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Here is an absolutely delicious dish to add to your dinner rotation, Santa Fe Chicken Bowls! The bowls are bellowing with spiced grilled chicken, steamed brown rice, black beans, tortilla chips, lettuce, tomato, onion, and of course, topped off with the oh-so-wonderful Santa Fe sauce.
Inspired by the Chili’s Bar and Grill Santa Fe Chicken Salad, these chicken bowls are packed with flavor and delightful ingredients. At Chili’s, their salad is filled with spicy grilled chicken, pico, avocado, cilantro, tortilla strips, house-made ranch & a drizzle of spicy Santa Fe sauce.
Here, I have changed some things around and created my own rendition but it’s more of a “bowl” than a “salad.” I found that making two separate sauces for the salad was a little too much labor in the kitchen and it was not necessary. The Santa Fe sauce is delightful, creamy, and all you really need to make this lovely dinner!
Ingredients:
- Homemade Mayo
- Sour Cream
- Jar of Roasted Red Bell Peppers
- Pickled Jalapeños from Jar
- Garlic Cloves
- Cayenne Pepper
- Chili Powder
- Onion Powder
- Lime Juice
- Chopped Romaine
- Black Beans
- Grape Tomatoes
- Red Onion
- Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- Avocado
- Tortilla Chips
- Steamed Rice
- Lime
- Chicken Breats
- Plus a few seasonings for the chicken!
Step-by-Step:
Step One: Marinate the Chicken
In a baking dish or large bowl, add the chicken, avocado oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, cumin and garlic. Carefully toss until the chicken is well coated and set aside to marinate at room temperature for at least 20 minutes or you can marinate in the fridge overnight.
Step Two: Make the Santa Fe Sauce
Using an immersion blender or high-powered blender, add the mayo, sour cream, roasted red pepper, jalapeño, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, onion powder and lime juice then blend to combine. Set aside.
Step Three: Cook the Chicken
After the chicken has marinated, heat a grill, grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, place chicken on the grill, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until nice grill marks form. Flip, cover and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and a nice, golden brown grill marks have formed. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Step Four: Combine the Salad Base
In a large bowl, add the romaine, black beans, tomato, onion and Monterey jack cheese and toss to combine. Add the tortilla chips and the avocado and give it one last gentle toss to combine.
Step Five: Serve and Enjoy!
Divide the brown rice and romaine mixture among 4 serving bowls. Top with the chicken and a drizzle of the Santa Fe Sauce. Serve with additional sauce on the side!
Recipe FAQs:
You can marinate the chicken at room temperature for at least 20 minutes or you can marinate in the fridge overnight!
You will likely have extra Santa Fe Sauce but it is great to keep in your fridge to easily use throughout the week! It will last 5 to 7 days in your fridge.
I hope y’all enjoy these Santa Fe Chicken Bowls as much as I do! You are going to want to drizzle this sauce on everything!
Looking for more chicken bowl recipes?
Blackened Chicken and Sweet Potato Bowls
Chicken and Cilantro Rice Bowls with Tahini
Santa Fe Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
For the Santa Fe Sauce:
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup homemade mayo
- 1 cup drained and roughly chopped roasted red bell pepper (from a jar)
- 1/4 cup drained sliced pickled jalapeños
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper *for less spicy, use 1/4 teaspoon
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
For the Bowl:
- 2 cups chopped romaine
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup grape tomatoes quartered
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
- 1 avocado, cubed
- 1 cup crumbled tortilla chips
- 2 cups steamed rice
- 1 lime, cut into wedges, for serving
Instructions
Marinate the Chicken:
- In a baking dish or large bowl, add the chicken, avocado oil, lime juice, salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, cumin and garlic. Carefully toss until the chicken is well coated and set aside to marinate at room temperature for at least 20 minutes or you can marinate in the fridge overnight.
Make the Santa Fe Sauce:
- Using an immersion blender or high-powered blender, add the sour cream, mayonnaise, sour cream, roasted red pepper, jalapeños, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, onion powder, and lime juice then blend to combine. Set aside.
Cook the Chicken:
- After the chicken has marinated, heat a grill, grill pan or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, place chicken on the grill, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until nice grill marks form. Flip, cover and continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through and a nice, golden brown grill marks have formed. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Prepare the Bowl:
- In a large bowl, add the romaine, black beans, tomato, onion and monterey jack cheese and toss to combine. Add the tortilla chips and the avocado and give it one last gentle toss to combine.
- Divide the brown rice and romaine mixture among 4 serving bowls. Top with the chicken and a drizzle of the Santa Fe Sauce. Serve with additional sauce on the side!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
One of my favorites. The sauce was delicious and the chicken was so flavorful. Only subs I made were Greek yogurt for the sour cream and cauliflower rice for regular rice. So very good!
one of my absolute favorites of Alex’s recipes. the flavor of the sauce is absolutely delicious and sometime i make it for southwest eggs with black beans and such, quesadillas, etc. we love this so much, that it is almost always in the refrigerator. one day, i realized we forgot the sour cream but we had greek yogurt. we tried it and now we now make it with fage (you can use others but i prefer the thicker consistency of this brand) plain greek yogurt and i still love it so much. we still make with sour cream at times, but we love it with greek yogurt!
Love the swap for yogurt! Thanks for the thoughtful review and for the love for this sauce! It’s a great one.
The Santa Fe sauce is DIVINE. I just used a cup of Greek yogurt instead of mayo+sour cream and it still turned out incredible. Ty for this recipe!!
Family loved this bowl! I doubled the chicken and sauce recipe so I could use that for wraps in kids lunches this week. Those are hit too, in case you don’t have the bowl ingredients on hand.
OM Deliciousness! Made it for dinner with guests and everyone raved. The chicken is so flavorful. I recommend making extra to enjoy throughout the week. The sauce is zippy and easy. This will be a repeater for sure.
Great recipe. So good. Lots of steps but they all add up to a dish of incredible flavor!