cookbook/content/recipes/2025/02/enchilada-dense-bean-salad.md

title	subtitle	date	draft	tags
Enchilada Dense Bean Salad		2025-02-19T00:00:00-07:00	false	dense bean salad

Original Link: Tiktok

Ingredients

For the marinade

• 6oz of red enchilada sauce (you can use an 8oz can and set the rest aside for the dressing)
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 tbs sea salt
• 1 lb chicken thighs

For the Salad

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 can black beans
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 jalapeno
• 1/2 a red onion
• 8oz Monterey Jack Cheese
• 8oz Cheddar Cheese
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 container cherry tomatoes
• 2 avocados on the firmer side

For the Dressing

• 2 oz red enchilada sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 cup avocado oil
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp smoked chipotle powder (regular works too but I love the smokey flavor layer)

Instruction

Prepare marinade

• Whisk together the enchilada sauce lime juice, and sea salt in a large bowl.
• Add the chicken thighs and poke a few holes in them with a fork so the marinade can penetrate.
• Cover and let this sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours but up to 24.

Prepare salad

• To prepare the salad, start by rinsing and draining the beans. Add them to a big bowl.
• Cut the ends off of the bell peppers and dice them.
• Remove the seeds and pith from the jalapeno and finely dice.
  • keep some if you want it to have some kick
• Mince the red onion
• Cut the cheese into small cubes
• Finely mince the cilantro.
• Slice the tomatoes in half.
• Cube the avocados.
• Add the beans, bell peppers, jalapenos, red onion, cheese, cilantro, tomato, and avocado to a big bowl.

Make Dressing

• Mix the following ingredients together in container
• 2oz of enchilada sauce
• lime juice
• avocado oil
• rice vinegar
• mustard
• sea salt
• chipotle powder
• Use a fork or milk frother to mix until fully emulsified and creamy.

This can be stored in a container and stored.

Cook Chicken

• Preheat the grill while you work on the dressing. If you don’t have a grill you can make this in a grill pan or cast iron.
• Oil your grill or cast iron with a high-smoke point oil, and cook the chicken until browned on each side and cooked fully through, about 8 minutes on one side and 7 minutes on the other, on medium-high heat.
• Let the chicken rest for at least 10 minutes, then chop it into bite-sized pieces.
• Add the chicken to the salad. Cover completely in the dressing and toss well.