Easy & Healthy Chicken Taco Salads
March 25, 2008 by Karen Weideman
Filed under recipes
This is a very easy to prepare. You can have dinner in about 30 minutes. Since the shells are baked, this is a pretty healthy meal.
You will need:
- boneless chicken
- refried beans
- salsa
- taco seasoning
- Azteca taco shells (usually found in the refrigerated stuff, near the eggs)
- lettuce
- tomatoes
- sour cream
- shredded cheese
Set out your Azteca taco shells so that they can begin to soften. Wash and cut up your lettuce and tomatoes; set aside. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Form your taco shells using the forms that are included in the Azteca kit. Bake these on 350 until they’re browned. This should take about 8-10 minutes.
Cut your chicken into bite size pieces. Throw it in a skillet with some salsa and about 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning. Cook until it’s done throughout. Yep, it really is that simple. If you want, you can sprinkle in some garlic and cumin. If the chicken starts to dry out while it’s cooking or waiting to be eaten, just add a tablespoon of water and stir.
Cook your refried beans in a saucepan. I just buy the ones in a can. I have found that they’re really, really thick though, so I usually add a little salsa and water to them to make them thinner.
Once your shells, chicken, and beans are done, you just layer your salad. Here’s how I usually layer mine: shell, beans, chicken, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, and salsa.
If you’d like, you can also include some cooked Mexican rice or olives in your salad.
This is a very easy dinner and it won’t take you long at all to prepare it. If you’d like to prepare a little in advance, you can already have your vegetables and chicken cut up.
I found the Azteca shells at Wal-Mart. Some stores do not carry them. They are a great tasting shell, as they are light and flaky.
Let me know how it turns out. Enjoy!
