Looking for a kid-friendly meal that adults will enjoy too? Try this Layered Chicken Taco Salad! It’s an easy lunch or dinner with lots of color and even more flavor.
Salads don’t have to be boring! Your family will love this Mexican Street Corn Salad and this healthy Watermelon Salad too.
Why this Recipe Works
I never thought I’d see the day when my kids would be requesting salad for dinner!
But this Chicken Taco Salad is FAR from your ordinary bowl of greens. It layers juicy shredded chicken with veggies, shredded cheese and tortilla strips.
The dressing is super simple too.
Mix equal amounts of French dressing with your favorite salsa for a dressing that’s creamy, spicy and just the right amount of tangy!
Ingredient Notes
Salsa. I like to use a HOT salsa to pair with the sweet French dressing. My family loves the spiciness but you can certainly opt for a mild or medium salsa too.
Cooked chicken. Either shredded or diced chicken can be used. Substitute shredded turkey breast if you have some holiday leftovers to use up!
Southwest tortilla strips. Regular salted tortilla chips work perfectly as a substitute.
Mexicorn. Canned Mexicorn also contains red and green peppers, making it ideal for a taco salad like this one. Thawed frozen roasted corn or simple fresh sweet corn kernels can be substituted.
Colby Jack Cheese. Swap it out for shredded cheddar or another preferred Mexican cheese blend if you like.
How to Layer
- Start by placing half the lettuce and spinach on the bottom of your bowl.
- Add the corn, tomatoes and chicken on top.
- Top the chicken layer with the rest of the lettuce and spinach. Add the cheese on top.
- Pour the dressing over the cheese layer. Finally, add tortilla strips, fresh cilantro and green onions to the top of the salad.
Serve immediately.
Tips and Tricks
- Make layered salads in a large glass mixing bowl. That way you can see all the colorful layers before you divide up individual portions.
- Assemble just before serving for best freshness and flavor.
- To prep this ahead of time, chop all the vegetables and cook the chicken. Store separately in airtight containers in the fridge until ready to serve.
- No time to cook your chicken? Grab a ready made rotisserie chicken from the grocery store!
Recipe FAQs
Any way you like! We often use whatever leftover chicken we have in the fridge.
I also love this method for Instant Pot Chicken Fajitas that I use in one of my fajita recipes.
Tortilla strips are like tortilla chips that are shaped into smaller strip form (rather than triangles). I find them in the same area of the grocery store as the croutons and other crunchy salad garnishes.
If you can’t find them, go ahead and use regular tortilla chips or corn chips here.
This salad is delicious with any protein you can imagine! Try it with cooked turkey, ground beef, or even shredded pork.
For a vegetarian version, swap the chicken for black beans or refried beans. Delicious.
More Easy Dinner Recipes
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Layered Chicken Taco Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
- 3 cups fresh spinach
- 2 cups cooked chicken shredded or diced
- 2 cans Mexicorn, whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained 11 ounce each
- 3 large Roma tomatoes diced
- 1 ½ cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese
- 2 green onions chopped (tops too)
- 1 ½ cups southwest tortilla strips or chips
- 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro chopped
- ¾ cup salsa
- ¾ cup French dressing
Instructions
- In a large glass bowl, layer half of the lettuce and spinach. Top with tomatoes, corn, chicken and remaining lettuce and spinach. Top with cheese.
- In a small bowl, mix together with salsa with French dressing. Pour over top of cheese. Garnish with cilantro, green onions and tortilla strips.
Notes
Nutrition
The best taco salad is a Layered Chicken Taco Salad! All the Tex-Mex flavor you love in one satisfying, fresh salad recipe.
What a great recipe! We had the layered chicken taco salad for dinner tonight and it was a huge hit! Thanks for the great recipe!
I would add some avocado too!! Diced….
Oh goodness, I’m drooling over this salad. Taco salad is my favorite 🙂 and this recipe is perfection!
Such a fun idea for a party! Love this! Looks so yummy too! Just pinned it! xo-Jamielyn@iheartnaptime
I could eat taco salad all day long. I never thought of mixing French’s with salsa – definitely giving that a go next time!
I think I could get used to eating salads (MAYBEEEE) if they included the word “taco” in them more. 😉 Can’t wait to see photos from the road trip! And keep posting more awesome salads! Who knows, I may end up becoming a salad-lover heehee.
Taco salad is my favorite!!! And this is gorgeous!
This is a salad that I can never get sick of and that says a lot!
French dressing and salsa? I’m liking the sound of that! This is such a gorgeous looking salad!
This salad looks delicious! I love all the bright, festive colors. 🙂
I make my family eat salad every day for lunch. haha! And I love to find new and different ways to make it interesting.
Pinning this! 🙂
Mmm, I like the combo of French dressing and salsa! I bet that gives it a ton of flavor. And tortilla strips – my favorite salad “crouton” of all time:)
Wow, this salad looks delicious and a beautiful presentation. My husbands family lives in Arizona. On my first visit there I thought I was gonna die! I felt like the sun was going to set me on fire! lol
My family loves taco salad and it’s so pretty on a buffet table when served in a large glass bowl as you have it here. I’m intrigued with the whole French dressing combo.
Girl, I am so in love with this salad! It’s going on the menu for this week!
Holy Moly! That is a thing of beauty!
These colors are so festive! It should put everyone into a partying mood!
Chicken taco salad is a favorite of mine — that’s all I order when I go out to Mexican food! I can imagine 3 weeks on the road would result in gaining weight — it’s inevitable. 6 lbs of lettuce oughtta do the trick!
If only lettuce were the only food I was eating 🙂
Taco salads are one of my favorite types of salads to eat. Love that these have the tortilla strips on top! Have a great weekend Aimee!
I pretty much put those tortilla strips on everything 🙂
Or straight from the pkg.
Taco salad in all its forms is probably my favorite salad. I never thought to mix french dressing with salsa though. I usually just use straight salsa on it. I’ll have to give that a try!
Salsa mixed equally with Zesty Italian is great also… never tired it on salad… but it is great on nachos…. yummm
Yum! Love the idea of a layered taco salad!