Grilled Chicken Salad With Cilantro-Lime Dressing
This salad could medal in the summer dinner salad Olympics, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s not even close. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be making it for the rest of my life, but I’m hoping you might start sooner, and even pull it off in a vacation house rental kitchen. It started in a more complex place; I’ve been making variations on what I call a Southwestern Cobb salad for years, a kinda taco bowl salad, with cute little rows of everything from tomatoes to black beans and peppers but every time I decide it was time to share it, I’d sigh and have to admit it was a bit of work.
Instead, I’ve distilled it to what I consider the best, most essential parts: chili-rubbed grilled chicken, charred sweet corn, avocado, and the best, most habit-forming, most put-it-on-everything, most I-can’t-stop-thinking-about-it cilantro lime dressing on earth. The whole thing is a symphony of greens and yellows (my favorite colors) and lest you think this feels a bit too wholesome and adult, I highly recommend a bowl of Fritos on the side and occasionally crumbled on top. A glass of something cold condensating on the table, your toes in the sand, and the general feeling that life is actually pretty grand right now isn’t guaranteed, but I want this for you, for us, and I hope this salad helps.
Ingredients:
- 1 2-ounce bundle cilantro, leaves and stems (trim brown ends)
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and roughly chopped
- Finely grated zest and juice of 2 medium/large limes
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Oil for brushing grill
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 ears corn on the cob, shucked
- 1 5-ounce package of leafy green lettuce
- 1 firm-ripe avocado, sliced thin
- A bowl of Fritos (I don’t consider this optional)