Salad
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
- 1 pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- ¼ cup water
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder , depending on the heat level of your chili powder. I use a mild chili powder so I do the full 2 tablespoons.
- 4 flour tortillas (8 or 10 inch)
- cooking spray
- 4 cups shredded lettuce (romaine or iceberg)
- 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
- 1/2 cup olives
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup fresh salsa or pico de gallo (I used store bought)
- 1/2 avocado , thinly sliced
- 1 recipe of cantina beans
- For the cilantro lime sauce:
- 1 cup sour cream (can use light)
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves , roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey
- ¼ cup prepared green salsa
- salt and pepper to taste
- lime wedges and cilantro leaves for garnish if desired
Instructions
- For the chicken:
- This recipes works best with thin chicken breasts. If your chicken breasts are really thick, cut them in half lengthwise or pound with a meat mallet. To prepare the marinade, pour the lime juice, olive oil and water into a large resealable bag. Add the garlic, sugar, salt and pepper, cumin, garlic, oregano, smoked paprika, onion powder and chili powder.
- Seal bag and shake to combine. Marinate for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
- Heat a pan on the stove to medium high heat or start up your grill. Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side, or until chicken is cooked through. Thinly slice the chicken and set it aside.
- While chicken is cooking, prepare cantina beans according to the recipe here.
- To prepare cilantro sauce, place the sour cream, cilantro leaves, lime juice, honey and green salsa into a food processor, process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray your bowls or ramekins with cooking spray. Place the bowls on a baking sheet pan. Gently press your tortillas inside the ramekins. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges of the tortillas have browned. Remove from oven, take the tortilla bowls out of the ramekins and set the ramekins aside.
- Turn the tortilla bowls upside down on the cooking sheet so that they're standing on their edges and the bottom of the tortilla bowl is facing up. Bake for another 6-8 minutes until bottoms are browned and firm.
- Remove tortilla bowls from the oven, let cool. Fill the tortilla bowls with lettuce, chicken, beans, salsa, cheese and olives. Top with sour cream and avocado slices. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro leaves if desired. Serve with cilantro sauce.
Recipe Notes
Make Ahead: The chicken, cilantro sauce and beans can all be made a day in advance.
Things You’ll Need (or Want!)
What a fun way to serve these salads. I see a party hit in the works!
This would be really fun for a party, you could bake up a bunch of tortilla bowls, set out the toppings and let your guests serve themselves!
Oh this looks FANTASTIC! 😀
All my favorite ingredients! *swoon*
Yum! Sounds delicious, and I love the images. Such a vibrant dish!
All I can say is wow. This meal looks so amazing.
Thanks Tirralan, it’s a favorite around here!
My family will go crazy for this recipe. And those tortilla bowls, perfect.
That looks yummy – may have to try it for the next Taco Tuesday
This looks fantastic just in time for summer!!!
We eat a lot of Mexican food in my house as well, so this of course will be a winner!
What a neat idea! My kids would love something simple like this!!
Mmmm I absolutely love taco anything! This looks delicious!
Love love love taco salads, but to put it flat on a plate is the biggest injustice. These bowls are done so simply. I have a massive soufflé ramekin that would be perfect for this!
I’m glad you already have the ramekin, let me know if you try it!
Taco salads are my favorite salads and my family would love these!
These are super cute! I will have to give the tortilla bowl a try 🙂 It looks amazing!
They like so fresh and delicious! Pinning this for later!
Thanks Rebecka, let me know if you make it!
Holy cow, what! My family loves Mexican food! My mom actually bought us those taco bowl molds for the tortilla shells, and we use those occasionally. =) Definitely pinning this recipe to use soon!
I didn’t even know they had taco bowl molds, I’ll have to check those out!
I love taco anything. These look great.
What a great way to lighten up taco salad! I recently baked my own (mini) tortilla bowls, and it was really not so complicated like you said. Will definitely be doing it going forward to save some calories!
I originally thought it might be a pain to keep the tortilla from taking on weird shapes but when you bake them inside a bowl it’s perfect!
These look yummy! I love Mexican food, we eat it a lot, A whole lot! Never thought of baking the tortillas, that would be a lot healthier.
delicious!! One of my favorite salads.. I will be adding this one to the mix . thank you
yum
Oh goodness, these look so very very good. It makes me want to experiment with a gluten-free/corn-free taco option and make these.
Mandi, this would work with corn tortillas but you’ll probably want to warm them first to make them pliable so that they don’t break when you try to push them into the bowls.
I just love these little bowls! We do a lot of tacos and burritos around here too, so this is a fun way to spice things up. Definitely going to have to give your beans recipe a try.
Thanks Kimberly, the beans are awesome and take just 10 minutes to make!
OMG this looks so amazing. I am literally drooling at the screen. I am totally making this!
I LOVE taco salad! The crispy edible bowl is a total plus too!
The edible bowl is one of the best parts 🙂
The edible bowls sound easy enough to make and we love Mexican foods at our house too so I’m going to have to try these!
They really are easy when you bake them inside the ramekins!
We use ground beef almost exclusively for tacos and I’m really not sure why. Especially when the chicken is as moist and flavorful as yours. Also, love the bowl! Definitely trying this soon!
Thanks Kim! You could absolutely do ground beef, sometimes I do ground turkey.