Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad has a crunchy flour tortilla bowl with chicken taco salad inside and avocado lime ranch dressing.
Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad is my recipe of the day with the blogging group Sunday Funday. We get together as a blogging group once a week to post our recipes on varied topics. We take turns hosting and the host decides what topic is on for the week. This week Wendy has decided on Main Dish Salads. It’s the New Year and she is thinking healthy. And also delicious.
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The crispy shell taco salad is very retro. There was a time in the late 70’s and early 80’s that we would go out for these every week, munching on crispy salads for lunch with a frozen margarita on the side. Our haunt of choice was the now extinct Casa Gallardo in St. Louis. They also had a few other locations so you might know them. They were similar to Chichi’s.
I always enjoyed their avocado dressing, creamy and delicious. You could get their salads with chicken as we have here. They also had a shredded beef version which we also liked. To do that one, just use some Machaca.
Their crispy shells were a bit bigger. I imagine they used the extra large flour tort size used for Mission burritos. And while bigger is usually better, their salads were almost too big to eat, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Tortillas that fit over the salad bowl mold are fine.
Casa used to also top theirs with hard cooked egg. I always liked that as well, but the real estate in the shell can be small. You decide if you have room. Eggs will like a little extra of the dressing if you do those, so plan to double the amount.
The chicken I used is basic roast chicken or rotisserie. I don’t see a real need to get into making chicken specifically for the recipe. You can saute up some chicken breast if you need to. Season it with the taco seasoning. It’s not really rocket science.
Sunday Funday
Main Course Salads
- A Day in the Life on the Farm: Asian Chicken Ginger Salad.
- Sneha’s Recipe: Chicken Pasta Caesar Salad
- Palatable Pastime: Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad
- Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Italian Chopped Salad
- Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Oriental Chicken Salad
- Food Lust People Love: Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette Steak Salad
- Our Good Life: Spinach Salad with Creamy Hard Boiled Egg and Homemade Garlic Croutons
- Mayuri’s Jikoni: Veggie Pasta Salad
Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad
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Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad
Crispy Shell Chicken Taco Salad
Equipment
- 1 taco salad mold (or can use a stainless steel bowl)
Ingredients
- 4 large burrito size flour tortillas
Salad Toppings:
- 3 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
- 2 teaspoons taco seasoning
- 3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1-1/3 cups warmed refried beans
- 1 Roma tomato (chopped)
- 2-3 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped black olives
- salsa (optional)
Avocado Lime Ranch Dressing:
- 1 avocado
- 1/2 cup prepared Ranch dressing
- 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Microwave or heat flour tortillas to soften, then place on a taco salad mold or inverted stainless steel bowl and bake for 15-25 minutes or until crisp.
- Warm chicken and toss with taco seasoning; warm refried beans and set aside.
- Mash avocado and blend with dressing ingredients until smooth.
- Assemble salad with refried beans in the bottom of the shells and topped with other salad ingredients.
- Serve with dressing and sour cream on top. I sometimes like to have a little salsa to spice it up.
Notes
Nutrition
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Chichi’s…there’s a blast from the past. We, too, used to order up this salad. Thanks for the memories. Happy New Year Sue.
I still get one of these at El Pollo Loco! I love picking away at the shell!
Taco salad is a favorite of mine with or without the crispy shell! Yours looks so fresh and tasty, Sue!
Sue I make mini taco cup salad but love your idea of using one big tortilla. More room for filling the salad. Going to try out your version of making the taco bowls at home. And I love creamy avocado dressing.