dinner, sorted: 15 minute chicken salad with chipotle cottage cheese dressing

a dressing you'll want to drink

This is what I’ve been making lately when I want to have chips for lunch and want to use a rotisserie chicken as an excuse to do so. The dressing is mayo free - high protein and TASTY: blended cottage cheese that gets smoky, creamy, tangy and not your average chicken salad dressing. And it comes together in about 15 minutes thanks to a rotisserie chicken doing all the heavy lifting.

Serve it with thick corn chips and watch whoever is eating lunch next to you get very jealous. Plus it’s a enough for a big batch you can eat all week. Stuff it in a wrap, throw it on top of a baked potato, or toss with some extra greens if you’re feeling like a “proper” salad.

TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes
SERVES: 4-6

• cutting board

• chef’s knife

• immersion blender

For the dressing:

• 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese

• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce with 2 tbsp adobo sauce

• 5 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp honey

• 2 cloves garlic

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1 tsp salt

For the salad:

• 2 heaping cups shredded cooked chicken

• 1 1/2 cups corn

• 1 small can black beans

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1/4 cup pickled red onion

• 1/2 cup feta + more for garnish

• Large handful fresh cilantro

To serve:

• Chips to serve (I used the Kirkland corn chips YUMM)

• Extra cilantro

1. make your dressing

• add all dressing ingredients to a blender or use an immersion blender and blend until completely smooth. It should be smoky, salty and verry tangy: adjust heat with more chipotle, sweetness with more honey, or acid with more vinegar. Set aside.

2. build your salad

• drain and rinse your black beans

• prepare your corn (I used frozen so just let it thaw)

• shred your chicken

• diced red bell pepper

• finely chop pickled red onion

• in a large bowl combine all the ingredients you just prepped, along with 1/2 cup crumbled feta and a large handful of cilantro. Add half your dressing and toss to coat. Add as much more dressing as you want (I save about 1/4 of it to freshen up leftovers) - you want it creamy and well dressed but not swimming.

3. serve

• serve straight from the bowl and finish with more feta and cilantro. Serve with a big pile of corn or tortilla chips on the side.

my dressing is too thick: