Southwest Chicken Cobb Salad - A Southwestern spin on traditional Cobb salad complete with tender chicken, crispy bacon, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, black beans, corn, and avocado over a bed of Romaine lettuce! Topped with barbecue sauce and Ranch, there's so much FLAVOR and TEXTURE galore in every bite of this crispy, crunchy, EASY salad!*
Prep Time30 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Additional Time10 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr
Course: Sides, Salads & Vegetables
Cuisine: Southwest
Servings: 6
Calories: 600kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
2medium-sized heads romaine lettucechopped OR use 2 to 3 bags of chopped Romaine lettuce
6slicesbaconany type including thick cut, applewood, hickory smoked, precooked, etc.
4small corn tortillas + 1 tablespoon olive oil or nonstick cooking spray OR lightly crushed store bought yellow corn tortilla chips
1poundboneless skinless chicken breastscooked and cut into ½-inch cubes or shredded (from about 2 medium chicken breasts)*
20cherry tomatoesabout ½ a pint, halved OR about 2 Roma tomatoes, diced small
3hard boiled eggscoarsely chopped
8ouncesColby Jack cheesecut into ½-inch cubes (Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, cheddar or queso fresco may be substituted)
½cupyellow cornfrozen and thawed OR if using canned, drained and rinsed
½cupblack beansdrained and rinsed
1small to medium avocadodiced or sliced
1tablespoonfresh chivesfinely minced OR green onions, sliced into thin rings
Saltto taste as desired
Freshly ground black pepperto taste as desired
Barbecue saucefor dressing as desired
Ranch dressingfor dressing as desired
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F and place a sheet of foil on a sheet pan.
Bacon - Place the bacon on the sheet pan and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until as crispy as desired. Flip over once midway through cooking. You can also fry the bacon in a skillet the traditional way on the stove Tips - To save time, use precooked fully cooked bacon and simply zap it in the microwave for 1 minute. Chop the cooked bacon and set aside. You can also add the tortillas to the oven on a separate sheet pan in the last 10 minutes or so the bacon is cooking to save time.
Tortillas - While the bacon is cooking, slice the tortillas into 1/2-inch wide strips, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil, evenly drizzle the olive oil over them or spray generously with nonstick cooking spray, optionally sprinkle with a bit of salt, and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until they're lightly crisped. Toss once midway through baking to ensure even cooking. When done, set aside. Tips - Make sure to use corn tortillas, and not flour. And that they're small, street taco sized and not bigger or you'll end up with a lot of extras. If you want to make more, consider my Baked Homemade Tortilla Chips recipe.
Chicken* - If you have leftover chicken, that's the fastest and easiest. Otherwise you can make Poached Chicken, Perfect 20 Minute Oven Baked Chicken, Grilled Honey Barbecue Chicken, or use store bought rotisserie chicken. I like to cube the chicken for this recipe but you can also shred it. Aim for about 1 pound of diced or shredded chicken.
Assembly - To a large serving platter or shallow bowl, add the lettuce, and then top with the all the remaining ingredients (except the dressings) in long rows of ingredients in typical Cobb salad arrangement and fashion. Tips - It doesn't matter how/where you place things on the platter. You can have chicken next to cheese on one side and tomatoes on the other, or in whatever arrangement you like. Although I tend to put the chicken in the middle and add things outward in each direction.
Dressings - You can use a normal or spicy barbecue sauce. Sweet Baby Ray's is my go-to. You can make your own Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing or use your favorite store bought ranch dressing. Add both the barbecue sauce and the ranch, to taste.
Storage - Once dressed, salad is best consumed right away. Undressed salad will keep airtight in the fridge for 2-3 days. If you want to make the salad in advance, consider prepping all the ingredients and storing them in separate airtight containers in the fridge for 24-49 hours before assembling and then dressing the salad at the time of service.
Notes
*Please note that there are many ingredients substitutions and flexibility as indicated in the ingredients. This is non-fussy, very flexible recipe. Use what you have on hand when possible and buy premade store bought products if desired to save time such as ready-made hard boiled eggs rather than making your own hard boiled eggs.