Everybody has a version of Southwest Chicken Wraps. When it comes to chicken, the Southwest version of dressing it up is ubiquitous not just in the region, but all over the united states. I don’t know about you, but whenever I find chicken wraps or chicken salad anywhere Southwestern is one of the most common and most prominent next to Asian and barbecue. Even when the choices are narrowed down to two, Southwest is usually one of them. It’s the best way to add some flavor and some zest to an otherwise basic protein.
Southwest chicken salad is one of my favorite ways to have salad, or chicken for that matter. It’s a hearty meal with all of the benefits of salad. If you are a meat lover who often struggles to finish your vegetables, this is the type of entrée you need, because it’s the all in one solution that makes sure you get all of the essential nutrients of your complete meal. The wrap is the greatest invention of all, because it takes that salad and makes it even more self contained. Not to mention wraps are easy to make and even easier to eat.
You can make your own homemade version of this popular grab and go solution you find prepackaged at convenience stores and supermarkets. It’s easy to cook and it only involves a few really simple steps. Trust me this is a great way to quickly whip up a satisfying lunch that will energize you and leave you feeling great.
How to Prep for Making Southwest Chicken Wraps
Below is an ingredient list that at first glance looks a little bit long. Don’t let that scare you off, because this dish is deceptively simple. All you need to do is break apart the ingredients list into their functions and you will see how easy these southwest chicken wraps really are to make. You have 20 ingredients to start with. But let’s first break down what you need for the southwest corn salsa. You can actually make this salsa in advance and make enough of it to use in other Southwestern recipes. If you do that. Half of this already easy recipe is already done for you. Consider that if you think you might like to make these wraps another time, but you want to get some of the recipe out of the way early.
Southwest Corn Salsa
The salsa contains 7 out of the 20 ingredients. All it is is chopping and mixing, so the actual work is limited and there is no cook time to factor in. The corn is canned and the only ingredients that need additional prep are the onion and jalapeno. I’ll share more about how to handle these two ingredients below.
Seasoning
The next set of ingredients you can knock out are the 5 spices. Of course, among these spices is Slap Ya Mama, which is a kitchen essential in my book. There are a couple of ways to handle these. You can just have them out and ready to add as you cook, or you can create a premade seasoning in advance by blending them together beforehand. For the purposes of this recipe, I just add them one at a time, but if you enjoy advance prep to keep cook times minimal, seasoning mixes are easy to make and store, plus they keep for a really long time, so there are no drawbacks to doing it that way. Especially if you know you want to make a lot of these southwest chicken wraps or salads.
The Veggies
If you’re not keeping score, we’ve already reduced your ingredient list from 20 to 8, just like that. 2 of the 8 ingredients are chicken tenders and tortillas. 1 ingredient is butter for the pan. The final ingredient on the list is avocado ranch dressing. So, there are only 4 ingredients left and those are the veggies that make this wrap such a perfectly well rounded meal. When you parse it out this way this turns out to be a very simple and very efficient quick lunch to make, even if you don’t have much time.
Prepping Peppers
This recipe calls for jalapenos and two kinds of bell peppers. If you want to keep the seeds in the jalapenos, more power to you. Otherwise you can seed all of the peppers the same way, by cutting them into halves and carving out the core with a paring knife. You can dig out any remaining seeds and discard. When you seed the jalapeno, you should wear gloves, or at least wash your hands before moving onto other ingredients. After seeding the peppers are easy to work with. Cut the bell peppers into strips and dice the jalapenos.
Prepping Onions
Onions require a very sharp knife and a little bit of forethought. You may have attempted to dice onions before and found it to be a total mess. To avoid the tears there is an efficient way to dice an onion. First, sharpen your knife. Then cut the onion down the middle. Make straight cuts from the tip to the bulb (stem), leaving the stem intact. You want the stem to hold the onion together as you cut it up. After you have made your slices, place your palm flat on the onion and cut horizontally, like you’re cutting a bagel into slices. Now all you need to do is chop from the tip to the bulb into bits as fine as you like. Discard the bulb when you are done.
The salsa requires diced onion, but for the onion that goes into the southwest chicken wraps slices are fine. So, you can disregard the final chopping step and just remove the stem.
Wrap it Up and Go
These Southwest Chicken wraps are one of my favorite go-to solutions to a quick and healthy lunch. I even like to make a few of them at a time and wrap them in plastic to have available during the week. I love the fact that I can just take it out of the refrigerator and eat it cold without any additional steps. So, what are you waiting for? Dive in and start enjoying this flavorful lunch time staple right now!
Ingredients Needed To Make Southwest Chicken Wraps
- Southwest corn
- Red onion
- Jalapenos
- Cilantro
- Lemon juice
- Lime juice
- Salt
- Flour tortillas
- Chicken, boneless skinless
- Butter
- Slap Ya Mama
- Garlic salt
- Black Pepper
- Paprika
- Cayenne pepper
- Red bell pepper
- Green bell peppers
- Onion
- Lettuce
- Avocado ranch dressing
(Actual measurements are in the recipe card below.)
How To Make Southwest Chicken Wraps
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 – Prepping the Corn Salsa
In a small bowl, mix together corn, red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, lemon juice, lime juice, and salt. Set aside.
Step 2 – Making the Avocado Dressing
Using a blender or Vitamix, blend avocado, ranch dressing, and cilantro together until smooth. Set aside.
Step 3 – Cooking the Chicken
In a large skillet, melt butter, add chicken tenders, and top with seasonings. Cook chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side. When chicken is no longer pink on the outside, add bell peppers and onions and cook until vegetables are tender.
Step 4 – Assembling the Chicken Wraps
Place lettuce in the center of each tortilla, add cooked vegetables and one and a half strips of chicken, corn salsa, and top with avocado ranch dressing. Wrap up and enjoy.
Try These Delicious Southwest Chicken Wraps Today
Here are more delicious recipe that can be found on the blog:
And here is a delicious Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad recipe from Great Grub, Delicious Treats that we think you will enjoy too!
Ingredients
For The Southwest Corn Salsa
- 11 oz can southwest corn, drained
- ½ red onion, diced
- 2 jalapenos, diced
- ⅛ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For The Chicken Wraps
- 4 flour tortillas
- 6 chicken tenders, boneless, skinless
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon Slap Ya Mama
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 green bell peppers, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- lettuce, shredded
- avocado ranch dressing
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix together corn, red onion, jalapenos, cilantro, lemon juice, lime juice, and salt. Set aside
- In a large skillet, melt butter, add chicken tenders, and top with seasonings
- Cook chicken 4-5 minutes on each side. When chicken is no longer pink on the outside, add bell peppers and onion and cook until vegetables are tender
- Place lettuce on a tortilla, add cooked vegetables and a strip and ½ of chicken, corn salsa, top with avocado ranch dressing, wrap up and enjoy!
Notes
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