Chicken Pozole Salad

All the great fixings of chicken posole, in a salad! Chili rubbed sauteéed chicken breasts with hominy, avocado, radishes, salad greens.

One of my favorite comforting soups is Mexican chicken pozole, with a hominy-rich chicken broth, chunks of chicken, and heaped with toppings.

And as anyone who loves pozole knows, it’s all about the toppings, right? Avocados, cabbage, radishes, cilantro, Mexican cheese. So why not turn those into a salad?

In this pozole-inspired salad we are sautéing chili and cumin rubbed chicken breasts and hominy, and serving them with shredded cabbage, chopped romaine, avocados, radishes, cilantro, and cotija, and dressing it all with a lime infused vinaigrette. So good!

 

Chicken Pozole Salad Recipe

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

Chicken:

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about a pound total
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 15-ounce can hominy, drained

 Vinaigrette:

  • 1 tablespoon minced red onion or shallot
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
  • 3 tablespoons lime juice
  • 1/2 cup good quality light olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

 Salad:

  • 1 avocado
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced, including green parts
  • 3 radishes, halved and sliced
  • 1/4 head green or red cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 1 small head of romaine lettuce, sliced crosswise into inch-wide pieces
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons crumbled cotija (can sub feta) cheese

Method

1 Coat the chicken breasts with spice rub and cook: Mix the chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add the boneless skinless chicken breasts and toss to coat well.

Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed sauté pan on medium high heat. Add the chicken breasts and cook for two minutes on each side.

Lower the heat to low and cover the pan and cook until the breasts are just cooked through, about 4 to 5 more minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and let cool to touch.

2 Sauté hominy in same pan: In the same pan that you used to cook the chicken, add the drained hominy. Toss with the remaining seasoning in the pan. Sprinkle with a little more salt, chili powder and ground cumin.

Cook on medium high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

3 Make vinaigrette: Whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients—red onion, oregano, lime zest, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and sugar—in a small bowl. Set aside.

4 Slice chicken and avocados: Slice the cooled chicken across the grain of the meat in 1/4-inch thick slices. Peel and slice the avocado.

5 Toss salad with hominy and vinaigrette, top with chicken, avocado and cotija: Toss the romaine lettuce, cabbage, green onion, cilantro, radish, and hominy with half of the vinaigrette. Arrange on serving plates.

Place several slices of chicken and avocado on top of each plate of greens. Sprinkle with cotija cheese. Drizzle the remaining vinaigrette over the salads.