This salad recipe is so macro friendly and delicious, it’s honestly a challenge not to default to this every week and to actually try out new lunch recipes. Farzan (my husband) also requests a version of this meal (bowl form rather than salad form) for dinner frequently and I often have to put my foot down and refuse or else I’d be making this every two days.
For the vegetables, I buy pre-cut salad bags, rinse out a can of corn kernels, and chop up a few bell peppers. Prepping the vegetables just takes less than 10 minutes (really just cutting the bell peppers). Note that the CHOPT Santa Fe salad uses tomatoes instead of bell peppers, but I always make this substitution when I buy the salad and think bell peppers fit the salad even better.
For the chicken, I use this recipe from Moribyan Kitchen, which is hands down the BEST Chipotle chicken recipe I have ever tried. The only modification is that I use less salt, which you can just adjust to taste as you go. Don’t skip the Chipotle Pepper in Adobo paste – that’s the magic to this recipe!
For toppings, I love using fried onions (I love the French’s brand), any mild Mexican cheese, and avocado if I have one that’s ripe. I got the idea of fried onions from the Santa Fe bowl at CHOPT and it’s so good. I just have to be mindful to not go overboard with these toppings since they’re where the calories and saturated fat come from in this meal prep.
And finally, the thing that ties this all together is the CHOPT Sweet & Smoky Chipotle Vinaigrette, which you can purchase by the bottle from CHOPT. It’s spicy, so you don’t need much!
