Chopped Chicken Salad (with Cafe Rio Dressing)
(This is an old recipe that has been removed from the website. I am leaving the printer-friendly recipe so anyone who was a fan of the recipe can still find it .)
Ingredients
- 3 cups leftover rotisserie chicken, chopped (see notes)
- one 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained well (see notes)
- 8 cups romaine lettuce, washed, spun dry in salad spinner, and chopped
- 2 avocados, diced
- 1 T fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 bunch cilantro, washed and chopped
- 3/4 cup Cafe Rio Salad Dressing
Instructions
- If you don’t have leftover rotisserie chicken, bring a small saucepan of water to a low boil while you trim visible fat from the chicken breasts and cut them in half (for quicker cooking). When the water is barely boiling, add trimmed chicken breast pieces and cook on lowest possible heat about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is firm and cooked through. Drain and let chicken cool.
- Put the beans into a colander placed in the sink and rinse well with cold water (until no more foam appears.) Let beans drain while you prep other ingredients. (If they still seem wet when you need to use them, pat dry with paper towels.)
- Dice cooled chicken into bite-sized pieces. Put in a small bowl and toss with about 4 tablespoons Cafe Rio Salad Dressing.
- Cut ends of romaine heads and remove any spoiled outer leaves. Chop lettuce into bite sized pieces, wash with cold water in a salad spinner (affiliate link), and spin dry (or wash and dry with paper towels if you don’t have a salad spinner.)
- Cut up avocados, place in a bowl, and toss with the lime juice.
- Cut cherry tomatoes in half.
- Chop cilantro, wash in salad spinner, and spin dry or dry with paper towels.
- Put the lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, and cilantro in a large salad bowl and toss with enough dressing to moisten all the ingredients.
- Add the marinated chicken and toss to combine. Divide into four bowls and top each with a generous amount of diced avocado.
- Serve right away.
- To make this salad ahead for Weekend Food Prep, I would mix dressing, cook the chicken and dice into pieces, drain and rinse beans, chop romaine, and chop cilantro. Store chicken in fridge with a small amount of dressing. Store black beans in a snap-tight container. Store the chopped and washed lettuce and cilantro together in a Ziploc bag. Store dressing in a container for the fridge. When you’re reading to eat the salad later, chop avocado and tomatoes and assemble salad as above.
Notes
If you don’t have leftover rotisserie chicken, poach 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts for 15 minutes, let cool, and dice the chicken. Omit black beans if you want a lower-carb salad.
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8 Comments on “Chopped Chicken Salad (with Cafe Rio Dressing)”
Cafe Rio is sooooo good. I’m going to have to print all of these out and try them! Thank you!
Thanks Melissa; so glad you like it!
Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe I can't wait to try it!
Cafe Rio salads are SO GOOD, but so heavy on calories, carbs and fat they have to be a special treat. I'll definitely be giving this a try!
Wanda, hope you enjoy. I am a huge fan of Cafe Rio; eat there at least once a month if not more!
I just went to Whole Foods to get the chicken for this recipe. I will make it tomorrow night. It looks delicious…and the dressing.
As a treat, I will go to Cafe Rio this week…its been several years since I have eaten there.
Thanks for reminding me.
Lydia when you finally make it to see the new house, I promise a trip to Cafe Rio! In fact there is one close by so we can go more than once.
Sadly I don't live in a Cafe Rio part of the country (maybe we can remedy that!), because I love all of the flavors and textures going on in this salad. Even though I'm not crazy about cilantro, I can see that it's really key to making this salad sing.