A fast and simple method to prepare a great, healthy supper!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 package taco seasoning mix, divided
- 2 chicken breasts, cut into small cubes
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 avocado, peeled and chopped
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 cup chopped spinach
- 1 carrot, chopped
- ½ red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ yellow bell pepper, chopped
- ⅓ cucumber, chopped
- 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
- ½ cup salsa
Instructions
- Bring water, quinoa, and 1/2 of the taco seasoning mix to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until quinoa is tender and water has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
- Mix chicken and remaining taco seasoning mix together in a bowl; let sit for chicken to season, about 10 minutes.
- Heat butter in a skillet over medium heat; cook and stir chicken until no longer pink in the center, 5 to 10 minutes. Place chicken and quinoa in a bowl and place in freezer until cooled, about 5 minutes.
- Combine avocado, red onion, celery, spinach, carrot, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, cucumber, and jalapeno peppers in a large bowl; add chicken-quinoa mixture and salsa and mix well.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 300 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 35 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 7 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 912 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 11 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
We put the Avocado on the individual plates instead of mixing it with the rest. Yes, we would make this again.
Better without the cucumber and celery!
Wonderful. Used chic broth to cook quinoa. Doubled the recipe using 2 1/2 lbs of chicken cut small. Be sure to cut red onion and carrots very small. I served all hot, stirred together and added extra salsa. Really fresh and delish!!
This was delicious. I ended up using olive oil instead of butter, and chicken taco seasoning. I also purposefully left out the salsa and jalapeños since I cannot eat either. Instead, I used a low-fat lime basil salad dressing to help with the taste. Despite these changes, it still came out so good. My fiancé and I agreed that this recipe is a definite “re-do.”
Healthy and Fresh dish. We used chicken stock to cook the quinoa which gave it added flavor though this dish is full of flavor already. You can add all the veggies you’d like. A tasty healthy dinner in not too much time. 🙂
Like many others, I replaced the butter with olive oil. I also removed the onion from the salad because there was already a good amount in the salsa I made. Overall, it was a REALLY good salad.
A healthy and tasty meal. I made this for my office lunch and I was a satisfying meal.
Healthy, easy, tasty…. What more could we ask for?
This is a great salad. My husband who is not a fan of quionoa even liked it.
This was delicious! My only complaint would be the crunchy carrots. They don’t seem to compliment the dish very well. I think next time I make it I’ll cook the carrots.
I forgot the spinach and the salsa….it was delicious regardless. I was going to add the salsa to the leftovers, but my husband said not to add anything. He said it was delicous and forbade me from adding anything else. I will try it as written next time I make it and decide which way I like it better.
Fabulous. Right amount of heat. I ran and gave some to my neighbors who were outside. Now we have a new neighborhood recipe to make.
This was really tasty and healthy! I used leftover rotisserie chicken. I also used shredded carrot so there wasn’t such a hard bite in the salad.and more salsa. I liked it as written! Thanks for the recipe!
This is very tasty and easy! Changes I made: used 2 tsp. olive oil (not butter) to cook the chicken. It’s much healthier. Also I served the whole mixture on a bed of raw, baby spinach rather than mixing it in and I doubled the amount of spinach. I will definitely make it again.
Followed the recipe as written with the exception of adding the whole bell peppers. I made this up the night before, waiting to add the avocados then next day when I served it. I make with my own taco seasoning blend adapted from ‘Famous Taco Seasoning Mix’ on the AR website. The carrots and celery were very crunchy right after I made it and didn’t seem to go with the Mexican flavor, however the next day they had softened up and the whole salad tasted much better, so letting it marinate awhile is a good idea. I ended up adding some cilantro since I had some on hand, a nice addition. This sure is a chock full of healthy stuff salad. ?