Z’Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad Recipe

Make our Z’Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad Recipe Recipe at home. It is Diced Avocados, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Cotija Cheese, Roasted Corn, Pumpkin Seeds, grilled Anhiote-Rubbed Chicken, shredded Red Cabbage and Lettuce, tossed with a tangy Ranch Dressing.

Photo by Lynn Gardner

Z’Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad

A Z’Tejas Copycat Recipe

Z’Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad Recipe

Achiote Marinated Chicken is a Traditional Latin American chicken is eaten all over the Yucatán where it is known as Pollo Pibil and Pollo de Achiote al Vapor.

Achiote

Achiote is an ingredient seen quite often in Mexican, Latin American and Caribbean cuisines. Achiote is also called annatto and you will see these terms used interchangeably. While it’s often employed to give a dish a yellow color, it also has a mild peppery flavor.

Achiote powder mixed with other spices and herbs can be turned into an achiote paste to marinate and give a smoky flavor to meats, fish, and poultry.

Store it in an airtight glass container and a dark cabinet away from the light. Achiote oil or achiotina will keep a few months when stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator.

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Photo by Lynn Gardner

Recipe Notes

• Note 1 – This is a 2 Day Recipe.
• Note 2 – Look for Achiote in the spice or international food aisle of your supermarket. Remember that it also goes under the name Annatto.
• Note 3 – The Ranch Vinaigrette and Marinade recipes make enough to dress up to 6 Salads and marinate up to 6 Chicken Breasts. If you are making multiple salads (up to 6), multiply chicken breasts and salad ingredients as needed, but keep the ranch vinaigrette marinade recipes as is.
• Note 4 – Store left over dressing in a tightly sealed container, in the refrigerator, for up to the expiration date on the ranch dressing or 2 weeks, if using homemade.

Print Pin Recipe

Z'Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad Recipe

Make our Z'Tejas Achiote Marinated Chicken Salad Recipe at home. It is Diced Avocados, Tomatoes, Black Beans, Cotija Cheese, Roasted Corn, Pumpkin Seeds, grilled Achiote-Rubbed Chicken, shredded Red Cabbage and Lettuce, tossed with a tangy Ranch Dressing.

Prep Time1 hour hr

Active Time15 minutes mins

Marinating Time1 day d

Total Time1 day d 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course, Salad, Salad Dressing

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: Mexican, Mexican Restaurant-Style Recipes, Salad, Z'Tejas

Yield: 1 Salad

Ingredients

Ranch Vinaigrette (See Notes #3 & #4 Above)

• 2 cups Ranch Dressing store bought or homemade
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Marinade (See Note #3 Above)

• 2 ounces Achiote Powder or Seeds See Note #2 Above
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed Orange Juice
• 1/2 cup White Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 2 ounces Garlic
• 1 tablespoon Paprika
• 1 tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 tablespoon Oregano

Chicken

• 1 Chicken Breast with Skin on
• 1 tablespoon Butter

Salad

• 1 ounce Lettuce shredded
• 1 ounce Red Cabbage shredded
• 1/4 ripe Avocado
• 1 small Roma Tomato
• 1/4 cup Sweet Corn Kernels
• 3 tablespoons Cotija Cheese crumbled, divided
• 1/4 cup Black Beans drained
• 2 tablespoons Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Instructions

Ranch Vinaigrette (May be made in advance)

• Place both ingredients into a sealable bowl or jar. Mix well.
• Store, sealed, in the refrigerator, until ready to serve.

Marinade

• Add all marinade ingredients to a blender. Blend well.
• Place raw chicken breasts in a large sealable dish. Turn chicken until thoroughly coated.
• Place top on container and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chicken

• Remove chicken from marinade, allowing excess to drip off. Discard marinade.
• Place butter in a large skillet.
• Place skillet over medium heat and melt the butter.
• When butter is hot, but not burnt, place marinated chicken, skin side down, into the skillet. Sear for about 4 minutes, until crispy, Turn over. Cook until fully done.
• Turn back skin side down and cook for about 1 more minute.
• Remove to a plate or cutting board.
• Slice into 1/4-inch slices. Set aside and keep warm.

Salad

• Starting at the top, with a very sharp knife, cut down into each avocado until you hit the pit. Cut completely around the avocado, top to bottom, touching the pit the entire time.
• Pull the two halves of the avocado apart and remove the pit with a spoon.
• Use the spoon to scoop the avocado out of the skin.
• Slice 1/4 of the avocado. Set aside.
• Slice tomato. Set aside.
• Toss corn with 1 tablespoon Cotija cheese. Set aside.

Salad Preparation and Presentation - You can prepare the salad in one of two ways.

• One - Place all salad ingredients onto serving plates as seen in the picture above, as they do at Z'Tejas. We would suggest this way. It is easy, looks good and it is fun to pick and choose the order to eat your salad in.
• Two - Simply throw all the salad ingredients, except the avocado and chicken, into a large salad bowl and mix well. Then place on serving plates. Top with avocado and chicken.
• Either method you choose, then pour ranch vinaigrette over salad, to taste.

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Photo of “An Excellent Salad” is by Lynn Gardner and is used by permission under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Creative Commons License. Read the Full License Here – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/legalcode. Thank you, Lynn Gardner. Great Picture. Photos may be “representative” of the recipe and not the actual finished dish. All photo licenses listed were correct at the time of the posting of the page. Recipe is our adaption of several recipes formally widely-circulated on the internet – courtesy of the Wayback Machine. Achiote Marinated Chicken Information adapted from Saveur. Achiote Information adapted from The Spruce Eats. Additional Information Courtesy of Wikipedia and is used by permission.