Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad
This tasty Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad is a hearty green salad that’s jam packed with flavor. When I eat a salad for lunch or dinner, I need it to be filling and delicious and this one does not disappoint. The bright, rich flavors of the avocado lime dressing pair nicely with the fresh lettuce, savory spice-rubbed chicken, and the sweetness of the corn. Plus, it easily kept me feeling full until dinner time! Each satisfying serving is just 337 calories or 4 WW Points (or 5 WW Points if following the diabetic WW plan). To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here.
Serving Size
I found this Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad to be a very filling serving that kept me satisfied until my next meal! I used chopped green leaf lettuce which measures out fluffy when fresh and then packs down a lot when tossed with the avocado dressing in this recipe. Twelve cups of green leaf lettuce became around six cups of lettuce once the dressing was applied. A cup and a half dressed still filled me up like 3 cups of lettuce though! If you want to keep more crunch and structure with your lettuce, feel free to use a sturdier variety like romaine. Once you’ve coated your lettuce in dressing you may want to see what it measures to and calculate using ¼ of the lettuce from there.
Storage Tips
As you likely know, bright fresh green and yellow avocados will turn brown over time when exposed to air. If you aren’t serving this all at once I suggest making the avocado dressing as needed and building your salads just before eating them. Each serving gets about ¼ of an avocado (1.25 oz), ¾ teaspoon of lime juice, 1/3 teaspoon of vinegar, and a sprinkle of salt to taste. To save the remainder of the avocado, keep the pit in and coat the exposed surface with a thin layer of lemon of lime juice. Place in a sealed zip-seal bag in the refrigerator.
More Tasty, Lightened Up Lunch Ideas
Looking for more tasty, lightened up dip lunch ideas like this Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad? Check out my Avocado Egg Salad, Greek Chicken Quinoa Salad, Thai Peanut Chicken Wraps, Taco Chicken Salad, Open-Faced Greek Stead Sandwiches, Caprese Sandwich, Cobb Salad, Chicken Bacon Apple Cheddar Wraps, Barbecue Ranch Chicken Salad, Cucumber Sandwiches, Mom’s Easy Egg Salad, Pimento Cheese Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Hummus Chicken Salad, Spicy Southwest Chicken Wraps, Doritos Taco Salad, Ham and Cheese Twists, Southwest Steak Salad with Avocado Lime Dressing, Cajun Turkey Club Sandwich, and more in the Salads and Sandwiches categories of my recipe index!
Mexican Street Corn Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons chili powder, divided
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ⅝ teaspoon salt, divided
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- a pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
- 3 teaspoons canola oil, divided
- 1 ½ cups frozen or fresh corn kernels
- 1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
- 4 teaspoons fresh lime juice, divided
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 oz crumbled queso fresco
- 5 oz peeled, pitted ripe avocado, (for me this is a medium sized avocado once the peel and pit are removed)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 12 cups chopped lettuce, (I used green leaf lettuce, but another type like romaine would also be great)
Instructions
- 1. In a small dish, stir together 1 ½ teaspoons of the chili powder, 1 teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon sugar, ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and a pinch of cayenne. Place the cut up chicken pieces into a gallon zip-seal plastic bag or a mixing bowl. Add the spice mix to the chicken pieces. Seal the bag and shake/massage the contents OR stir the contents of the bowl until the chicken pieces are coated with the spices.
- Add two teaspoons of the oil to a large sauté pan/walled skillet and bring over med-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken pieces and stir to break them up and coat them in the oil. Cook the chicken for 5-8 minutes, stirring every couple minutes (you don’t want to stir super frequently because the chicken needs time to brown on each side). Once the chicken is cooked through and browned on the outside, transfer it to a dish and cover with aluminum foil until needed.
- Drizzle the remaining teaspoon of oil into a skillet and bring back to medium-high heat. Add the corn and cook, allowing it to slightly char/brown, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon of chili powder to the corn and stir to coat. Cook for another minute and then transfer the chili-coated corn to a mixing bowl. Add the tablespoon of mayonnaise to the corn and stir until well combined. Add an 1/8 teaspoon salt, the tablespoon of Greek yogurt, and a teaspoon of lime juice and stir together. Add most of the crumbled queso fresco and chopped cilantro (I like to reserve a little of both to sprinkle over the top because it’s pretty) and stir to combine.
- Mash the avocado and transfer it to a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt, tablespoon of lime juice, and teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Stir together until smooth and well combined. Place the 12 cups of chopped lettuce into a large mixing bowl and add the avocado mixture. Toss the lettuce in the avocado dressing until well coated.
- To build each salad, start with a quarter of the dressed lettuce (about 1 ½ cups for me) and top with a quarter of the chicken pieces (about 3.25 ounces cooked) and ¼ cup of the Mexican street corn. Mix it all together and eat!
Notes
9 per serving (PP calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Nutrition Information per serving: 337 calories, 21 g carbs, 5 g sugars, 15 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 32 g protein, 5 g fiber, 208 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com)
I made this tonight and it was a winner!
This was yummy. Hubby has seconds. My only question is, my dressing was a little thicker than normal. Is this how it should be or were my avocados not ripe enough?
I made this for dinner last night and it was great. Tasty, easy, and will be perfect for nights when I don’t want to cook too much food. Thank you for a new addition to our dinner rotation.
Instead of making the avocado dressing, I used avocado salsa. Not only lower in points for me but it gave the dish an additional zing.